Cultures United educates staff and students through dance, song, poetry and more

In front of an audience of students and teachers, members of Culture’s United danced, sang, recited poetry, and shared traditions in a presentation during first and second block today.

Diversity Coordinator Vicki Cary introduced the students and they started off their performance with a dance. Gao Lee, Elvis, Tilung, and Anna performed a dance while the other students were on the side.

During the dance, Culture United students talked about who they are and where they come from by reciting original “I am from” poems.

They also did many other activities that demonstrated how young people connect and mingle in Asian cultures. These included ball toss, rubberband jump, and a break-dancing tournament between, Tilung and Bruce. During these activities they got the audience involved by asking for student and teacher volunteers to participate with them up on stage during these games.

At the end of their presentation they opened the stage for questions. One question that was asked, is why did they make this presentation.

Gao Lee Vang explained, “The reason for our presentation was to show that even though we are different, we are just like everyone else. We wanted to express our culture to everyone through this presentation and show that we aren’t scared to be ourselves. So, we wanted everyone to learn about our culture so that they accept it just like we accept yours.”

JAG Teacher Michael Yanko asked where else he could see these performances.

“November and December are considered the Hmong New Years. So you can find these performance at the Metro dome and Convention centers. Mostly Hmong’s attend, but you often see Americans attend as well,” Gao Lee said.

Photos by Nina Downer