Our Side

Yvon Guzman Rangel
CHASS spring 09
Professor Scott
Our Side
Dance is the expression of movement and through movement we are able to transmit political messages. It is the way in which we choose to address the issues and execute the movements that evokes a response from the audience. Juicy R decided to address the lack of school spirit at the University of California Riverside. Because this issue is so broad several speculation can arise. Juicy R argued that the lack of school spirit is due to the division among student. Yet we are the most diverse campus in the UC system there is an absence of unity with in the campus community.
To accurately project this image Juicy R choose to incorporate three distinct forms of music. All of which would represent different people that attend UCR. To further illustrate the division among the students we divide into three groups all of which would dance to a different songs. Juicy R decided to incorporate movements that we have learned in class. We focused around the Orissa Iemanja because her colors are blue and white. This is relevant to the dance because we chose it as the main color in our costumes. Several of the Orissa’s hand movements can be seen throughout the dances. Since Iemanja’s accoutrement is a fan we used our hands as our main prop. In the first dance we used to our palm and brought them near our face to symbolize the action of waving a fan. In the second dance the group used hands to emphasize the bouncy rhythmic undertone of the song. The last group constantly moved their hands to symbolized a fan. Iemanja’s accoutrement and color where applied to the dance because it is an effective way of fusing the lack of school unify with the class course.
Garments can also be used as non-violent political weapons. This is one of the most effective ways in communicating messages without the use of verbal resonance. By taking this into consideration Juicy R articulated that even though we are a divided campus there is still one thing that unites us all. It is the fact that we attend UCR. By being an assistant costume designer the idea of using one color with single letters printed on the front side of a shirt. The shirt would spell out UCR when we came together in a line. As each group member stood side by side we indicated to the audience that we are able to stand together even though we are different. This was incorporated into to the end of the choreography when we lined up and chanted in unison, “U… C… Riverside Come On.” Another element that was used to unify the three group where the streamers. Streamers where made on a low budget essentially each individual possessed two steamers that where made out of paper and chopsticks. Being the most colorful props meant that it had to be used at the end in order to emphasize the unification of the member with in the group. By chanting together we became one instead of an individual. This was another way in effectively representing the issue that we chose to argue.
Juicy R was one of the largest groups. This meant that we needed more time in order to properly execute the hand movements that represented Iemanja. The cut back on time placed a time constraint at the beginning of the routine. This made group “U” run onto the stage and dance to the song without a proper entrance. This affected the visual representation of the dance because it seemed as if we where rushing through the movements and not enjoying them. By affecting the begging of the routine, it is plausible to indicate that the ending was also rushed. Since the streamers visually attracted most of the attention it would have been effective to chant “U… C… Riverside Come On” twice instead of once because the chant gave Juicy R a final stated of purpose. Which was to bring awareness to the lack of unity at UCR.
It is accurate to state that the performance was well thought out. The only cut back was the limited amount of time. Juicy R attempted to incorporate various elements that were used inside and outside of class to bluntly address the issue of school unity. By using the color blue to represent Iemanja as well as the school colors we effectively synchronized two concepts into one. This is relevant to how Condomble came to be with the fusion of several religions. The performance was accurately executed and accurately represented the issue. As an individual I learned that dance can encompass and represent political issues. Therefore parades are effective tools that can reach multiple crowds.