{"id":61304,"date":"2013-01-29T10:21:25","date_gmt":"2013-01-29T15:21:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/?page_id=61304"},"modified":"2026-01-12T10:21:46","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T15:21:46","slug":"asia-night-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/2013\/01\/29\/asia-night-2013\/","title":{"rendered":"Asia Night 2013"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Ramya Ghantasala ’15 performs a classical Indian dance called “Bharatha Natyam” during Asia Night 2013. Photograph by Michael Brady\/Bates College.<\/p><\/div>\n

A Bates tradition since 2006, Asia Night may be formally designed as a celebration of cultures from Japan to Pakistan. But this show has another important purpose too: bringing color, excitement and plenty of laughs to campus in the depths of winter.<\/p>\n

The 2013 edition was short and sweet, about an hour. As in past years, the program combined dance, live music and displays of traditional apparel.<\/p>\n

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Asia Night 2013 emcees Michelle Pham ’15 and So Hee Ki ’16. Photograph by Michael Brady\/Bates College.<\/p><\/div>\n

Stitching it all together was the tongue-in-cheek patter of Michelle Pham ’15 and So Hee Ki ’16, who worked the emcee stereotype for all it was worth.<\/p>\n

The show opened with a bang, literally, as the college taiko<\/em> club pounded a battery of Japanese drums, blending stylized gestures and sheer sound pressure into a dynamic performance. “My heart is beating so fast it’s about to pop out of my chest,” Ki said afterward. “I completely agree, So Hee,” Pham responded.<\/p>\n

Like the taiko<\/em>, a few other performances were familiar to the audience from last year’s program, including the high-voltage fishermen’s dance called “Soranbushi” from Japan; and a performance of classical Indian dance by Ramya Ghantasala ’15, who shows a profound mastery of this precise and intricately expressive form.<\/p>\n

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Dancer Erik Bou ’14 performing at Asia Night 2013. Photograph by Michael Brady\/Bates College.<\/p><\/div>\n

Other high points included Book Chindakawee ’15, singing a Thai lament about an unrequited love, and vocalist Amna Ilyas ’13 and guitarist Adnan Shah ’15, performing “Musu Musu Hasi,” a song from India that looks back at old times. The short fashion shows, too, were key to the charm of the evening, combining cultural insights with laughs as the models — namely the male models — took the opportunity to exercise some ham.<\/p>\n

Lithe and athletic, Erik Bou ’14 offered an amazing pair of solo dances: a mostly traditional Cambodian “Monkey Dance” followed by thoroughly contemporary choreography set to a recorded spoken-word piece by Alexander Ou about a Cambodian-American family.<\/p>\n

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Some things are common across cultures: Here’s the bachelor party segment from Asia Night’s “Great South Asian Wedding.” Photograph by Michael Brady\/Bates College.<\/p><\/div>\n

Bates Masti, the campus Bollywood dance organization, wrapped up the evening with a ribbon and a bow in the form of “The Great South Asian Wedding.” This eagerly anticipated grand finale was a smashing medley of Bollywood dance numbers that, from betrothal to reception, was a triumph of passion, commitment and irresistible high spirits.<\/p>\n

Or as So Hee Ki put it, “their prolific energy consumed this entire theater.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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