Six women wearing flowing outfits performing a synchronized dance to Vietnamese music, followed by five women wearing form-fitting outfits performing to an Usher song may seem like an odd pairing.

Yet this combination of traditional Vietnamese culture and elements of contemporary American life characterized Friday’s Vietnamese Lunar New Year Celebration in the Great Hall of the Memorial Union.

The event, sponsored by the Vietnamese Student Association, was to celebrate the start of the Year of the Rooster.

“This is our most important holiday of the year because it brings families together. It’s like Thanksgiving in America,” said Quyen Nguyen, internal vice president of the Vietnamese Student Association and one of the evening’s performers.

Similar to Thanksgiving, the event’s master of ceremonies urged those in attendance to remember military troops, those less fortunate and the hard work and sacrifices of previous generations, especially parents.

The celebration paid homage to previous Vietnamese generations through the incorporation of traditional clothing, dance, music and stories.

Many of the performers wore an Ao Dao, an outfit consisting of pants and a top that extends well past the waist.

The event also featured the performance of the traditional Lion Dance. Two long, colorful animal costumes were occupied by two dancers each, who stomped and swayed to make their creations do a dance resembling a playful fight.

The “animal” would blink and shake its head at the crowd, and, at one point, the performer acting as the head jumped up onto the bent legs of the performer acting as the tail to make it stand tall.

In addition to the traditional Vietnamese music, which, according to Nguyen was performed with more of a modern arrangement, the celebration featured several types of entertainment.

Also performed were a few modern dances, a traditional dance, a fashion show, the reading of a folk tale and a skit that was both comedic and rhythmic in parts.

The event concluded with the serving of a Vietnamese meal, a live band performing contemporary pop-rock songs and a dance party.

The entertainment wasn’t the only diverse part of the event; the crowd attending the event was as broad as the performances they enjoyed.

Tam Tran, external vice president of the Vietnamese Student Association, said this event brings the Vietnamese community together and allows people to connect with one another, make new friends and learn from each other.

He and Nguyen say they also see it as an opportunity to show other people their culture, so having an audience made up of different backgrounds and ethnicity is important.

Some non-Vietnamese members of the audience attended out of curiosity, often after being invited by a Vietnamese friend.

Mark Kresser, freshman in civil engineering, came to support a friend who was performing in the show.

“I’ve never been to anything cultural, so I’m pretty excited to attend something such as this,” Kresser said.

Joseph Abraham, postdoctoral resident associate in animal science, was attending the event for the second time.

“It’s one of the perks, I think, of being affiliated to Iowa State,” Abraham said. “You get exposure to some of these things that you otherwise wouldn’t.”

Abraham brought Ginger Shipp, graduate student in ecology, evolution and organismal biology.

“I wanted to learn more about the new year, about Vietnamese culture and just have a good time,” Shipp said.