Spring Sing 2021 reflects UCLA students’ struggles, hope for the future

Despite the year of distance, Spring Sing’s heartfelt performances brought students closer together.

Performed live Friday night, the Student Alumni Association’s annual show featured prerecorded video performances, including music, dance and comedy sketches. Although the performance was online for its second year in a row, the show captured a variety of artistic visions in an effort to unite the student body. While many of the performances illustrated the emotional journeys from the past year of isolation, they took on a hopeful tone for a more connected future. To start the show, Spring Sing’s executive director and fourth-year Arabic and dance student Bella Stenvall acknowledged the hard work the students put into the show and its importance in connecting the student body.

“Never has it been so important to use art to elevate the diverse stories that make up our Bruin family and shape the crucial moments of joy, laughter and catharsis that keep us connected and resilient,” Stenvall said.

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Opening the show, third-year theater student Kay Sibal performed her original song, “Finally See,” over a video of her dancing cheerfully. Adding more energy to Sibal’s joyful tone, the a cappella group Deviant Voices performed DNCE’s “Pay My Rent” while clips of different individual members singing and dancing in various locations played.

The mood shifted, however, with “Angelecies,” a dance performance by Devin Mallory telling the story of a broken relationship with a father. Moving to a mix of the song “So This Is Love” from Cinderella paired with emotional audio from “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” Mallory combined both graceful and sudden movements in his performance.

Many of the show’s artists captured the complex emotions felt after the challenging year the world has faced. A cappella group ScatterTones performed their version of the Beatles’ song, “Here Comes the Sun,” reflecting feelings of hope for the future. Their video showed UCLA students exploring different natural environments such as deep canyons, snowy forests and rushing lakes to contrast with the year spent indoors.

Other groups such as Ulani and Kenedea, however, focused on the deep emotional turmoil felt during the past year, singing “Then the planet woke me up / ground shaking hard as hell.” With slow vocals and an emphasis on the piano, the two performed in a smoky environment, featuring shots of the two lounging on a couch or staring emotionlessly accompanied the soft notes.

Interwoven with these performances were comedy sketches by Company members, many of which played with the new social norms of the the COVID-19 pandemic. Multiple sketches particularly emphasized the increased social awkwardness, with one featuring two girls being unable to recognize who they are talking to because of their masks. Another sketch advertised the “Ashe Guide to In-Person Interaction,” and an additional one featured a music video about stolen college life.

[Related: Company aims to unite students with humor relevant to all in Spring Sing sketches]

After a brief intermission, footage of this year’s celebrity mentors advising the performers highlighted their contributions to the show. Artists such as Bishop Briggs, Tank and the Bangas, Tim Russ and Marc E. Bassy were among those featured voicing words of encouragement.

As the show progressed into its second half, there were performances showcasing both playful and more serious themes. Strong guitar melodies in songwriter Dina Dove’s song, “Call Me When You Have Time,” paired with bright, colorful footage, contributed to the song’s lighthearted pop-rock vibes. In contrast, the golden lighting and gentle guitar in Swati’s “Brown” expressed her struggles as a woman of color within a white world.

Nearing the show’s end, hope for the future in the face of the pandemic reappeared to inspire artists such as second-year musical theater student Paravi Das. Her first original song, “Happy Place,” expressed making the most of life with lyrics such as “I’m waking up again / I wanna feel the sun on my skin,” and “I’m taking back the door you stole.” The yellow, blue and pink imagery, along with footage of her smiling in open fields, complemented the earnest instrumentals of the song and contributed to its optimistic tone.

Once the final performance had concluded, viewers voted for their favorite Company sketch along with their favorite performance. After several minutes of live voting, the favorite sketch was revealed to be “1/2 of College,” – centering on the seniors’ lost college time – and the winner of Spring Sing was announced to be the jazz group Silva from the Herb Alpert School of Music for their performance of their passionate song “Dance in Your Love.” As recognized by Stenvall at the beginning of the night, all the student contributions showcased throughout the event allowed Spring Sing to unite a distanced student body.

“Our Spring Sing has come to mean more than stadium applause or celebrity appearances,” Stenvall said. “It is a celebration of our collective strength and creativity.”