LOS ANGELES, CA – Vietnamese American pride is important as following the beat of this drum for Douglas Truong. 

  • Thien An Performing Arts group was created in 2005
  • Young Vietnamese Americans embracing their culture 
  • Bringing new spin on traditions to attract younger crowd

“Being a Vietnamese American, I feel like I should know something about my own people,” said 21-year-old Truong.

Truong is a student at California State University, Long Beach. He says he knows people who are either ashamed of their culture or just don’t care. Truong started playing the traditional Vietnamese drum when he was just 8-years-old. Now a college student, Truong makes time in between work and going to school to practice.

“Thien An for me is kind of like an escape,” said Truong.

The Thien An Performing Arts group was created in 2005 by a small group of Vietnamese Americans who wanted to embrace their culture and traditions through drumming, lion dancing and traditional dances. However, they wanted to do their way. 

One of the founding members is Khang Bao who is a science teacher at Westminster High School and co-advisor to students who are part of the Vietnamese American Culture Club on campus. Bao says many students part of the club are also part of Thien An. 

“I think it’s important that we take something that’s traditional to the Vietnamese culture, but then we put a twist,” said Bao.

Their biggest performance is in front of thousands of people at the Tet Parade which is the largest Vietnamese American parade in Southern California. The group creates a storyline and bring in their traditional drums and dancing, but add electronic dance music as the beat. 

“We’re using something kids enjoy, but also to teach them the history and that’s the only way nowadays for kids to really pull them into keeping the culture and tradition of Vietnamese Americans,” said Bao.

Each year, Thien An pulls members who have long graduated from Westminster High School like Truong back. 

“We get a lot of many older generations, when they watch our performances, they start to tear up, they start to cry and say like wow we are so proud of the younger generation because you don’t see many of that around here,” said Truong.

Now as an adult, Truong is mentoring members part of an even younger generation and showing them that being Vietnamese is something worth being proud of.

For more information, visit their website here