Tiffany Luu (12) opened her yellow fans as she radiantly smiled at her peers who watched from the Westview Quad, Jan. 28. She continued to ripple the brightly colored fans, which beamed in hues of pink, red, yellow and green. The vibrant fabrics swished in planned and practiced movements, creating a beautiful array of vivid colored fans. She moves in according to the music beat while synchronizing in formation with the other performers. 

On the week of Lunar New Year, Luu and her fellow Vietnamese Student Association (VSA) members performed Vũ Phiến, a traditional Vietnamese fan dance in the quad. Symbolizing 

According to Vice President Luu, this performance was the second traditional dance they had done at Westview.

“[It started when] we thought that we should do something more with the club rather than just fundraising and games inside the meeting,” Luu said. “So, last year was the first time, we did the Non La rice hat [dance].” 

Cultural Vietnamese dances often use many traditional props, in this case fabric fans. Luu said the group focused on teaching the intricate and delicate fan  movements to new members. 

“The fan dance was originally meant to mimic the beauty of flowers in the breeze, which is why most fans will look like lower petals and there’s a lot of rippling in the choreography,” Luu said.  “People mainly focus on the fans, rather than the dancers, so it’s important that the dancers make the fans look as graceful and delicate as possible. I’ve done this [dance] before, but many of our members weren’t as familiar with the fans. We had to teach them how to properly hold the fans, making sure that when they opened them, the sound really echoed, and that they were flicking their wrists rather than their fingers. 

VSA President Grace Pham-Nguyen (12) said the process of creating the dance also included choosing a song to dance to. 

“I chose a more upbeat and pop song so that a lot more people could get hyped,” Pham-Nguyen said. “It was Cà Phê by MIN, and since it’s one of my favorite songs, I was really happy we could dance to it.” 

Taking inspiration from many different online videos, the VSA students choreographed their own dance to showcase in just one week . 

“We just practiced every lunch and then because we had [two] Mondays off, we practiced on [those] Mondays too,” Luu said. “It was very last-minute and we rushed through it. But, rather than the fact that we weren’t so perfect [in our performance], I think it was instead just a fun bonding experience.” 

Luu said that this performance was very enjoyable for her and the club, especially because the dance was spreading awareness about Lunar New Year.

“Honestly, I’m just really glad that [Vietnamese people] are not being excluded anymore,” Luu said. “From my experience, people usually always say ‘Happy Chinese New Year’ and ‘Xīnnián kuàilè.’ But, it’s not only a Chinese event, and it’s important that we include other countries that celebrate it. Vietnam is such a huge celebrator of Lunar New Year and I was proud to show that.” 

According to Pham-Ngyuen, VSA had poured all their efforts into promoting traditional activities as the Lunar New Year approached. For example, the club organized a potluck which encouraged members to come and bond. Another activity was wearing the traditional Vietnamese dress, ao dai, during the general Lunar New Year week and their performance. Luu said when she was a freshman, she was nervous to wear her ao dai to school.

“For my first couple of years [in Westview], I was hesitant about wearing my ao dai to school because people don’t really know much about it,” Luu said. “Ao dai is usually in such bright colors and it’s a very unique outfit, so you definitely stick out in your classroom if you’re the only one wearing it.” 

But, now Luu said she’s proud to display it as part of her culture, especially since she’s usually not alone. Pham-Nguyen said that one of VSA’s goals is to make the tradition of wearing ao dai more widespread, even to those outside their club. 

“We always encourage our council members or my executive members to wear ao dai [during Lunar New Year],” Pham-Nguyen said. “We also ask that they make their friends [outside of VSA] do it so people who are less likely to wear it feel like they are more comfortable with it. It also helps that it’s a very beautiful, flowy garment and the reaction we get is that a lot of people are interested because of the pretty silhouette and designs.”

Overall, Luu said the VSA club has been growing and the culture is being more welcomed at Westview. 

“This year we have a pretty good turnout of members in our meetings,” Luu said. “A lot of underclassmen also show up, I think it’s just really nice to see that they’re willing to engage with their heritage and culture more.” 

Pham-Nguyen agrees with this sentiment, saying that she loves sharing her culture.  

“I’ve always wanted to bring more of that [the community] to everyone else at Westview, not just the classroom where we host our club meetings,” Pham-Nguyen said. “I really like that we have the opportunity to share that with our people and perform our culture letting other people see the beauty of it, the music, and the language.”