Whos side?! R-SIDE!!

David Vargas

Prof. Scott

Brazilian Dance

June 10, 2009

Overall I believe our performance as a group was a success. I believe our theme was a success and what we were trying to portray was really shown in the way our dance was choreographed. All the important elements needed to make this themed dance a success were included. The major elements for our dance include things such as the choreography, music, signs, gestures, costumes and props. These elements were require to help us not only portray the dance itself but to really give it a good vibe, a vibe that the audience would be able to detect and know what we were trying to convey across.

I believe overall our group project was a success. I believe this because all members of the group participated and took care of what they needed too. There was no weakest link and everyone did their part to make this a successful project. The theme of Juicy-R was the Riversides lack of school spirit and how the absence of a football team and other elements has really affected school spirit here in Riverside. My role in the group was to be in charge of the music, and play the music at the right time in what order. However, the group as a whole came to the conclusion of choosing which songs we were going to incorporate into the parade.

I think our parade was successful in representing the theme of no school spirit in various aspects. We first started out with a couple of skits to see how those would work out, and then we started with songs that would incorporate into the dance together. The choreography was mostly constructed by other people but it had to be worked with the sound so it would go together and make a successful dance.

As far as gestures went there wasn’t too many. We did our best to look lively and really into the dance. At the end of different songs groups would throw up their hands in several ways. Others made hand gestures during the dance that would incorporate the song and theme. The hand gestures came in and were incorporated into the theme of no school spirit. We portrayed how lame and weird it can be to not have any school spirit due to things such as no football team.

Costumes were a confusing task because we did not know what we could come up. Although the job was for the costume person everyone had an opinion to what the costumes could be. They also had to be connected to the choreography and the song itself. It came down to being blue shirts with UCR on one individual shirt. Another thing that we used was sticks with colored ribbons, the colors of UCR. Similar to the idea of pong pongs used by cheerleaders. This portrayed the idea of school spirit at the end of our dance.

During the process of this dance I learned many new things. One which was it is difficult to work with a group in college when everyone is on tight schedules. Most important things I learned though were the different dance of samba, Capoeira, along with others is that there is meaning to body movement. These types of dances could be incorporated to our theme. At first I found these different dances a bit complex and never learnable, but after long tries and effort I found out that it was fairly easy with plenty of practice.

"Don't You See That We Are The Best"

University of California, Riverside is one of the most diverse universities. We have students from different ethnicities, cultures, believes, and customs. I believe that being part of a diverse campus should make us feel proud and gratified. Interacting with students from different ethnicities can make a difference in our lives inside and outside of school by influencing our social life. We learn to accept each other’s believes and point of views. Having people from different backgrounds should unite us more and show that we have school spirit at all times.

Therefore, our group decided to choose the theme “Lack of School Spirit.” The reason we choose this theme was because as students we have notice that although we are in a diverse campus, there is no unity among us. If we pay close attention as we walk around campus, we will notice the way certain groups hang out with their own ethnic group. Of course, there is no problem with that but this shows that we need to interact with everyone around us and we should all feel included-not excluded from our campus.

To begin, the name that we decided to name our team was “JuicyR.” At first, I heard Alex shouting “Juicy” I was not that convinced. However, after I yelled out “R” our group thought of putting both words together “Juicy-R.” I started to like that idea of the name but then I thought of myself of how the name would fit according to our theme. But as we began our objective everything started to make sense. The objective of our theme was to demonstrate that through music any one can come together and show how much spirit we can give out if we are all united.

Consequently, after choosing our theme that’s when our mission began! Choosing our choreography, music, signs, gestures, chants, costumes, and props was a challenge. First, we began by meeting at the library. At the first meeting, we discussed where and the time we were going to start meeting and confirming with each other what was each other’s position in the group. Also, we mentioned who was going to be part of our performance and we concluded that it would be best for everyone to perform and demonstrate spirit no matter how bad of performers we are.

