The three biggest cultural events sponsored and co-sponsored by the Liu Institute saw enthusiastic capacity audiences.
Bijayini Satpathy, a globally acclaimed Odissi dancer known for her intense facial expressions, performed her solo show Kalpana on September 5, 2019, at the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center’s Patricia George Decio Theater. Coordinated by the Asian Indian Classical Music Society, Satpathy’s performance was the first time in its 26 years that the society ever held an event in the DeBartolo Center instead of a smaller venue. The Liu Institute was cosponsored the milestone event.
Notre Dame’s first-ever professional Japanese drum concert by Ho Etsu Taiko of Chicago energized an audience of 350 students, faculty, staff, and community members on January 25, 2020 at the Decio Theater. The concert was the launch of Ho Etsu Taiko’s 2020 Emergent tour, displaying the group’s signature blending of deep-rooted Japanese-American taiko with influences that celebrate the diversity of its performers. Organized by the Japan Club of Notre Dame, the event was co-sponsored by the Liu Institute. “This performance broadened the worldview of all attendees,” said Danica Crowley, Japan Club Public Relations Officer. “Ho Etsu Taiko helped us all gain a better appreciation of Asian music and culture.”
The screening of the documentary “Shusenjo,” which examines the controversy over Japanese army’s sexual enslavement of Korean women during World War II, filled the Browning Cinema on February 20. Director Miki Dezaki, whose film has garnered
both praise and lawsuits, participated in a Q&A afterward. “Shusenjo” focuses on activists who dispute the coercion of the “comfort women” by the Japanese Imperial army. Their denial contradicts globally accepted evidence that supports the
accounts by thousands of women who were victimized. The Liu Institute cosponsored the film with the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, Department of History, Notre Dame Korean Student Association, and the Japan Club of Notre Dame.