Anyone walking past Levin Ballroom on Saturday night would have been staggered by what they would have seen. A line of over 200 students — and a few proud parents — were eagerly jostling to get inside for the Brandeis Korean Student Association’s annual K-nite stage show. This year’s presentation, titled “Heart and Seoul” (get it?), featured a loving salute to Korean culture, including everything from Tae Kwon Do demonstrations to K-Pop dancing. 

Once the doors finally opened, the crowd was greeted with blasting pop music, a dazzling light projection on the ceiling and collages of smiling Korean men and women pasted on the walls. A humorous introductory video showcased BKSA’s e-board retelling a Cinderella-like story as one of their coordinators prepared to come to K-nite. Of course, this wasn’t your average fairy tale: the prince sat on a toilet bowl throne, the narrator made a few well-placed insults on Eduroam’s reliability, and men in dresses portrayed many of the female characters. 

Finally, the show started in earnest. A white spotlight shining on him, Joon Daniel Lee, a student at the Berklee College of Music, kicked the show off with smooth acoustic covers of Stevie Wonder’s “Isn’t She Lovely” and Coldplay’s “Yellow.” Lee’s rich and emotive voice filled up the room and earned wide applause. Following Lee’s performance, the crowd was introduced to a running sketch wherein two BKSA members wandered around a Korean-American neighbor-hood and ran into different people enjoying Korean culture, which would in turn segue into the next performance. The sketches and segues kept things light and funny; one of the presenters was raised mainly in Korea, the other in America. The American said he thought of tae kwon do when he thought of Korea, while the Korean replied he thought of Starcraft.

The first thing the two MCs encountered was an a cappella group, who performed two K-pop tunes. As the event’s program explained, K-pop blends American musical genres like rap, rock and techno with Korean performers and artistic style to create massively popular music. South Korea’s annual growth rate rose to over 10 percent in 2008 due to K-pop alone, according to the program. The a cappella group performed “Yanghwa Bridge” by Zion. T and “Um Oh Ah Yeh” by Mamamoo, two R&B-inspired tunes that sounded great.

Next, the crowd was treated to a traditional Korean fan dance, also known as Buchaechum. Eunice Choe ’17 led a troupe of six dancers in the dance, the form which originated in the courts of the Joseon dynasty. Fluttering fans in ways that evoked natural images such as peacocks, waves and butterflies, the dancers moved in long, graceful motions and awed the crowd. Last before intermission was a tae kwon do demonstration. David Lee ’16, Tommy Cheong ’17 and Becca Miller ’18 led a team of seven through several synchronized drills. The group even demonstrated their ability to break wooden blocks with their bare hands.

After a quick break for Chocopie treats and citrus tea, Boston-based Gayageum player DoYeon Kim performed a piece on the traditional Korean instrument. Kneeling over the long instrument, she plucked a beautiful tune. Following Kim was another music-based performance — though of a very different style. Three K-pop dance performances had the crowd cheering for the women, men and later coed performances of popular songs like AOA’s “Heart Attack” and Big Bang’s “Bang Bang Bang.” The talented dancers clearly loved performing in the hyper-modern style, as they popped, locked, sashayed and blew kisses to the audience.

Closing out the night was a rock band performance of “Wi Ing Wi Ing” by Hyuko and a belt out to Bruno Mars’ “Angel” by Lee. As the crowd grabbed a few more Chocopies for the road, not one person seemed less than exhilarated.