Friday Night
The 2017 Culture Night started with the emcees Dylan-Sage Wilcox and Lehi Faleoapalangi welcoming everyone to the show. They made a special note reminding everyone to stay off the stage and refrain from throwing money and/or dancing with the dancers on stage.
Beginning the show was the Hawaii Student Association. Wearing black pants with white shirts adorned with purple and leaves and accompanied by a live band, the members danced tribute to Queen Lili’uokalani, the last reigning monarch of Hawaii. The performance started with only the men with the woman entering after through the aisles through the crowd. There was a part of the performance that was a solo dance representing the queen. It was a more peaceful, relaxing dance that showcased Queen Lili’uokalani and the Hawaiian spirit.
Next up was Taiwan. Running in with faces painted and fighting sticks, they attacked the crowd with each dancer one by one swinging their sticks at people seated on the front row. They then performed individual fights accompanied by rock music and moved on to perform different tricks with a Taiwanese yoyo-type prop. They then finished with a hip-hop dance with people dressed in all black.
For intermission, the emcees called down six groups of three people each to play a game called photo-mime in which the contestants had to act out pictures and have their teammates guess what the picture was. The winning team received $20 gift cards to Seven Brothers.
Intermission was followed by New Zealand, also known as Aotearoa. They featured nearly twice the number of performers than some of the other chapters during the night. All of the music was live; most of it was acapella singing from the whole group. They opened the performance with chanting and then sang “Taga Tagalo” from “Moana” in Maori. They then created a diagonal line design composed of four individual lines, with women on the outside and men in the middle. They closed with the men performing the “haka.”
The emcees introduced another break and highlighted the sponsors for the event, which included So’Da Bomb, Guadalajara Grill, the BYUH Bookstore, Wet ‘n’ Wild Hawaii, and Ono Yo. They then showed three videos. The first was an ad for Brooklyn’s Quiz Time, a new quiz show to test students knowledge on international trivia. The next was a video about the Hawaii Blood Bank, promoting their need for people to donate. The final was a trailer for “The Mormon Connection,” a documentary of three LDS young single adults who travel Europe relying on members of the LDS Church.
Hip-Hip Club followed the videos with participants wearing red flannel shirts and black. They performed to different hip-hop songs including “Michael Jackson” by Cash Cash, “I’m Better” by Missy Elliot, “Outta Your Mind” by Lil Jon, and “Shape of You” by Ed Sheeran. The group also performed the iCarlton challenge, a viral dance challenge with the iconic move from the character Carlton in “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.”
Indonesia then took the stage with student Fiona Sprout’s singing and chanting. She was accompanied by student Ninoy Kusuma on the tambourine. The group came on wearing red, blue, and gold shimming wraps and headbands. The majority of their performance was group members forming a straight line on their knees. They finished by performing the traditional Indonesian dance called saman, a culmination of movements with three different lines of people within the one line holding hands and weaving while staying in the same linear kneeing position. The crowd shouted and cheered for the synchronized performance.
Kiribati performed next. Their costumes were vibrant, sporting woven wraps for the men and black grass skirts for the woman. Their performance started out calmly but progressively got more intense.
South Korea started off its performance with a slideshow featuring different Korean influences including K-pop stars. Khoon An acted as a deejay for the performance, stationed in the back with a deejay controller. The group started a hip-hop style dance to K-pop wearing black and white with long-sleeved shirts tied around their waists. Six members performed to a hip-hop couple’s song, featuring two of the leads from the Hip-Hop Association performance. After, performers in all black danced to another K-pop song, the group slowed down into a robotic dance move,put on sunglasses and performed to the song “Gangnam Style.”
Next came Hong Kong, beginning with a traditional dragon dance with two men on the inside of a dragon costume. They then showed a short video clip of a fight scene from a movie reenacting it live on stage. They used a black background and performers dressed in all black to hold the fighter in the air in order to appear as if he was flying across the stage or jumping very high. The villain in the fight scene played an instrument that shot knifes across the stage, carried by the performers in all black. The dragon costume then came back on stage, followed by association members performing to another more upbeat song.
Latin America entered the floor starting its performance with a traditional folk dance from Mexico called “La Bamba.” The women wore white dresses and the men were dressed in white shirts and pants with hats. The dance ended with three couples making a bow out of a large ribbon only using their feet. Then performers entered in all black and danced to more upbeat music. The dance ended with everyone dancing with flags and soccer jerseys from different Latin American countries.
Next up was China. The men wore all white and the women wore red with sleeves longer than their arms, which they twisted around like ribbons. They performed to upbeat music that had traditional Chinese wind instruments. The performance ended with a back flip by one of the male performers as the crowd cheered.
To finish Friday night, Tonga performed. The crowd was ecstatic when the emcees announced the associations. The emcees reminded the crowd to not get on stage or throw money. An entire ensemble of guitarists, vocalists, and drummers accompanied the performance. It began with all the men performing to the live and vibrant music. The women later entered and performed a slower dance, and then the men entered again and performed a warlike dance with sticks, including chanting “We will, we will rock you!” The performance lasted for 15 minutes, longer than any other performance.
