Big finish

While many UCLA students are in woe over the sixth week stresses
of midterms and papers, others are dealing with the anxiety of
putting on their own show. Starting today, a selection of 21
seniors in the UCLA World Arts and Cultures Department are
performing in “Go Figure!,” a collection of senior
projects in which each student creates a seven to nine minute
performance piece on a topic of their choosing.

And these projects are hardly the haphazard result of a Red
Bull-induced all-nighter. The formal rehearsal process starts in
fall quarter, and many WAC students begin thinking about it long
before. The performance is meant to be a culmination of all they
have learned during their UCLA careers in performing arts and
academics, as well as a display of their personal experiences.

“My piece basically reflects my journey to my becoming a
woman over the past four years I’ve been in college,”
said fourth-year WAC student Alexie Agdeppa of her piece,
“Essences of a Woman.” In it, she experiments by
dancing with blindfolds and on relevee, and breathing is emphasized
rather than being accompanied by music.

“I took a kinesiology class, and that’s where I got
the idea for breath. I thought it would be interesting to try to
dance without musical accompaniment and try to dance with your
internal rhythm,” Agdeppa said.

Meredith Flores, also a fourth-year WAC student, was inspired by
memories of people who have come in and out of her life, especially
her family and friends in the Philippines.

“Memory may serve as a vehicle to our past, but (it) can
also reflect a distortion of the truth,” Flores said.

Flores uses jazz and modern dance with a video presentation for
her piece, “Did I Remember Right … Right …
Right?”

Not all the projects are dance performances, however. The
students were given a lot of freedom in choosing a method of
display ““ the only restraint was to come up with a thesis on
which to base their project.

Fourth-year WAC student Monica Gray wrote a paper on Bruin Walk
and decided to put it into a monologue and video. Her piece, titled
“Bruin Walk,” is based on her belief that the
thoroughfare is a microcosm of the UCLA campus.

“I’m trying to be funny, entertaining. It’s a
new thing that I’m exploring. I’m a dancer, and
I’ve never done anything like this before,” Gray
said.

Others explore personal cultural issues. Vanessa Sinai, a
fourth-year WAC student with a cultural studies concentration, is
presenting a photography and writing exhibit titled, “Cuba
Querida ““ A Study of the Jewish Diaspora in Cuba.” Her
father is a Cuban Jew, both of her grandparents being Jewish
immigrants to Cuba.

“I went there last summer. I had a visa and brought
humanitarian aid. This project is an important milestone in
understanding my own cultural identity,” Sinai said.

With such a wide array of performances and issues addressed,
“Go Figure!” seems a fitting title.

“Its very WAC,” Gray said.