Spring Reflection #1

On Saturday, February 2nd, I attended KSA’s annual Korean Culture Night as a Non-IA event. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but as I arrived I could quickly tell how popular of an event it was on campus with the line wrapped around the inside of the union. We all slowly streamed into the performance hall and took our seats, with popular Korean pop songs playing over the speakers while we waited. I will admit to singing along to most of them and probably annoying my friend sat beside me. As the event began, they started to play videos of their own version of a popular Korean drama, and it was easy to see how much effort and dedication this club put into their event. The first performance of the night was a group of girls who performed a traditional fan dance, which was really interesting to watch as I’d never seen any type of fan dancing before. Next, a group of older adults came on stage with multiple types of drums and instruments that I’m not able to name, and played traditional Korean music for the crowd. The music started off soft but eventually became very loud and intense, and it was fun seeing the musicians on stage be so immersed in their form of art. Taekwondo club also decided to join this event, performing a set for the audience that made me feel even more inflexible than I already am. After these two events there was a mixture of different dancers, singers, and musicians. Some groups danced and sang to different Korean music, breakdanced, or just sang with the accompaniment of a guitar or a piano. One of my favorite acts of the night was a violinist, who was accompanied by a piano player and performed different Korean pop songs flawlessly. Finally, the closing acts were Queen of Aces and TPOK, OSU’s two Korean pop cover groups. Introduction videos were shown and they soon began there sets, which I was really impressed with. These groups obviously put a huge amount of time and effort into their passion, and I really respected them and felt glad that I was able to be their and support them. As the event came to an end, I honestly was a bit sad because I’d had such a great time. The club that put on this event, called the Korean Student Association, calls this their biggest event of the year and I could see why. KSA aims to promote the education of Korean culture to its members and the university community, which they definitely succeeded in doing. Music is something that I love, and it’s always fun and interesting to hear and learn about the different music of other cultures. I would definitely encourage anyone to attend this event next year or other similar events, as it was truly one of the most enjoyable nights I’ve had in a while.