The 2025 Vietnamese Student Association (VSA) Show took place on Jan. 25 in the theater with over 450 people attending, VSA secretary Elyssa Vo said. Running for about three hours, the show presented outside acts that varied in size, from solo singers to larger groups, and performances choreographed by the VSA cabinet, she said.
This year’s show was more successful than previous years, VSA co-vice president Baochau Nguyen said. The show captivated audience members with its decorations, the acts that were performed, and the overall flow of the show, she added.
“This year was a lot more organized,” Nguyen said. “As an officer last year, most of our cabinet was stressed out from running around helping people. This year, since we were a bit more direct, things ran a lot smoother in terms of making the show.”
Senior Chloe Thich described the show as interactive and very creative, Thich said. She saw a lot of passion from performers, she added.
“I saw a lot of people that I know,” Thich said. “I found it very appealing how I could see so many familiar faces and so much of my friends.”
Despite the show receiving positive feedback, preparation for it was rushed, Vo said. The show usually takes place during April, but the VSA officers had to move the date to January due to others reserving the theater for later in the year, she said.
“I think timeline-wise, it only felt a little rushed because we were all concerned about whether or not we would even have a show this year; we needed a show date to begin with,” Vo said. “That’s why choosing an early date was what made it feel like we were under so much pressure to get everything planned.”
To organize everything, the VSA officers equally distributed the workload, Vo said. VSA show directors Andy Vo and Jessica Tran took a lot of the workload off of the rest of the officers’ shoulders to ensure that planning didn’t become hectic, she added.
“Our VSA show directors, they deal with the whole theme of the show, like getting people to do backstage decorations,” Vo said. “Our dance leads helped with making choreo; it’s kind of a group effort in order to make sure everything goes well.”
Not only did the VSA officers split the workload in order to prepare for the show, but they also had rehearsal days during the week prior to the show, Vo said. Rehearsals were held to plan out formations on the theatre stage to make any readjustments, as it was a trial and error process, she added.
“We had each act sign up for whatever time slots they were available to perform,” Vo said. “And so they show up, do their act for about fifteen minutes, and then we move on to whoever’s next on stage.
Since there were over 100 performers, many people had to work with others that they were not familiar with, dance performer Lillian Chao said.
“It was definitely a step outside of my comfort zone,” Chao said. “But I felt like through all of this, I was able to bond more with them (other performers). I thought it was a lot of fun.”
There was some miscommunication between performers and the VSA cabinet during recital days, Chao said. Chao understands that running a show can be hard, but they think that the VSA officers could have been more understanding of the performers, they added.
“They could have taken into consideration the time constraints and the other clubs that people were in,” Chao said. “A lot of my friends were in multiple acts. VSA was strict on them showing up to their practices.”
The VSA officers believe that there could be things that could be done better in the next show, Nguyen said.
“We aim to set the bar higher and higher each year,” Nguyen said. “I hope our overall performances, our commentary, our food, our decorations, everything made everyone go ‘wow.’ Our officers put so much work into this; I can truly see their commitment and dedication.”