In overall, the first meeting set the beginning of a great experience. As for my part, I began new friendships and was able to feel that experience again of working as a team.
Axel, Melissa, and Stephanie; our choreographers, came up with the idea of dividing our team into 3 groups. The reason they concluded by diving the team was because the objective of our performance was to send the message across of how united a group of people belonging to a certain place can become through music and dance. The team was divided into 3 groups, “U” crew, “C” crew, and “R” crew; representing UCR. That was to represent the separation among UCR and the lack of spirit.

Each crew had their own music and dance movements. Our performance was divided into four sections. First, each crew had their own music and dance movements. The first section it was the “U”, second the “C”, and third the “R” performance. Before each crew did their performance they would shout their name and demonstrate through gestures that they were superior from the other crews, demonstrating the separateness between the groups. For instance, my crew had to say "Don't You See That We Are The Best." As each group presented their dance, the other groups would make gestures to demonstrate that they were not better than our own crew. The “U” crew represented the Oxum. They represented the god of love and carry mirror as an accoutrement, suggesting that she is in vain. As for our team representing Oxum was to show that our school is in vain for the lack of school spirit. Lastly, after everyone had presented their dance we all came together to dance everyone’s choreography. Thus, the fourth section was to represent unity among us by dancing altogether. Our audience was impressed of what we had come up with. I know and I am confident that they understood the message of our group.

Consequently, after having the dance ready we had to decide which costumes we were going to be wearing. We had decided to have the name of our group spray painted in shirts. However, due to certain circumstances we were not able to use those shirts. However, later since our theme was “Lack of School Spirit” the group decided to have the letter printed of each letter of the name of our university, “U”, “C”, “R”, and thus each group would wear the letter that they belonged to. At the end, we choose to use streamers to get our message across that we all need to unite and be school spirited.

Most importantly, my experience of being part of a dance group was great. I was able to establish new friendships and have a sense of responsibility. In this process, I learned to be committed. Having this assignment was very helpful, and I believe it was for everyone as well, everyone was able to come together and form a small family at school. Meeting and having constant communication with my peers was awesome; I was able to know them quite more and was able to feel comfortable. I was able to express my ideas without any problem and everyone was comprehensive.

Being part of the “JuicyR” team was amazing, we all worked together as a team. We all gave out our best and I know everyone put an effort to make this possible. Thanks guys!

I would also like to thank Professor Ana Scott, Ryan, Ana, and Kim. They were very supportive and made our first year a great experience.
by
Monica Mendez

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.

UCR: Uniting Us as One

UCR: Uniting Us as One
Posted by Carlos Salazar

Of all the UC campuses, UCR has been fortunate enough to be given the title of “the most diverse campus.” In fact, on a national scale, the University of California, Riverside ranks second among all college campuses in overall diversity. This honor really does not mean much because as an entire campus, we are separated in groups. There is no unity between us, which leaves UCR as any other common campus. The lack of unity acts as a chain reaction to a series of issues. The disunity that exists between the different cliques and groups does not allow the school to have as much school spirit as we should. As a group, we decided to address this problem as the topic for our parade. We entitled our group “Juicy R” to give us something to smile about while we were preparing to complete the parade.
The ideas for our parade took some time to develop. At first, most of us seemed hesitant to participate and suggest anything. Once we had become a bit more comfortable with each other, the ideas began to flow with more ease. The fourteen of us collaborated (yes, our group was big) to select the theme of school disunity in a diverse campus. Everyone began to agree with the jobs and duties that each member would be responsible for. More importantly, we made sure that everyone had an assignment so that we could all contribute. Once we had the choreographers and music members ready, we were ready to begin the rehearsal. One main aspect that the choreographers and music members had to be sure of was difference between them. We could not have similar movements or tunes because we needed to depict different people on campus.



