Vietnamese Fan Dance

Vietnamese Fan Dance

Leaders: Jessica Nguyen, Jackie Nguyen

Vietnamese Fan Dance was a part of the multicultural show again this year.

This year, the performers did such an amazing job performing the Vietnamese Fan Dance, which has been in Vietnamese tradition since the ancient times. Back then, fan dances were performed at festivals and represented royal dance in the imperial courts.

One of the group’s leader, Jessica Nguyen, is currently a senior at Renton High. Jessica and her sister, Jackie Nguyen, gathered a group of their friends and formed a fan dance team, to represent the Vietnamese tradition.

“I did not want people to miss out on an opportunity to learn and appreciate the Vietnamese culture,†Jessica Nguyen shared.

She started to do this in her Sophomore year when no one was leading any performance group to represent the Vietnamese culture for the Multicultural Show.

With 16 people in the group, including 5 boys and 11 girls in 9th to 12th grade, they are friendly and get along very well. They practice 2 days a week, and Jessica usually create her own choreography or learns other choreography from videos and remakes them to accommodate the songs that they use for her to teach to the rest of the group.

Vietnamese Fan Dance group’s first performance was in Multicultural 2017 at RHS. The group treasures the audience’s support and cheering when they dance.

“I decided to do slower songs this year compared to last year because I wanted the music to be more traditional and focused on the feelings and sentiments within the songs and the movement of the fan dance. I wanted it to be more connected to the Vietnamese culture and my appreciation for my Vietnamese background and who I am,†Nguyen said.

Photos by Marlon Franada