A little piece of Korea came to Noyes Community Center Wednesday night as the Korean Students Association (KSA) presented Journey to Korea, a lively celebration of national music, food and dance.
As Korean pop tunes blared from the speakers, students munched on specialties such as boolgogi, a style of sirloin marinated in soy sauce, and kim chi, cabbage pickled with spicy red pepper.
Purpose
According to KSA President Dan Keh ’03, the program was designed to introduce a wider segment of students to Korean culture.
“We’re giving students from all over the campus the chance to get a glimpse of life in Korea,” he said.
An animated, capacity crowd turned out for what was a multi-faceted representation of Korean society. Throughout the event, which was co-sponsored by the Noyes Community Center, vestiges of traditional Korean culture mixed comfortably with modern, pop elements.
KSA members delighted the audience from the outset, performing a contemporary dance routine to a song by Boa, lauded by Keh as “the Korean Britney Spears.” The music, which borrowed the bouncy sheen of dance pop, was wedded to striking music-video choreography.
Sporting multi-colored, traditional robes, two members of Shim-tah, Cornell’s drum troupe, performed Poongmool, a customary drum routine.
Cindy Cho ’04 was captivated the mix of old and new.
“There was a nice contrast between the modern and the traditional,” she said.
Of course, many students turned out to sample the Korean cuisine, some of which was prepared by KSA members, with the rest catered by Collegetown Caf