A Smash Hit

World arts and cultures students often joke about their
department, whether it’s by wearing shirts emblazoned with
the statement “My Major is WAC” or by joining the
“WAC = We Are CRAZY” Facebook group. However, the
upcoming “WACSmash” performance proves that the talent
and dedication of those in the WAC department are anything but a
joke.

The World Arts and Cultures Undergraduate Society has produced
“WACSmash” ““ a full-length, professional-quality,
live show ““ annually for six years. WACSmash gives world arts
and cultures students a chance to perform in a professional
setting. It is scheduled to run Friday through Sunday at Glorya
Kaufman Hall.

“(Without “˜WACSmash’), you have to wait until
your senior year to perform as you would in the professional
world,” said Mo Marmesh, a fourth-year world arts and
cultures and communication studies student, who is the co-producer
of the show. “Students meet with the faculty members to get
professional critiques on their work. It’s a good way to
learn about performing and for making friends and connections in
the department.”

“WACSmash” teaches students about entering the real
world as a professional artist of performer. The audition process,
for example, follows the same requirements and guidelines that one
would follow to obtain a grant. The process allows the
choreographers to fully develop an idea into a performance.

“The choreographer has to try to make the idea come to
life, to the point where a lighting designer can set the lights for
the show, or costumes can be realized,” Marmesh said.

This performance consists of over 100 performers presenting 19
different pieces, with dance styles such as Mexican Folklorico,
hip-hop, tap, jazz, samba, Tahitian, ballet, modern and more,
including several multimedia pieces.

“It’s a multimedia event and very eclectic mix of
art. There’s dance, video and spoken word. It shows what WAC
is about ““ being very diverse,” said Marissa Ruazol, a
fourth-year world arts and cultures student and co-producer of
“WACSmash.” In addition to co-producing the event,
Ruazol will also be presenting a modern acrobatic ballet piece.

This will be the first year that “WACSmash” is
presented in Glorya Kaufman Hall, which reopened at the beginning
of fall quarter after a three-year renovation.

“A lot of people have not been to the Glorya Kaufman
building, so this is a way of opening the building to show what WAC
students are all about,” Ruazol said.

In previous years, the event took place at the Freud Playhouse,
which seats around 500 people. The theater in Kaufman Hall holds a
smaller capacity of approximately 250, but the decrease in audience
size does not worry those involved.

“We feel more at home. We’re in a theater that we
rehearse in, go to class in,” Ruazol said. “It’s
much different than being in a theater that you perform only once
in.”

Sebastian Peters-Lazaro, a fourth-year cultural studies student,
will present a dance for camera piece, in which a dance is filmed
and later shown in a performance setting, occasionally alongside
live dance. “This genre is gaining more popularity and more
visibility, so it’s great to have it involved with the
performance,” he said.

Peters-Lazaro’s dance for camera piece, titled
“Subtleties,” is a film that features a small group of
five dancers.

“We’re basically subtly dancing around the Getty
Center,” Peters-Lazaro said. “It’s about social
isolation in public places. You go with certain people somewhere;
you stay with those people, and don’t really notice others
around you.”

The film is accompanied by a small live performance, although
the main focus is the film.

“It ranges from pedestrian movements to more obvious dance
moves. It’s as subtle as us all drinking our coffee at the
same time, or all turning our heads at the same time, although
there are more traditional dance movements,” Peters-Lazaro
said.