Members of the Chinese American Student Association pose together during one of the Lunar New Year celebrations during the year of the rat at the Ohio Union. Credit: Courtesy of Jessica Huang
The Chinese American Student Association will host musicians, dancers and martial artists at its annual Lunar New Year event Friday.
This year, the CASA x ECHO Chinese New Year Party is a partnership with The Echo Studio — a student organization dedicated to helping international students get involved at Ohio State. The event is open to all students and encourages collective celebration, Tyler Liu, a third-year in computer science and engineering and co-president of CASA, said.
“Chinese New Year — or Lunar New Year, in order to be more inclusive — is an important holiday within a lot of East Asian cultures,” Liu said. “It marks the beginning of a new year.”
The association is partnering with several other student organizations on campus, including the Chinese Folk Music Orchestra, the dance organization J2K and the Dragon Phoenix Wushu Team, and viewers can look forward to music, dancing and live sport at the event, Liu said.
“We really want to emphasize and support the Asian community,” Alice Jiang, a fourth-year in studio art and J2K co-president, said.
J2K is a dance student organization on campus that focuses on Korean, Chinese and Japanese pop music, according to its student organization profile. The organization aims to spread its love of dance to students of any experience level while offering a welcoming community for dancers.
J2K will perform three dances at the event, including “No Rules” by Tomorrow X Together, “Action Figure” by WayV and “Swan” by 7Senses, Jiang said.
“You can expect some really exciting music and fast-paced dancing,” Jiang said.
All student organizations involved in the event are preparing performances that follow COVID-19 guidelines, despite being in close proximity to one another onstage and in the audience. Masks are required to be worn by both performers and audience members, and proof of vaccination and a negative COVID-19 test are required to attend the event.
The overall purpose of the event is to give members of the Ohio State community an opportunity to appreciate the holiday regardless of ethnicity, Liu said.
“The biggest takeaway is just immersing yourself within the Chinese culture,” Liu said.
Jiang said students of all backgrounds should be aware of holidays such as the Lunar New Year, being open to celebrating them with one another.
“I think it’s really important for people to attend really big events like Chinese New Year because it spreads cultural awareness, and it’s overall just a really fun time,” Jiang said.
The event will be held Friday from 6-9 p.m. in the Performance Hall inside the Ohio Union. The Lunar New Year event is free to attend, but there is a maximum capacity of 300 attendees on a first-come, first-served basis. The event will also be livestreamed, according to the association’s Instagram.