The music was meant to show that there was diversity within us while representing the different people. Each of our members had a specific duty that would help cover the broad and narrow details of our parade. As soon as everything was in place, we began to organize our parade to accommodate our theme. In order to address the theme of school disunity, we had to be separated. Since there were fourteen of us, we decided that the best way to express this would be to split everyone into groups. Our choreographers were Axel, Melissa, and Stephanie. Each of them created their own dance that went hand in hand with the music. We had three different groups within our parade. Each one was presenting different music with a unique choreography. Axel’s group, which I was a part of, used the music from a video titled “Nostalgia Afrika Dance Machine.” The group that Melissa was in charge of danced to the music from Bonde Do Role, which has a type of funk style music. Stephanie’s group danced to a song called Soul Bossa Nova by Quincy Jones. Each of the groups had their own dance to learn. This was when we used our creativity to connect the groups together, despite the evident separation.



Even though we were split up, we used small details to show there was some connection between us. The long hours of practice saw us perform our dances to near perfection. Each of our sub-groups worked hard to dance in unison. We each wore navy blue shirts with different letters. These letters, which were “U”, “C”, and “R”, were meant to demonstrate three different groups who together could form something absolutely grand. We felt that in order to really capture the entire message that we had the timing of our movements and dances needed to be precise. During the actual performance on June 4, 2009, the disunity between us was very clear. While the first two groups were performing, we talked amongst ourselves and expressed the disagreement that we had towards them. The last of the three groups was mine, which included Axel, Monica, David, and me. Our music represented more authenticity, which reached out to the other two groups. The movement that our dance required and the catchy music led to them wanting to jump on the “R” express. The fourteen of us then made one single line to demonstrate that a little influence can go a long way. We incorporated a bit of choreography from each sub-group to show that each different group had learned something from the others.



At the end of our group’s entire performance, we made a quick cheer in which all of us remarked, “UC Riverside, come on!” At the same time, we took some streamers out from our pockets and waved them to embellish our dancing. When our jobs were first assigned, I took the responsibility of finding a parade route. This would be location of our group’s performance. A few of the locations that we were taking into serious consideration was to parade around the Bell Tower or in front of the Humanities building. This job eventually had to be discarded because Professor Scott gave us an actual parade route for everyone to follow. Everyone else already had their jobs set, so I couldn’t really interfere with the work that was in progress or nearly completed. When I found out that the parade route was going to be given to us, I had to improvise and find something to do that our group still needed. Even though the navy blue shirts were a perfect tool for our parade, I still felt that there was something missing. The shirts had different letters (U, C, and R) for the different group members. Once we were all together, though, we did not have a uniform prop to demonstrate our unity. I seized this opportunity to create the props for our group. We discussed several possibilities for this, and we finally agreed that streamers would be great for our parade. We kept them in our pockets and they would not be used until all three groups were in a single line. After we completed the different elements of each dance, we would then take out the streamers (right before our cheer). At that point, we would all exit while happily waving our streamers and continuing to move rhythmically.



In terms of our performance, it was not performed to the best of our abilities. I personally thought that there were a few rehearsals where we had performed with better timing and more of a free spirit. Prior to the actual performance, we practiced our routine many times to ensure that this would not be an issue. For the most part, the attendance in practice was satisfactory. There was one member who did not prioritize the group and instead put his attention on other activities. Other than the slow start, there weren’t too many issues that we had to worry about. The opportunity to participate in this samba class was a privilege. When I first came in, I honestly did not know what to expect. The talk of a parade left me wondering what is was that we were going to do. The weeks went by and I was practicing and rehearsing with my group before I could even realize it. The parade project proved that we could be creative with no boundaries and create an amazing performance. I was exposed to a new realm of music that I was completely unfamiliar with. I was not up to speed with the movements that were required in our dance. With some more practice, though, it should be done. The “Juicy R” team showed that our school just needs to have a different mentality. Most of the pieces to create a unified campus are already in place. It is up to us to go out, reach, and transform UCR into a school with more spirit.

