If you walked into Levin Ballroom on the last night before spring break, you saw many tables covered in candy and origami planes. The cavernous room was cozy, covered in twinkle-lights and filled with friendly, sociable people. Almost immediately, my eyes were drawn to the stage as Tamara Garcia ’18 and Dong-Min Sung ’19 cleverly  began to introduce the acts for the Korean Student Association’s annual K-Nite.

The show started with videos introducing different executive board groups displaying their unique talents for the audience, who voted for their favorite group during the intermission. This also served as a short explanation of  the night’s theme. Once the show began, Garcia and Sung made their way through the “Idol School,” which was modeled after Korean performing arts schools known to produce K-pop idols and creatively exhibited the different types of acts as “Idol school” performances, such as singing, dancing and even martial arts. For singing, Brandeis’ all-female  a cappella group Up the Octave performed. The crowd enjoyed it but also seemed to be waiting for something to happen. I eventually found out what they were waiting for — the modern dance act to come later in the show. Next up was traditional, nature-inspired fan dancing. The performers all wore matching traditional Korean dresses. These were great, but I think the coolest part was the sound that the fans made. It was so unexpected — the sudden snap of fans closing and reopening brought everyone’s eyes to different areas of the stage.

Garcia and Sung came out onto the stage to introduce the next act, a band from Berklee College of Music. Berklee’s set included a combination of singing and rapping popular Korean musical hits, and everyone cheered in their seats at the fantastic performance. 

Following Berklee’s performance was the most anticipated part of the night: modern dance. Starting off was an all-male group in black outfits, matching except for their range of colored jackets. The entire group was in-sync and effortlessly cool. The crowd went wild as the group danced on stage. Following the opening modern dance group were a variety of all-women and co-ed groups from Brandeis. The female groups were fun and upbeat in attitude, dancing energetically and skillfully. The co-ed groups ranged a little more in their dance style: The dancers had fluid motions at one point and were jumping all over the stage at another. All in all, the modern dance portion of the show got the audience really excited.

After the dancing portion of the night, students from Tufts University demonstrated their taekwondo skills. First they sparred with each other, but what really fascinated me was the board-breaking. The performers even jumped over each other to break boards, bringing the audience members to the edge of their seats. To finish off the night, there was a game show and an e-board dance, which was fueled by the audience’s energy accumulated from the previous acts. If you missed K-Nite, be sure to check it out next year; I am very excited to see all of the performances next spring.