UNC Vietnamese Student Association celebrates Vietnamese culture Saturday

This weekend, get ready for a celebration of Vietnamese culture at UNC. 

UNC's Vietnamese Student Association is hosting their annual VietNite Saturday in the Great Hall of the Student Union.

This year’s VietNite will showcase traditional fashion, cuisine and performances to celebrate Vietnamese culture.

In addition to performances by select campus VSA members, the show will feature the University of South Carolina VSA’s Boyz in Motion, UNC’s Flying Silk classical Chinese dance group, Miss and Mister Vietnam of the Carolinas Royal Court and more.

Xuan Tran, the UNC VSA’s vice president, said the event incorporates VSA members from all over the country, not just UNC. She said she feels the unification of the different chapters brings a greater sense of community and representation to the night’s experience.

“I really like it because it’s not just our VSA, but it’s VSA from every other school,” Tran said. “It’s an amazing way for us to all come together to showcase and celebrate our culture together as a group.”

Jessica Ho, a UNC sophomore and the service chair for the VSA, said that, in addition to performers, there will be other related organizations and associations present as well.

“One of the organizations I’ve built a relationship with is the Vietnamese-American Association of Raleigh," Ho said. "They are coming out to the event along with some other Vietnamese groups that I’ve worked with.”

The event doors open at 5 p.m. The show, which ends at 9 p.m., will start promptly after dinner is served. 

Junior Brian Nguyen, the current president of the VSA, said guests can expect both traditional and contemporary Vietnamese dances, live Vietnamese music and authentic food including vermicelli — a long, slender pasta. He hopes the assortment will show people part of a culture they may not know much about.

“This is our main event every year, so we put a lot of work into it,” Nguyen said. “For the past two decades or so, VietNite has been a way to at least give people a glimpse of what Vietnamese culture is all about.”

The VSA has been working since the first week of school to put together a large and diverse set list for the night’s performances. The planning process required immense team effort to finalize the event.

The secretary for the VSA, Michele Nguyen, said planning VietNite was a large time commitment, but having a helpful executive board and team made it much less stressful. Having been one of the main coordinators of last year’s event, she hopes this year’s VietNite will be just as great of a success.

“Last year we had a really great turnout,” Nguyen said. “We had a lot of people there, we had a lot of performers and everyone had a lot of fun. Plus, we had a diverse set which is always good.”

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