Lack Of School Spirit Within UCR!!!

Cynthia Lopez

The theme group Juicy R chose was “lack of school spirit.” As a group, we believed that UCR lacked school spirit. UCR is known for being the number one campus in student diversity. This means that our school enrolls the most diverse students than any other UC. Even though, our school has such a diverse community, the campus lacks unity among its students. By this I mean that students do not diverse among themselves. Even though we are a diverse campus, we do not show unity within one another. For example, we still stick to the same people we feel more comfortable hanging around with. We usually hang around with people with the same ethnicity we have. I am not saying all of us do so, but most of us students are not open to other cultures. I believe that if we as students connect more and unite all together, no matter the race or ethnicity, we can show school sprit. By everyone interacting with one another, we can all show more UCR school spirit.

As a group we all decided that we had to show lack of unity in UCR within our presentation. We did this by splitting into three groups within our own group. We all were part of UCR by representing a letter, either a U, a C, or an R. The costumes we decided to wear, was a T-shirt with the letter our group represented. I was part of the C group. We all represented a different ethnic group with a different dance. Group U danced to a modern Brazilian song. Group C danced to a 70’s Brazilian song. Last, but not least, group R danced to a samba song. The music our team used was Bossa Nova. The song represented a specific time and culture. Instead of using different ethnic groups to represent the people that attend UCR., we used songs to represent the different cultures here at the University of California Riverside. The choreography of our entire parade was created by Melissa, Stephanie, and Axel. We all had a chance to represent our group or letter. Our parade walk was created in order to represent the letter we were part of. At the beginning of our dance, each group was separated. Group U showed their dance, then groups C and R. Our dances were all different, representing the difference cultures students at UCR have. We did not have unity within the dances we all had to represent. Each group did their own thing. The gestures we made were ones that showed how we were apart and disprove of each others dance. This part of our dance showed the lack of unity we as student had. At the end of our parade, everything turned around. Each group came together to show how unity within students showed more school sprit. At the end of our parade, we all showed a part of our dance to one another. We all joined in in dancing to all the different Brazilian songs. We united as a whole representing our school by spelling out UCR. This union allowed us to show school spirit. At the end of the parade we all celebrated and chanted to our schools name. Through our parade, group Juicy R showed how without unity there is lack of school spirit within UCR.

My job as part of the Juicy R group, was to find a practice location to practice our parade route. I worked with Yvon on this assignment. I agreed with her that the REC Center was a great spot to practice our dance in. I asked to reserve the room; unfortunately, I was not able to get the room because reservations were only allowed for school organizations. I tried telling the coordinator that it was for our dance final, but she refused to schedule us to use the room. We ended up practicing in one of Pentlant’s study lounges. At the end the practice all worked out for the best. During the process I learned that as a UCR student, I do not get involve in no kind of activities occurring on campus. I saw that not only me, but also many other students at UC Riverside were not connected nor united as we should be. The process made me realize how much fun it is to show school spirit and get involve. I noticed that I had not attended as many UCR athletic events as I wish I should to support and demonstrate my school spirit. Through out the process I learned that the class had so much to offer. People can take this class for granted and see it just as another dance class; but it is more than that. Dancing takes many factors involved in it, from movements, techniques, style and meaning. Through our parade I experience what Dr. Scott meant with everything she thought us about dancing and movement. Applying all the concepts she taught us in class was a great experience in understanding better the course material.

If I was to continue with the piece I would add more choreography at the end of the piece. I would definitely show more unity and sprit at the end of the piece. Maybe we could had added people to join in our parade. For example, we could have asked basketball players, soccer, players, professors, and even cheerleaders to help us demonstrate the unity that UC Riverside can show. I would definitely suggest to my group to add more people to our parade. This would allow us to show what our theme was, “school spirit,” from the perspective of everyone in the campus.

