Hip-hop groups lack space in Wooden Center
Dance team ACA Hip-Hop practices in UCLA Parking Structure 4 because it has been unable to reserve a practice space in the Wooden Center this year.
By Devin Kelly
May 4, 2010 10:07 p.m.
“Baby let me love you down …” The voice of Usher blasts from an iPod speaker perched atop the back of a parked golf cart. Decked out in an array of outfits and loose-laced shoes, the hip-hop dancers of Samahang Modern jump, bend and try to ignore the cars circling in search of a parking spot in the dimly lit structure behind them.
Concrete replaces wood floors as high demand for space in the Wooden Center forces some student groups to resort to using alternative venues for practice. The UCLA hip-hop teams, which include ACA Hip-Hop, NSU Modern, Samahang Modern and VSU Modern, are some of the most consistent users of on-campus parking structures.
A floor below Samahang Modern, the hip-hop branch of the Association of Chinese Americans prepares to run through a set for the UCLA Battle Royale competition on May 13 at the Key Club on Sunset Strip. The team spreads out into the space between the parked cars. The boom box is brought out as far as the extension cord next to the elevator will allow, and the opening of “How Low Can You Go” by Trick Daddy comes on.
Coordinator Randy Lau turns up the volume, and the space in between the cars becomes a stage.
“It’s not very sophisticated,” said Lau, a fifth-year mechanical engineering student.
That much is clear when the dancers are interrupted five minutes later by a gray Kia that practically drives into the middle of the set, honking repeatedly and forcing the team to scatter.
“This is why parking lots suck,” said Kait Boal, a fourth-year mathematics/economics student and ACA Hip-Hop coordinator, in frustration.
The dancers agree that an ideal setup would be practices on wood floors in front of mirrors in the John Wooden Center. But space is limited.
“There are a lot of organizations trying to compete for Wooden time,” Lau said, in addition to other Wooden center activities.
In the four years that Lauren Camarillo has been a part of Samahang Modern at UCLA, increasing limitations have steadily whittled down practice time in the Wooden Center.
“This year, so many organizations (and) classes request(ed) room space that we have not been able to reserve a room in Wooden at all,” Camarillo said in a message.
Rudy Figueroa, the assistant director of student recreation venues, said the Wooden Center recognizes the need of the hip-hop groups in addition to other cultural groups.
He said he plans to meet with an Undergraduate Students Association Council representative to look at patterns of the last three years of activities programming and compile research on which student groups are requesting space.
“We are advocates for recreational space,” Figueroa said. “Recreation is getting on board with what the need is out there.”
One idea at the forefront for the future is the potential conversion of racquetball courts into a dance studio. No constructional changes or seismic projects are on the immediate horizon, but short-term solutions include a reduction in open recreation space to serve the needs of a greater number of individuals.
In the interim, the hip hop-teams ““ ACA Hip-Hop, Nikkei Student Union, Samahang Modern and a new group, Vietnamese Student Union ““ continue to coordinate for space in the parking structures.
“Before each year all the leadership meets up to set up who gets what parking lot,” said Chrisselle Ebrero, a third-year molecular, cell and developmental biology student and Samahang Modern coordinator.
Conflicts are fairly unusual, but the start of spring quarter was “an explosion of culture nights and fraternity and sorority dance competitions,” Lau said.
The biggest complaint, in addition to noise, poor ventilation and low temperatures, is the lack of mirrors.
“Not having a mirror makes it hard to put together a clean, cohesive choreography,” Boal said.
First-year mechanical engineering student Patrick Li said he has to picture himself doing the moves.
In addition, the wooden floor of a typical gym provides a flexible surface. The concrete of the parking structure is rock solid and potentially unforgiving on a dancer’s body.
Kara Ricks, a fourth-year sociology student and ACA dancer who has had problems with shin splints, said injuries are a big concern.
“I’m about to turn 22, and you begin to notice these things ““ concrete starts to be a bigger issue,” she said.
And yet, the college student schedule makes the parking lot the only viable option, Ricks said. At night ““ the only time teams can practice as a group ““ outdoor areas are too dark and cold, and sprinkler systems pose an added risk. The teams occasionally use the gym in Hedrick Hall as a practice space, but the carpeted surface and noise level are limiting.
In general, shortages of both activity and meeting space constitute an ongoing issue at UCLA.
“It’s a really big theme on this campus,” Figueroa said. “We do have a voice, and our voice is being heard, but for now we are looking into our facilities and seeing what we can do with the space we have.”
The hip-hop teams feel they deserve a space of their own; ACA Hip-Hop, NSU Modern and Samahang Modern regularly participate and place in competitions with schools from around the state. Three teams representing one school is highly unusual, Boal said. As an increasingly visible part of UCLA dance culture, the dancers feel they are rising up from the underground, at least in one way.
“These are people who spend thousands of hours dancing to make a name for UCLA,” Ricks said. “It would have to take administrative or institutional change to realize the importance of these dance teams.”
