The University of Massachusetts Asian American Student Association hosted their annual winter ball in the Campus Center auditorium on Saturday.
This year, AASA related their Winter Ball to a popular romantic comedy-drama movie: “Crazy Rich Asians,” which features a majority Asian-American cast.
The Winter Ball featured dance performances by five UMass groups: TASC Force, Dhadak, HHCO’s 5 Dirty Crew, +86 Dance Crew and DBJ Dance Crew. The AASA also did a surprise performance of “Can’t Help Falling in Love,” by Kina Grannis from the 2018 film “Crazy Rich Asians.”
Emily Adji, a sophomore English major and magazine chair of AASA said this year’s event was different because a live jazz band was used to incorporate music from “crazy Rich Asians,” adding to the overall theme.
As usual, this annual event started with serving dinner. Many attendees waited in line to get food, such as fried spring rolls, crab Rangoon and pork dumplings. Non-alcoholic beverages were served at a mocktail bar as well.
“Just like the movie, everything was big and bold, all to signify how rich these people were. This year, we decided to go big and bold which is why we also chose the name, A ‘Crazy Rich Gala’” Adji said. “We are pretty much all broke college students out here, but why not enjoy living somewhat lavishly?”
Rebecca Yeh, a senior majoring in biology and a co-president of DBJ praised the way “A Crazy Rich Asian” has had an influence on American society.
“The whole thing broke stereotypes against Asian people,” Yeh said. “They are often regarded as nerdy, or socially awkward, and many people believe Asian women are submissive.”
“However, the main characters of the film are strong. [The film] empowers Asian females. So, it is a good idea to relate this film to AASA’s Winter Ball this year,” Yeh added.
Grace Yi, a senior psychology major and DBJ’s artistic director of male dance said, “Our dance team has attended the winter ball almost every year. We sometimes get feedback from our friends or even our professors.”
We don’t expect a specific feeling from an audience through our performance, but we hope they just have fun at winter ball. Our performance can be a topic of conversation with friends or other attendees,” Yi said.
Kazuha Okamoto, a freshman computer science major said, “I was very impressed by the performances and the decorations. The theme was relevant, and I had fun. I’m excited to see what they will plan next year.”
At the end of this event, all attendees enjoyed dancing to a variety of music played by a DJ and taking pictures with the decorations.
Yurika Yamazaki can be reached at [email protected].