U's choreography and How It All Came Together

By: Melissa Rivera

Picking sides is never easy-- unless, of course, if you're part of Juicy R! We picked our groups according to the way happened to be standing in class one day. U, C, and R. As co-choreographer for Juicy R, I was in charge of all five Us. We were at the forefront of our entire group and I knew we had to make a good first impression. I chose our music as well as our moves. The song was "Solta o Frango" by Bonde do Role. I had heard some of this band's music and even though I had no idea what any of the words meant, I loved the beat so we stuck to it. 

Juicy R's theme for the parade was a balancing act between school spirit and student unity. The latter had a lot more gray area that we needed to decide on before starting to build our parade. In the end, we settled with having "student unity" (or lack thereof) be defined by the social and ethnic cliques that are seen all around campus. We understood that this may not have been directly correlated with the lack of school spirit that is present at UCR, but we felt it was still an important issue that we could tie in with school spirit. As far as our theme went, we did an excellent job integrating it with our performance. In fact, we may have focused too much on it rather than our execution of the moves.

After seeing the replay of our final performance, I saw that we actually skipped an entire part of the routine. Each letter's group was supposed to call out a chant to represent its letter. Unfortunately, there was some confusion with the timing of the music and when to yell out said chant and U was unable to represent. If given the chance to redo it, I probably would have added more intricate moves and better execution of the steps. But due to the simplicity that we had to reduce our presentation to, we did what we could. 

Our theme was incorporated into almost every element of our performance. As far as choreography, every move intended to depict a state of mind or attitude. U group was the self-centered, "too-cool-for-school" bunch. The dance moves were reminiscent of Oxum's mirror move and the expressions of the dancers' faces showed rolling eyes and indignation. 

Our costumes were symbolic for several reasons. Firstly, they were essentially identical with the exception of the details. This represents the common thread of the students of UCR. We are all Highlanders (whether we like it or not). Secondly, the only thing that keeps us apart are the insignificant details like our ethnicities or social customs or in Juicy R's case, the letters on our shirts. We wanted to show that if we put a bit of an effort and saw others for who they are, rather than what they are, we are more likely to get along. One way of coming together is through the school itself. We used the R group as the high spirited assemblers of unity among U and C groups. Through R, we saw that U and C were better together than divided and when all three groups banded together we collectively became UCR. 

So basically our entire performance told a story, just like the dances of the orixas. I learned that their dances are not simply exhibitions of movements and gestures, they actually tell stories. They explain and answer questions and are even interactive with the audience. I also learned that although the moves are repetitive, they help with the story telling part of the performance. As the moves are repeated and periodically changed, the story evolves and progresses. 

We used props at the end of our routine to include a little bit of an element of surprise. The hidden streamers in our pockets were supposed to symbolize the hidden school spirit that is within all the students of UCR. During our final performance however, we had some streamer difficulties, but it seemed like got it under control in time. 

With this project, I learned a lot about myself. I learned that I am capable of leading a group and teaching others. I initially thought that being a choreographer meant I'd make some random moves up, show my group leader and have her teach the group instead. Juicy R encountered many changes of plans and the strategy we ended up with called for smaller groups and each of the three choreographers to be in charge of them. This made me a little worried because I didn't know how my group would handle dancing and whether or not they would be cooperative. My group turned out to be very willing to participate and look silly for a few minutes, which was my main concern. I usually don't like working in groups because I feel that there are always bad apples that hinder the group's development. Since our very large group got broken down into three smaller, more manageable ones, I felt like it was doable. I learned that working in groups and making them efficient requires some stepping up to the plate and sometimes having to be the party pooper and tell everyone to be quiet and focus. The time constraints that we were under also helped put some pressure on us so we could focus on our objective and goof off less, which is very difficult to do when surrounded by friends and classmates. 

This project was the perfect culmination to an original and intriguing class, one that I will definitely never forget about. Thanks Dr. Scott and Ryan!

