Community Celebrates Southeast Asian Culture at the 2026 Spring Festival

Melodious notes of the đàn tranh—a traditional Vietnamese 16-string zither—floated through the Luce Hall Common Room. Performed by musician Kathleen Tu Ngo, this traditional song was one of many featured at the Southeast Asia Spring Festival, an annual community gathering celebrating the region through cuisine, live music, poetry, and dance.

Hosted and organized by the Southeast Asia Languages Studies Program and sponsored by the Yale Council on Southeast Asia Studies, the event began with a buffet serving various types of Southeast Asian dishes, desserts, and drinks. It was followed by a two-hour showcase of various performances ranging from traditional dances from Laos and the Philippines to poetry readings by graduate students. 

The festival featured many community-centered traditions, including Tebe-Tebe, a dance from Timor-Leste that symbolizes solidarity and joy, which invited audience members to participate.

Indriyo Sukmono, senior lector in Indonesian Language Studies, started the festival in 2002 to promote Southeast Asian languages and culture. Sukmono, one of the event organizers, commented that the event always “[involves] the community…the performers are students in language classes and also from the community," adding that it is “a melting pot for people who are interested in Southeast Asia.” 

Credit: Thy Luong

Eric Harms, professor of anthropology at Yale and chair of the Council on Southeast Asia Studies, remarked that the event allows those “who are of Southeast Asian background to feel a sense of representation, to be invited into the Yale campus and not to have that kind of exclusionary bubble feeling that we often worry about...[and] for a lot of students at Yale who didn't ever imagine that Southeast Asia could be part of the curriculum or part of the programming or cultural events and activities.” 

This year was also the first year that the Filipino language faculty, students, and community members collaborated on the event, as Yale College began offering Filipino language courses in Fall 2025 after years of student-led advocacy.

Matt Sareno, a sophomore at Yale and a student leader in Kasama, an undergraduate organization dedicated to fostering Filipino culture, heritage, and community at Yale, commented that the festival “makes a space for Southeast Asian regions to celebrate amongst each other and also showcase each of their dances and performances.” He shared that this spring “was one of the first times that [Kasama] was able to partake in this event...it was really nice to have representation for the community in this festival as well.”