By Scarlet Hur
Year 13
The 12th Westlake Korean Night hosted an audience of around 1,300 people at Westlake Boys’ High School auditorium on Friday 4 June. Westlake Korean Night is a student-run event with the support from teachers of both Westlake Boys and Girls High Schools. Around 100 students from both Westlake Boys and Girls prepared for months, to come together to perform both traditional and modern Korean acts.
The atmosphere in the auditorium was buzzing with high expectations. Colour, vitality and a variety of performances resulted in a very exciting show. The opening act was a nod to New Zealand as Korean students performed a spirited Haka. The night continued with impressive traditional acts like Nanta’s glow-in-the-dark drumsticks that made a lasting visual impression, as did the colourful pink fans of the popular fan dance. The taekwondo performers caused a rare hush in the auditorium as they kicked, jumped and spun, breaking boards with apparent ease. There were other spectacular performances like Samulnori, Mask Dance, Doll Dance and modern acts like Kpop dances, singing and bands. The energy, skills and sheer passion of the performers was captivating.
As the main leader of Westlake Korean Night 2021, it was an honour to be a part of working towards this thrilling event. There was a lot of time, effort and commitment the committee and performers had to put in organising and preparing for such a big event. However, this not only promoted and shared the essence of what Korean culture is within our community, it created a lot of precious memories – which was my favourite part.
It has become a tradition for Korean Night to donate the amount that matches the year to a local charity. Through our successful night this year, we donated $2021 to Starship Children’s Hospital. The Korean Night Committee believes that our contribution to Starship was our proudest moment.
Thank you to all the Korean Night Committee members, teachers and of course the performers themselves for their hours of preparation for a supremely talented showcase of Westlake.
