Spring Break
NWA's best dance crew
Maiko Michishita
Issue date: 11/10/08 Section: Lifestyles
The reason the Vietnamese Students Association members put great ardor in their first big event is not only their passion for dancing, but also their love for their home country.
The members know that in the Northwest Arkansas region, there are little-known talented dancers. They also know in their home country that there are many children and women who suffer from poverty and infringement on their human rights.
The VSA members stand up for those people. When the VSA formed last year, they started organizing the first official big event to raise awareness for local people and for people living in Vietnam. The association brought a local dance competition called Northwest Arkansas's Best Dance Crew to the UA campus. The association will sponsor the event again this year.
The VSA's top priorities are to foster UA students' understanding of dancers in NWA and to let them just enjoy dance performances, said Chuong Nguyen, former president of the VSA, who proposed the idea of the dance competition. He got the idea from the MTV dance show "America's Best Dance Crew."
The dance competition will feature UA students and regional dancers. If they register for the event, they can come and compete with other dance performance groups.
"We want something neat, something different that the UA campus hasn't had before because, as far as we know, the UA hasn't had such a dance competition on campus," said Kimle Nguyen, public relations officer for the VSA.
"It's competitive and I know each one of the dance groups want to win," Nguyen said. "But all the money goes to charity. Even if they lose, they are helping someone else. Their loss is someone's gain."
Seventy-five percent of the money will go to two charity organizations called "VietACT" and "VietHope."
The Vietnamese Alliance to Combat Trafficking, or "VietACT," is a nationwide organization that aims to eliminate human trafficking of Vietnamese women, children and men who are "sold" everyday. The VietACT was founded in 2004, the same year when worldwide attention surrounded three young Vietnamese women who were sold as wives for $5,400 on eBay Taiwan. The report, studied by the Coordinated Mekong Ministerial Initiative Against Trafficking, estimated that about two Vietnamese women and children are sold each day, according to the Vietnam News Web site.
The members know that in the Northwest Arkansas region, there are little-known talented dancers. They also know in their home country that there are many children and women who suffer from poverty and infringement on their human rights.
The VSA members stand up for those people. When the VSA formed last year, they started organizing the first official big event to raise awareness for local people and for people living in Vietnam. The association brought a local dance competition called Northwest Arkansas's Best Dance Crew to the UA campus. The association will sponsor the event again this year.
The VSA's top priorities are to foster UA students' understanding of dancers in NWA and to let them just enjoy dance performances, said Chuong Nguyen, former president of the VSA, who proposed the idea of the dance competition. He got the idea from the MTV dance show "America's Best Dance Crew."
The dance competition will feature UA students and regional dancers. If they register for the event, they can come and compete with other dance performance groups.
"We want something neat, something different that the UA campus hasn't had before because, as far as we know, the UA hasn't had such a dance competition on campus," said Kimle Nguyen, public relations officer for the VSA.
"It's competitive and I know each one of the dance groups want to win," Nguyen said. "But all the money goes to charity. Even if they lose, they are helping someone else. Their loss is someone's gain."
Seventy-five percent of the money will go to two charity organizations called "VietACT" and "VietHope."
The Vietnamese Alliance to Combat Trafficking, or "VietACT," is a nationwide organization that aims to eliminate human trafficking of Vietnamese women, children and men who are "sold" everyday. The VietACT was founded in 2004, the same year when worldwide attention surrounded three young Vietnamese women who were sold as wives for $5,400 on eBay Taiwan. The report, studied by the Coordinated Mekong Ministerial Initiative Against Trafficking, estimated that about two Vietnamese women and children are sold each day, according to the Vietnam News Web site.
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