-Melissa Rivera

ScHoOl SpIrIt aNd uNiTy HuRaY!!!!!!!!

Written By: Connie De La Cruz

I was part of the group Juicy R, and I was in the C section. My groups theme was lack of school spirit and unity. Our theme was addressing the problem that exists within our university at current times. Even though, UCR is the number one school in diversity, there is no unity or school spirit. The university might be diverse, but there is a consistency of each race hanging out within their race. Thus, creating groups of the same diversity, therefore, lacking unity. Our goal as a group was to present as a dance how we can unite each ethnic group to combine as one. As a product of unity school spirit is increased and therefore creating a better environment and improving school spirit.

Our group was split into three sub groups: the U’s, the C’s, and the R’s. Each sub-group represented a different region of the Latin American and African areas. The U’s represented modern Brazil, the C’s represented the 80’s era in Brazil, and the R’s represented the Congo in Africa. Each group went up and presented their little dance representing their geographical location. As each group was dancing the other two groups would stand behind and criticize and put down the group that was dancing. This separation of groups and the gestures simulate how even though there is ethnic diversity there is no unity within the groups. At the end of our dance we join together as a group and combine our dances to become one. After we exit dancing to the celebration song and we chant a cheer that represents UCR. This symbolizes how we put aside our ethnic differences and join together creating unity. We also create school spirit by uniting and chanting our school cheer and celebrating that we are united.

Our dance was about five minutes long. I think our dance was satisfactory as to the time limit given to us. I would not personally take any second out of the dance because each move within our dance and all of our changing and fusion of different sounds are needed to portray our theme. Each second we used was used in a practical and essential manner. I personally think our dance does not need any more additions to it because we were able to present our theme successfully within the time limit given to us. We actually had time to spare.

Moreover, our costumes also help present our theme. We each wore a t-shirt that either had a U, a C, or an R, depending on which sub group the person was in. the different letters on each shirt help symbolize the lack of unity and separation present in our campus. Afterwards, we join together and as we each stand in a specific place within the line we join together to spell UCR, representing that we are now united at the end and we have school spirit.

My specific sub group represented the C in UCR. We danced to Bossa Nova music, most common in Brazil during the 80’s. We did something different and more creative. We decided to include a different style of music that was not as common as samba and the Orixa dances we had learned in class. We wanted to challenge ourselves by presenting some different dance rather than what was taught to us in lecture.

I was most surprised when I finally realized that we can express ourselves through dance. I was amazed to learn how we present a dance move can create a word and be more meaningful then speech. Dance can be used to present a protest, speech, and an idea instead of using speech. I also was astonished when I learned that through dance we can create a deeper meaning and create a deeper impact to the viewer.

Most importantly I learned something about myself. I learned that I am capable of working with others without having to be in control and the boss of everything. I usually assume a leadership position and become a dictator over my group. Usually I tend to end up doing everything for the group because I am over controlling. This time I decided to take a step back and let some one else take the leadership position. I decided to take a not so important role but still very critical role within my group. I decided to be in charge of costume design. I was able to contribute some ideas as to how our costumes were to be. Most notably we worked as a team deciding on our costume dress and as to what materials and symbols we were going to use. Although I was a key person because the group relied on me to order our custom made t-shirts and deliver them to school in time for our presentation. I was able to control myself and not become a total control freak trying to get everything perfect. This time I had fun with my group. I stepped back and learned how to enjoy a project that was done in collaboration with others.

Written By: Connie De La Cruz

A New UCR!

