Sherman Function Hall was home to the Asian Pacific American Heritage Month's closing ceremony March 31 called 'Lights, Camera, Asian!' The music-filled ceremony had singers, dancers and rappers showing off their skills to a packed function hall. The night kicked off with an introduction from Janet Kim '06 and Jennifer Nelligan '06, co-coordinators of the closing ceremonies.After a moment of technical difficulties, the show got underway. First on the list was Asian-American Idol, which featured the singing talents of Sabina Satpathi '06 and Celicia Chaung '03. Satpathi graced our ears with a great rendition of "In the Still of the Night" by Benjamin King. Only a couple of sour notes were heard near the middle, but otherwise it was a noteworthy performance. Even the "judges" had good things to say to her. The judges were Si Deng '05, Jane Kim '05 and Arnab Mukherjee '06, our very own version of Simon, Paula and Randy (from American Idol). Deng commented to Satpathi, "You did a wonderful job...you choked up a little bit in the middle though," marking him as our token "Simon." Mukherjee was a much nicer "Randy," saying her performance was great and that he, "liked the way [she] shook [her] hips."

Next, Chaung performed Kelly Clarkson's "A Moment Like This." She did a good job despite the fact that it wasn't an appropriate choice for her particular range. The key she sang it in was a little high for her actual voice range and it showed toward the end of the song, which "Simon" made a comment on.

"Because we're such good friends it's hard for me to give you harsh criticism, but you got a little tired toward the end," Deng said.
There was no winner announced, but the huge audience applauded both singers loudly.

After that was the "Raunchy Asian Women" performance. This consisted of four girls doing monologues from Cause I'm a Woman by Diana Son. The four girls doing the monologues were Christina Song '04, Carol Duong '07, Jenn Kim '04 and Michi Chu '07. One of my favorite lines of the night was, "Stick my tongue down her throat and say, 'I don't just mean that as friends.'" The only off moment was during the last monologue. All of the previous speakers had memorized their lines but the last girl used flash cards. It didn't really take away from the monologue but it was slightly distracting. The monologues, and the women who recited them, though, were very impressive and moving.
Next up was the "Hip Hop Revolution" where seven guys and one girl did some great hip hop and break dancing moves for the audience's pleasure. Right before they started, one of the dancers, Jay Schlossberg '06, made a great suggestion to the overlstuffed room. "I see you in the back and you won't see us dancing so well, so move up and fill in the seats in front," he said. The majority of the people ended up standing along the sidelines. The dance moves included some group dancing the robot, and some amazing break dancing that had the audience clapping throughout. The rest of the dancers included Avi Baumgold '03, Elliot Chiu '07, Rich Fan '06, Diep Kiem '06, Sokban Roeung '04, Rich Shum '06 and Elnaz Zarrini '06. They all showed some great skills and amazing dancing and the audience loved every moment of it.

A screen came down when they finished, showing a video compilation of great Asians. Glimpses of athletes and people who are world-renowned in their chosen professions, graced the screened and met with waves of applause and shouts of triumph for what these people had done in their lifetimes. It was very well done.

Last came a performance by a rap group consisting of members named Byunsen, Fundamentalz, Ex-Plicit, DJ3 and One Mind, all throwing in their own rhymes to two different songs, called "Introducing" and "Better days." These guys obviously put a lot of time into it and it showed in their performance. Another technical mishap, though, caused one of the microphones to turn off, so one of the rappers was slightly muted, but it was still a good performance all around.

Afterward, Sophie Yem '04, the head coordinator thanked everyone for coming, and then invited everyone to convene in the room across the hall for some great Asian-Pacific food, a delicious ending to a great closing ceremony.