WAC moves into its Kaufman home

What was once sympathy for the well-Westwood-traveled WAC
student may turn into envy. The World Arts and Cultures department
has moved from its temporary Kinross Avenue address to its home at
Glorya Kaufman Hall, the newly reopened building on campus.

“Now I actually feel like I go to UCLA and not just some
random building in Westwood,” fourth-year WAC student Marissa
Ruazol said.

Yet Kaufman Hall boasts far more than proximity. Newly
renovated, it has five new dance studios, three theaters ““
one outdoors ““ and numerous classrooms and multimedia labs.
Thanks to Kaufman’s generosity and love for the arts, the
building has come a long way from the women’s gym it once was
in the 1930s. To some, state of the art is an inadequate
description of the new facility.

“It is up to the minute,” Dan Froot, WAC faculty,
alumni and event producer of “WAC Is Back,” said.

To celebrate its new home, the WAC department will host an open
house Oct. 22 from 1 to 5 p.m., aptly titled

“WAC is Back.”

There will be performances on three different stages by alumni,
students, faculty and special guests, film screenings and music and
dance workshops.

Glorya Kaufman Dance Theatre will be inaugurated with the
Faculty Festival of Performances on Oct. 20-22 at 8 p.m.

“It is a time to acknowledge where the department has come
from and what it is looking forward to,” Froot said.

“We are a part of the culture landscape; we are a player
on the scene, and we want to have a lively dialogue with all L.A.
audiences.”

But a new building is not all the WAC department is celebrating.
This year marks the department’s 10th anniversary. The WAC
department merged with the dance department in 1995 and added the
interdepartmental folklore department in 2001, to make the WAC of
today.

“(We) wanted to find a way to address the 21st century and
the complex issues of the contemporary world ““ to work
together with the idea of thematic connections rather than
traditional, disciplinary boundaries,” said Angelie Leung,
WAC faculty festival producer and vice chair in undergraduate
studies.

With so much growth and exploration behind and in front of it,
and the not-to-be-forgotten new domicile, the WAC department has
much cause for festivity this quarter. Yet while the Glorya Kaufman
weekend celebration may be spurred by WAC being back on campus, the
department’s life and vigor never really faded.

“It’s not the building, it’s who inhabits
it,” says Leung. “My vision is that it will draw in
people who want to break boundaries and activists who want to
provide greater contributions to our society.”