The issue that was chosen by my group, JuicyR, was one that shocked us in our transition from high school to college. The issue is that due to the lack of multicultural unity at UCR there is a lack of school spirit. When we first attended UC Riverside, we realized that the campus is really diverse, unlike many of the high schools we went to. At first, we thought this was amazing, until we began to notice that most students of their same ethnicity cluttered into groups to spend time together. We also noticed this happening even in fraternities, sororities, and other student organizations. Most organizations are based on a certain type of culture and are usually not very open to others. As we spoke about it as a group, we noticed that for most of us realizing this was very disappointing and it made us feel unwelcome in specific organizations. We are aware that we are not the only group of students who felt this way; therefore, we decided to focus our performance on this issue. We believe that if there were more unity between cultures, then we would be able to have closer relationships with each other as well as possibly develop more things in common and easily be united when needed to represent our university.

While analyzing our performance, I came to realize that there were certain things that had we included them it would have made our performance better. However, I believe that overall our theme was well represented. I personally enjoyed this project because I saw a different perspective to dance. I understood and experienced that dancing can communicate strong points one usually wants make. While doing the choreography with two other classmates, I learned more about critical thinking because the three of us had to meet in order to analyze the issue and try to apply it to what we had learned in class in order to have an effective choreography. Some of the things we could have included in the performance to make it better were adding different clothing to the costume and adding certain movements to our dance. Aside from that, I believe that the set up of the performance, the dance moves, the music, the custom, and the gestures symbolized strong things that helped us to successfully represent our issue.



(The group focused on what we are about to do)

First, I would like to describe the things that successfully defined our theme: one of them was the set-up of the performance. The group was aiming for organization and neatness due to the fact that we were a big group. It was crucial for us to focus on this so our audience would not misinterpret our theme or feel confused. In order to accomplish this, we separated the entire group into three smaller ones and each group was assigned to a choreographer. Each groups’ responsibility was to represent a different ethnicity similar to what we see on campus. Each small group had less than a minute to represent their identity through a dance while the other two groups watched them without any interest in their style. Aside from this helping us in making our performance flow smoothly, it also helped us with classifying different identities.


(The “U” and the “C” group wanting to join the “R” group)

The dance movements were also successful because they helped show a variety of dance moves that exist. Each group differed in their dance moves that were based on the specific rhythm of their music. For instance, some dances moves where slower than the others and some were faster depending on the rhythm of the song the group was dancing to. The purpose of this was to show that even though they differed in their dance moves, they shared something which was dancing. They were all excited about dancing and representing their identity. What we wanted to gain from this was getting the viewer thinking about what it would be like if the entire group’s energies joined. This would obviously create a strong energy of enthusiasm, happiness, and unity, which we define as school spirit.

Another thing that was important and successful in defining the theme was the music. Since there were three groups, each one had to have their own music. Each song again had to represent a different ethnicity. The songs that were assigned to each group were Solta o Frango, from Brazil, Soul Bossa Nova, from Brazil, and Bonde Do Role, from Africa. Even though Bossa Nova was also representing Brazil, the song had slightly different roots than the song of Solta o Frango because jazz is incorporated into it. The reason why we choose to do this was to show that even if one is from the same country as someone else, it does not necessarily mean that they follow an exact same culture. Both songs showed a different side of Brazil.

Even though our costuming was very plain and simple, it symbolized something very strong. We obtained t-shirts with a different letter on them that when put together would spell out UCR. Each group was assigned a letter in order to show the division between people. However, the colors of the shirts were the same; blue and gold, in order to show that even though we belonged to a different letter, we all valued the same colors since after all we all attend UC Riverside. Towards the end is when each group decides to join together and through this we successfully are able to spell out UCR. The purpose for this was to show that once we are able to accept and unite with other students of a different culture, we can obtain a strong energy that could be created into school spirit. The way we showed how the three groups were able to obtain this was through each one of them being open to each other’s dance and finally dancing together with streamers.

The last thing that was very successful in defining the issue was our group of gestures. We all agreed that we would not include talking in our performance in order to make it more creative and so the audience would be forced to pay close attention and analyze it. Even though we knew this would be a challenge, we still tried it and due to this, we were able to learn more about symbolism. In the performance, while one group was dancing, the other two groups would stand behind them and make certain gestures among their own group that showed no interest in the moves of the group performing. They frowned to show that their dance was weird and not stylish. The purpose to this was to show that sometimes we criticize other cultures because we think that ours is superior to others. When we do this, we create a boundary amongst each other and sometimes even hate.

