UCLA SPCN 2007

I just woke up after driving all night after the 7 PM show at UCLA. Man that drive is vicious. The 101 is hypnotizing when you stare at it too long. Then you do the wake-up face-shaking sequence best described by Lightning McQueen's trailer when he was taking him to the big race.

Anyway, the show was overall pretty good. Clocked in about 4 hours with intermission, the cast accomplished a lot with their time onstage. To give you an idea of how the show was organized, the overlying theme was Balikbayan (which means "returning home"), and they cleverly broke that theme into three skits that portrayed different aspects of the Filipino experience. First was a story of US immigration dodging, second was a story set in Lebanon during a war, and third was a romantic story of a journalist and a filmmaker documenting political killings in the Philippines. They all explored the character's notions of "home" and it was heartwarming. I liked how they brought it all together at the airport, where the characters had nary the thought that their fates were intertwined. (Aww...)

However, one critique I would have is their use of dance to evoke emotion in between scenes. At first, I really didn't know what was going on, and when I did, I felt it disrupted the flow of the show, even though the connections can be read in the given programs. I felt their actors did a great job showing emotion, and the one good segue they had was in the play set in Lebanon, where the main character (my sister, Angelica, who did a great job by the way. Only in the internet will I admit that I did cry, which doesn't really make a lot of sense. But whatever.) was in prayer and it segued to a song with their choir in the background. That was really nice! I mean, the solemnity of prayer was given strength as the harmonized voices echoed off the walls, giving the impression that for the main character, faith and prayer implies courage rather than a loss of reasonable hope. The cast had some great actors (it is LA!) so I feel their use of dance to evoke an emotion of the play instead disrupted it.

Given, it is really hard to figure out a way to mix dance and skits, and I think it has been the quest for every campus that has a PCN. Shit, Filipinos have written papers on that in the past. Flashbacks, TV shows, interpretive dance...

But, more importantly, UCLA is famous for Samahang Modern. I should talk about that.

DAMN. (followed with some stuttering, blubbering, and incomprehensive jibber-jabber)

Modern really tore it up last night. They really showed that within Filipino American culture, there's a reason why Filipinos gravitate towards dancing. IT'S BECAUSE THEY'RE REALLY GOOD AT IT.

Their first set was alright, but little did I know that they were just playing with the haters in the crowd with that set. The second set, called "Hypnotize" was the definition of dope. They got me off my seat while I was sippin my champagne, smoking my cigar with a suede jacket and a monocle on, to krump my clothes off, just go dumb. Their music choice, choreography, formations, was all perfect, and I really just want to watch it over, and over, and over, and over, and over...

It even made me think of choreographed dance as something Filipino's could call their own in the sphere of arts within "Hip-Hop." It's something that is well represented in many campuses versions of "Modern," and dance companies do exist with a lot of Filipino's represented in it. Seeing one of the best perform (pardon me, do their thang) really does put everything in perspective.

Phew. I worked up a sweat there. Overall, I really had a great time at UCLA (minus the drive back to Salinas at 12 AM) and it was even sweeter when the tickets were FREE.99. And here's my mandatory yell at the internets through my mic (or maybe just a rolled up piece of paper) : GREAT JOB, CAST AND CREW OF UCLA'S SPCN 2007!