Photo by Toffy Prakittiphoom ’24/The Choate News
As SYNK, Choate’s K-pop dance group, struck their final pose as the last performance act at the Lunar Banquet, the room erupted in thunderous applause from over 200 Choate students and faculty as they celebrated Lunar New Year on January 20.
The holiday, observed by several countries in Asia, was commemorated in Ruutz-Rees and co-hosted by the Chinese Club and the Choate Korean Friendship Association (CKFA). Besides Chinese and Korean food, bubble tea, and traditional games, attendees also enjoyed an array of five cultural music and dance performances by students and faculty.
Joy An ’23 and Instrumental Ensembles Director Mr. Gene Wie kicked off the performances with their duet, “Xi Yang Yang” (喜洋洋: full of happiness). Mr. Wie played the erhu (二胡), a Chinese string instrument that resembles a violin, while An played the dizi ( 笛子), a traditional Chinese flute. Emma Wang ’26 enjoyed the exposure to “two instruments that normally people do not learn.” She said, “Here, it is more Western music, with instrumentals like violin and flute.” An also played a dizi solo entitled “Xiao Tui Che” ( 小推车: little cart).
Then, Kara Wang ’24 performed a traditional Chinese peacock folklore dance from the Dai (傣) people, a Chinese ethnic minority group. Wang has been doing Chinese folklore dance since second grade. “It is a way of expressing myself, but also it is very enjoyable because the moves in Chinese folkloric dance are different from ballet, jazz, or lyrical,” she said. “I feel like it fits me better. I have more feeling, almost, and more fluidity when I do folklore dance than when I do other types of dance forms.”
For Wang, Lunar New Year is a time for “friends and family to celebrate togetherness and the coming of a new year.” She added, “I feel like it is a perfect time to think about what you are grateful for previously this year and what you hope for in the coming year.”
Next, Grant Koh ’23 and Danny Yoon ’24 from the CKFA Band sang “Soneo” (소녀: A Little Girl). As a group of predominantly Korean students, Yoon said, “The goal of the performance was to let people know about Korean culture.” James Stuber ’24, who is part of the band, said, “Practicing making our songs better and then just sharing with the community makes us proud as a group … I think our Korean heritage has really brought us together, and there is a really good connection between us.”
Finally, Elizabeth Zhao ’24, Ernie Mok ’25, Cathy Liu ’24, Lindsay Hong ’25, and Joyce Liu ’25 performed two dances to celebrate East Asian culture as part of SYNK. They chose one of the songs they danced to — “Luna,” by K-pop group OneUs — because it “involved classical Chinese and Korean instruments,” said Mok, President of SYNK. He continued, “The song itself translates to ‘you had slight beauty under the moon,’ and the moon is a big symbol for Chinese people.”
After their performances, SYNK members formed an impromptu dance party. “Our dance session started when K-pop songs that we knew came up on the speakers,” J. Liu said. “We decided to put [on] more songs in that we knew, and it gradually became a dance session that was really fun and amazing.”
Although many international students are thousands of miles away from home, the Lunar Banquet allowed students to recreate the energy of family gatherings on campus. Hong, who is from South Korea, said, “Living in the States, Western culture does not use the lunar calendar. So, it reminds me of where I am from, my culture, and it is also a good time to eat good food.”
Dylan Clack ’23, who attended the Lunar Banquet, said, “It was really fun, and it is nice to get a taste of or a little experience of Asian culture … I really appreciated people putting in the work to perform for us, so I would be excited to see more of that kind of stuff.”
Art has the power to bring people together, and the Lunar Banquet was no exception. Students from different cultures came together as a family and celebrated the Year of the Rabbit over food, dance, music, and fun.
