Red ribbon swirled through the air like a dragon at Sunday’s Asian American Extravaganza, hosted by Shippensburg University’s Asian Club.

Dancers from the New York Chinese Culture Center encouraged volunteers to hop on stage, and after some prodding, four student volunteers spread out on stage with long, red ribbon wands in hand.

The instructor taught the students dance moves involving the ribbon. For “firework,” they spiraled the ribbon in descending arcs, and for “dragon” they waved it to the side in dips like a dragon’s back.

The “rainbow” dance move was volunteer Sierra Philippe’s favorite, she said. Philippe was also a lucky winner for a raffle ticket.

“It’s straight up a waterfall,” Philippe said of her miniature fountain as she pulled it out of the bag.

Luck was present not just for the raffle tickets but also in one of the dances that the Chinese Culture Center performed. Four dancers spun through the air like stars with legs and arms outstretched as their red ribbons whipped around them in circles.

The red symbolizes luck and circles symbolize unity in Chinese culture, dancer XiaoXiao Wang said. The dance is often performed on the Chinese New Year, she said.

Also present at the event was a spread of food that gave students a taste for Asian cuisine.

Since the resources for food specific to different Asian ethnicities are difficult to find, most of the food was a general representation of Asian culture, Asian Club President Joe Choi said.

“I want to let the campus students experience Asian culture,” Choi said. 

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