Spring Sing 2015: ACA Hip Hop
The Association of Chinese Americans’ dance exhibition will open the second half of Spring Sing on Saturday. Showcasing a wide range of hip-hop styles, the group will open its set with a dance choreographed to Flume’s remix of Lorde’s “Tennis Courts.” (Heidy Cadena/Daily Bruin)
By Kelsey Stern
May 15, 2015 1:00 a.m.
At the Bridge 2014 competition, ACA Hip Hop’s winning performance was recorded. The video has garnered more than 800,000 views on YouTube since.
“Some people (on the team) would walk to class and they would see some people on their phones watching the video,” said second-year bioengineering student Rachel Fujikawa. “They would post it in our Facebook group and be like ‘Look guys, someone’s watching us and I don’t know them.’”
On Saturday, attendees of Spring Sing will see some of the pieces from that winning set live at Pauley Pavilion.
The Association of Chinese Americans’ dance exhibition will open the second half of Spring Sing. The hip-hop group’s performance will be a mix of its fall and spring sets.
Since the majority of ACA’s performances and competitions are off campus, Fujikawa said Spring Sing is one of the group’s only opportunities to perform in front of fellow UCLA students.
Fujikawa said dance is an important part of Spring Sing because it allows the audience to experience music interpreted in a different form. She said while singers use lyrics to give meaning to music, dancers use physical movements to portray their message.
Jasmine Lin, a second-year communication studies student, said ACA’s exhibition will feature a wide range of hip-hop styles. She said some of the pieces are hard-hitting and sassy, while others are more somber.
“What’s really awesome about this year is the diversity of our set, how once the song changes, our mood entirely changes,” Lin said. “There’s not a boring moment in the set because we are always bringing a new emotion.”
The opening dance is choreographed to Flume’s remix of Lorde’s “Tennis Courts,” Lin said. This piece will help bring energy to the crowd, which is what she said the judges expect of the dance exhibitions.
The last piece of the set will act as a tribute to the seniors and members leaving the crew, Lin said. She said the song they will dance to, “Farewell” by Witness, has no lyrics and the meaning is conveyed through organic and flowing movements.
Lin said it will be interesting for the Spring Sing audience to watch a more emotional dance from a hip-hop group, since she said ACA is more commonly known for energetic dances.
“I want to (break) that label because I think that our choreographers and our dancers are a lot more than just a hype group,” Lin said. “We have a really artistic side that people, who don’t dance and just see from the outside, can’t tell.”
