Vietnamese-American culture celebrated

Café Night features dance, music and songs; celebration of blending cultures

By A. MINH-TRI NGUYEN
Assistant Lifestyle Editor

Call it a night of culture, a night of celebration. Whatever you call it, Café Night, to members of the Vietnamese Students Association (VSA), is about having fun.
Henry Nguyen, VSA officer of external public relations and an undeclared sophomore, said that to him Café Night is about "entertaining people."
"It's a night to show (off our) talent and culture," he said.
Café Night, however, also has a serious side. "It's a night to expose USC (students) to Vietnamese-American Culture," Nguyen said.
Café Night started in the '70s. A bunch of Vietnamese-American Students at USC gathered once a year for a night of informal discussion about Vietnamese history, Vietnamese-American culture and its possible future. The meeting usually takes place in a coffee shops or cafés, hence the name Café Night.
"(The students) would gather in coffee shops to discuss the past, Vietnamese-American culture and how it can survive," said Debbie Dao, an undergraduate majoring in psychology.
Over the years the informal discussion evolved into corporate skits, dances and music until finally it became the theatrical night that it is now.
There is a lot of work involved in putting together the show. "We've been planning the show since last May and have been hard at work practicing for it since last semester," Dao said.
In fact, many in VSA dedicate a lot of the time to put together this event in addition to other VSA events and school.
In the past few years Café Night has undergone yet another transformation, instead of being exclusively about Vietnamese culture it is now about Vietnamese-American as well. Many in VSA have never been to Vietnam, so it is only natural that the students tell the stories of their culture from their point of view, Dao said in press release.
"It's only appropriate that they tell a story from their unique bicultural experience and not a story of a culture that they, themselves, have not experienced," she said.
This year's show includes dance performance, songs and comic skits, all of which displays a blending of two cultures, and that's the point that VSA hopes to accomplish.

Copyright 2001 by the Daily Trojan. All rights reserved.
This article was published in Vol. 142, No. 34 (Thursday, March 1, 2001), beginning on page 19 and ending on page 17.