Nikkei members await 10th Cultural Night show
By Daily Bruin Staff
Feb. 21, 1996 9:00 p.m.
Nikkei members await 10th Cultural Night show
Students celebrate cultural awareness through performance
By Colette Jue
Daily Bruin Contributor
As Saturday night approaches, Nikkei Student Union member Laura
Uyeda feels a growing sense of nervous anticipation.
"Being on stage, I never had a chance to do that," said Uyeda, a
performer in the student union’s Cultural Night. "I have incredible
stage fright. If I wasn’t in Cultural Night, I doubt that ever in
my four years at UCLA I’d ever go onstage and perform because
that’s just not a part of my major. English majors just don’t go
out there and play drums."
This Saturday, the Nikkei Student Union will be celebrating its
10th anniversary Cultural Night, the main event of the group’s
cultural celebration week. The Cultural Night includes modern and
traditional dancing, skits and music.
"Saturday night, we have our main dramatic play, ‘Faces of a
Generation,’" said Stephanie Nakano, co-executive director of
Cultural Night. "It’s a fictional play based on events that
happened in World War II, specifically the internment camps and the
Japanese American soldiers that fought in the 442nd Regiment."
Also included in the night’s lineup is a modern adaptation of a
Japanese fairy tale, "Nezumi no Yomeiri."
"Basically what we do is we modernize a traditional fable."
Nakano explains. "We put it in present day terms and make it a very
comical act. It ends up turning into a comedy."
Traditional Japanese dancing will also accompany the night’s
modern, or hip-hop, dancing.
Kyodo, the student union’s taiko group, will be performing as
well. Taiko is a Japanese art form which integrates rhythm and body
movements with musical harmony.
"We have a lot of respect for the drums because once they were
alive," says Uyeda, who is also a member of Kyodo. "The wood was
alive. The skin comes from a cow. We show a lot of respect for that
and our drumsticks We are encouraged to go and see the new skinning
of drums because it gives us more appreciation for the drums. Each
of them all have their spirit, and in order to play taiko, we have
to get in tune with that spirit."
The production, which includes pieces that were written,
directed and choreographed by the student union’s members, hopes to
challenge Japanese American stereotypes and instill a sense of
awareness and pride within the community.
"It just shows the community about Japanese culture," says Hana
Yoshikawa, a member of Kyodo. "It shows a modern viewpoint and it
has elements of the traditional."
"The information that is seen within the dramatic play and the
fable and just as a whole is usually stuff that people don’t learn
in the classroom," adds Nakano. "It’s a real eye-opener for
people."
To honor the anniversary of Cultural Night, members will reflect
on past performances and have a slide show of previous Cultural
Nights.
The group’s members have been preparing and planning for this
year’s Cultural Night since the end of last school year. Practices
are usually held twice a week and can run for as long as five
hours. But the more than 70 participants seem to think the
demanding and sometimes even grueling practices have all been
worthwhile.
"I think it really gives a chance for all these students – we’re
not theater majors or music majors or anything like that – to go
out there and perform and have a good time," Uyeda says.
"Practicing, getting together with these people, you really bond
with them and you become like a family afterward. As every practice
goes, I’m getting more and more experience working with others and
meeting people."
The show’s participants promise an educational as well as
entertaining night that will be rewarding for Japanese and
non-Japanese alike. After months of preparing and practicing,
members feel assured that their efforts will pay off.
"It’s neat to see how a group of average students who aren’t
professionals in any sort pull together this really great show,"
Nakano says.
"It’s not going to be a first class performance or anything, but
it’s going to be a lot of fun," Uyeda adds. "Just go out there and
see what it’s like."
EVENT: Nikkei Student Union Cultural Night Saturday, Feb. 24. 7
p.m. at the Wadsworth Theater. Free. For more info, call (310)
284-4650.
RACHEL CHANG
Third-year students Shari Hassen (front) and Rana Ichinotsubo
rehearse for the Nikkei Student Union’s 10th Cultural Night.
RACHEL CHANG
Fourth-year student Michelle Fujii practices for the show.
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