Christmas Eve means many things to different people. For some it is a time for a family gathering. For others it is a night of religious observance. And for some it is a time to party.
On this most recent December 24, members of the Vietnamese community gathered at the Seneca Events Center in the Seneca Niagara Resort and Casino for a holiday dance party that lasted into the early hours of Christmas Day.
The mirror ball hung from the ceiling and the dance floor was laid and ready as the audience filed in for the late night show.
While everyone wished the crowd a Merry Christmas, there were a very few Christmas songs performed including George Michael’s “Last Christmas” and Jose Feliciano’s “Feliz Navidad”.
Jaydon Pham, Hoang Ghy Uy, Y Phuong, Gia Huy, Ha Thanh Xuan, and Doan Phi kept the dance floor filled as they performed predominantly Cha Cha and Techno songs including “Em Dep Em Co Quayen”, “When a Man Lovves a Woman”, “Trai Tim Nguc Tu, Trai Tim Ben Le, E Da Quan Dong”, “Anh Muon Em Song Sao”, “Ngan Nan Van Do”, “Se Hon Bao Gio Het”, Lanh Lung”, “Tantro, Vi Ngot Doi Moi, Khong”, “Neu Co Yeu Toi”, “Trieu Doa Hoa Hong”, “Anh Con No Em”, “Mot Lan Dang Do”, “Hai Mua Noel”, “Thien Than Toi Loi-Con Tim Mu Loa”, and “Ngo”.
At 10 minutes to midnight the musicians took a break from performing for a drawing to award 20 members from the audience $50 in free slot or table play. Since winners had to be present at the time of the drawing, it took a little time to draw all the winners; but once all the winners were named, the musicians returned to the stage for more singing and dancing.
Even though it was after midnight the dance floor was filled and the dancers were ready to keep the party going when the show finally ended around 1am.
As with all of the Vietnamese shows, the dialogue and nearly all of the songs were in Vietnamese, but it makes no difference whether the words are understood or not because with the help of the Headline band, the singers gave a great performance with good music to keep everyone moving…especially the Techno.