Saturday Night
Saturday started off with a recap video of last year’s Culture Night featuring audio from the university’s groundbreaking by President David O. McKay. Faleoapalangi told the crowd the video reminded him that the whole event is about emulating love for culture.
The opening performance of the night was given by a rugby team who was visiting from the Cook Islands for the High School Pacific Rugby Cup. The members performed the haka, to which the audience shouted and applauded.
Following that performance, the Ballroom Dance Association graced the stage with women in sparkled skirts and the men in white shirts and wearing bow ties. The performance was Disney themed, and began with Alpha Harper acting as the Fairy Godmother. She tapped the different couples with her wand, and the dancers began to move. The music included Disney hits like “Under the Sea,” “Hakuna Matata,” and “Beauty and the Beast.” The performance ended with all the dancers performing to the theme music from “Pirates of the Caribbean.”
For the first time in eight years, the Cambodian Association entered and performed two traditional dances. The first dance, the coconut dance, is a traditional couples dance and was performed in pairs. The next dance used the traditional Cambodian krama scarf as a prop. Only eight of the association members performed, making it the smallest group. The CAC roared with applause as the dancers held the Cambodian flag high to finish off their performance.
The Mongolian Association followed and started off its performance with the Shaman dance. The dancers wore traditional robes and accessories and held colorful sheepskin drums. The screen above them contained descriptions of the dance, such as: “Shaman dance represents our relationship with the sky.” The women then performed a traditional bowl dance holding bowls of milk on their heads that symbolize their generosity and warmth. The audience cheered and applauded as the dancers poured milk from one bowl to another; none of them had spilled any milk. The rest of the association members then joined the stage and performed a modern, hip-hop dance to a compilation of songs including “Uptown Funk” and “Gangnam Style.”
Japan introduced its performance with a video showcasing popular anime shows. Students entered the stage dressed as famous Japanese characters from “Pokémon,” “Naruto,” and “Dragonball Z,”and Fukutaro Sagayama performed Kosaka Daimaou’s “Pen-Pineapple-Apple-Pen.” Then the rest of the dancers came out on the Cannon Activities Center floor dressed in traditional kimonos. A choreographed samurai sword fight followed. They finished off their performance with three human pyramid formations and waving a giant Japanese flag.
During a break, Faleoapalangi played guitar and sang a parody of Enrique Iglesias’ “Hero,” singing the second verse in Tongan and referencing the different women from the Pacific in the chorus.
The Cook Islands then performed dancing to live music complete with performers who played traditional drums throughout their presentation. The dancers wore bright green skirts and headpieces made of leaves. At the end, members of the rugby team from the Cook Islands ran on stage to dance with them.
The Singapore/Malaysia performers started off their act with a solo spotlight dance by Jackson Saga from Malaysia. More dancers then joined the stage and performed a couple’s dance. Following that, the rest of the dancers flooded the stage and performed a dance in unison to “Jai Ho” from “Slumdog Millionaire.” Each costume was unique in color and apparel.
Prior to the next act coming on, Andrea Scalese introduced her new fashion line “Modest Sam.” Students modeled several dresses from her business on stage. The audience was then offered a special coupon code exclusive to Culture Night.
The Philippines entered the stage as a promotional video of the country played on the screen. They began with the Ingorot tribal dance, dressed in traditional black and brown clothing. Another group then came on dressed in bright colors and performed a couples tinikling dance. They finished off with another group of dancers performing a hip-hop dance.
Tahiti then took the floor in traditional costumes and headpieces. All the women were dressed in white and the men shirtless in red. The dancers were accompanied by live percussion and guitarists. The dancers took on the formation of the boat and raised a sail to make their formation come to life.
Fiji began its performance with the sound of a conch shell and the women slowly approached the stage as “We Know the Way” from “Moana” played. Shortly after, sounds of a thunderstorm raged and the men stormed onto the stage. Front and center, the dance was led by a little Fijian boy; the audience laughed and several females said, “Awwww,” as the boy danced in sync with the men.
Samoa took on the grand finale. Before its performance was even announced, the crowd was ecstatic and the loudest they had been all night. The stage began to fill with the dancers of Samoa coming from all different angles of the CAC. The performers were all unified in a bright green costume and flawlessly fell into an intricate formation on the stage. Live percussionists and vocalists accompanied the dancers and added to the energy of the performance. The performance was well received by the audience and people said they finished feeling excited and proud.
Audience members and performers added they left Culture Night 2017 feeling uplifted and fulfilled.
The event was live streamed on YouTube by the BYUH Media Production Center. The Friday night broadcast can be found here and Saturday night's here. Clicking on those links will take you away from kealakai.byuh.edu to YouTube.
Writer: Adam Case, Alyssa Odom, and Josh Mason