The InnovAsian: APIDA (Asian Pacific Islanders and Desi Americans) Culture Show drew audiences to watch performances of cultural instrumentals, Bhangra dancing, Bollywood beats, K-pop and more on Saturday at the Memorial Union.
“We wanted to promote something more than just having meetings every week,” event co-director Jaelyn Luong, a senior in culinary food science, said.
InnovAsian was organized by co-directors Anh Le and Luong with vice presidents Dong Nguyen, a sophomore in architecture, and Ethan Kono, a senior in cyber security engineering. This team oversaw four different planning committees that intertwined Iowa State’s Asian Student Union and Vietnamese Student Association with features from the Bhangra Dance Club, Vietnamese International Student Association (VISA), the Delta Phi Lambda sorority and more.
“The main goal was to bring awareness to Asian culture… to bring awareness that Asian culture isn’t just one specific area, it’s a variety of cultures… and create a community of these people in Ames,” Le said.
They fulfilled that goal with over six Asian countries being represented and 12 different acts to display their cultural heritage and talents.
“Not only like, I loved it very much,” Jun Zhou, a community member and scholar on Iowa State’s campus, said.
Zhou has two daughters, YiYi and FeiFei Liu, who got to participate in the fashion show, which was act number seven in the event. They had the opportunity to represent their Chinese culture by modeling native garments for the audience.
In Zhou’s words, through the show, “they became more brave.”
The show was sponsored by various supportive organizations around Ames, Des Moines and the rest of Iowa. Half of the profits went to charities, including Children of Vietnam and Monsoon Asians & Pacific Islanders in Solidarity.
InnovAsian was an event for all ages, cultures and people in Ames and beyond to experience the world right here in Iowa. Next year, InnovAsian hopes to continue increasing in diversity by including even more Asian cultures on campus and continually inspiring our community to meet the world.
