Photo by Tasha Elizarde ‘22
Students perform at the Asian Student Association’s annual VariAsians event on Friday, Nov. 12.
By Sophie Soloway ’23
Global Editor
Every year, the Asian Student Association hosts VariAsians, the largest Pan-Asian performing arts showcase featured on campus. After one year without an in-person VariAsians event, the showcase returned to campus on Friday, Nov. 12. The night included catered dining, a fashion show and performances by student groups from across the Five College Consortium.
Sarah Nam ’23, ASA co-chair, said the return of this event in an in-person capacity has been a high priority for the organization and for Nam personally. “I knew that when we returned to campus, I wanted to see VariAsians happen again in-person,” Nam said. “The board chose this year’s theme to be ‘hope,’ to serve as a reminder that there are better things to come, especially for the members of our Pan-Asian community.”
According to Ayesha Binte Khalid ’23, the outreach coordinator for ASA, this return was welcomed by an energetic audience, especially after COVID-19 prevented the event the previous year. “People were tired of being home and online. So they just were so excited,” Binte Khalid said. “I felt the excitement more in this event than I saw it in the first year because it was just after such a long time.”
It wasn’t always clear that Mount Holyoke would host the event in this capacity this year, given continued concerns regarding COVID-19 safety. According to Binte Khalid, one of the largest questions revolved around the involvement of students from other campuses in the area. “It’s a big thing to invite off-campus people who are not involved in PCR testing,” Binte Khalid explained. “But, because Mount Holyoke has such amazing COVID-19 testing, we felt safe to involve all campuses.”
Despite these concerns, the event was able to happen at a limited capacity. Community members from across the Five Colleges gathered in Chapin Auditorium to eat cultural dishes and view performances representing communities across the Pan-Asian diaspora.
Binte Khalid reflected on the importance of the event, saying, “I think it’s just generally very important for our communities to get together and have a wholesome environment where we get together and share our common space and common ground.” She continued, “We’re able to share our feelings for one another, how it feels to be POC … [and] to live on campus, and even go through some struggles and problems all the time..”
Julia Griffin ’23, ASA co-chair, said, “visibility of Pan-Asian cultures is important for Asian members of our community to feel included and celebrated. There’s a general lack of Asian visibility in mainstream American culture, so introducing others to Pan-Asian culture as well as providing this space for Asian-identifying members of our community is important.”
According to Nam, this is what makes VariAsians special. “There are a lot of cultural events that occur on Mount Holyoke’s campus and on the Five College campuses, but VariAsians has a distinct history of bringing together the multitude of cultures across Asia in an attempt to build cross-cultural communal ties,” Nam said. “It’s important that VariAsians, and similar events, exist because they serve as a place where people, especially those whose home communities are far, should feel welcomed and appreciated.”
In a joint statement, Nam and Griffin said, “The first VariAsians celebration began before the year of 2000, so it’s been around since before we were born. It’s incredible to be able to continue that legacy and hopefully pass it on to future generations at Mount Holyoke.”