Even though I believe that our theme was well represented I also acknowledge that there were things that could have made it better. One of these things would have been adding more elements to our costumes. The reason for this is because since our topic represented a variety of identities, we would have been able to make our costumes much more creative than what they were. For example one if the ideas I had, that due to the lack of time and money we had we weren’t able to do, was including something in our costume that represented a country. Some of these things could have been flags, hats, skirts, etc. This would have made it easier for our audience to quickly understand that we were part of different cultures as well as show school spirit through the colorfulness of the attire.

Another thing I thought we could have added were dance moves that represented school spirit. For instance, moves such as pretending to swing at a baseball, bounce a basketball, ect. I believe this would have been unique and creative and at the same time it would have helped us emphasize more on school spirit.


(Enjoying what we accomplished)


To briefly summarize this, I would like to say that this was one of the most fun and challenging experiences I have had during my first year at UC Riverside. I have always enjoyed dance, but I had never seen the symbolic side of it. This project helped me understand better how valuable every single Orisha dance is to their believers. I was also able to learn about my creativity and develop more critical thinking skills when creating the choreography. At first, I thought I would not be able to do it, but once I started, many ideas came to my mind. Once I saw how successfully our set-up, our dance moves, our music, our custom, and our gestures represented our theme, I realized that thanks to the course we obtained the potential to do this and that all of the struggles we went through were worth it.

Celebrating Diversity and Unity

Jessica Ivon Ramirez
Professor Anna B. Scott
CHASS F1RST Fine Arts Course

The swine flu, waste of water, water pollution, budget cuts and lack of school spirit are issues that are often discussed at the University of California Riverside (UCR) however on Thursday June 4th our CHASS F1RST Fine Arts Course gave life to those issues in an unorthodox form. Each group from the class created a performance that with its symbolism addressed one of the issues surrounding us today through movements instead of words.

UCR prides itself on being the most diverse university in the UC system and this is the reason some students chose to attend this university however students soon realize that even though there is diversity there is no unity. This is why JuicyR chose to address the issue of lack of school spirit and unity. We all soon realized that one of the reasons that school unity is not present at UCR is because each diverse group tends to just remain with people of their same ethnicity or diversity. Our group chose to address the issue of both diversity and school spirit because we deduced that a way to fix the lack of school spirit is to unite the different diversity through a common element, UCR.

In class we learned that Candomblé was a result of the syncretism between the Africans slaves' old religion and Catholicism. It was difficult for me to understand the concept of two distinct religions uniting to create a unique new religion in Brazil. When we began to discuss ways of addressing the issue of lack of school spirit we figured that a nice way to unite the different ethnic groups would be to find similarities between them like Candomblé does with both the African religion and Catholicism. Being part of the UCR student body was the common element that all of the different ethnic groups. Using syncretism to unite the different ethnic groups at school allowed me to better understand how Brazil was able to unite to seemingly different religions to form a new one that held qualities that both of them shared.

We all figured that it would be nice if we could come up with a dance that demonstrated that having school spirit could unite all the ethnic groups present at UCR. We had three choreographers in our group who decided that it would be easier if we came up with three different dances in order to distinguish what part each choreographer came up with. Since there were fourteen members in the group we chose to split the group into three different groups that could symbolize the diverse groups that are present at UCR. After splitting up into the three different groups the choreographers decided to come up with different dances that would show the separate ethnic groups at the school. The choreographers chose to create an individual dance for each group that would reflect diversity.

At the beginning of the parade our group is split into three distinct groups the "U," the "C," and the "R." Each group had its own dance walk in order to keep with the theme of diversity. Even though each had its own walk all walks had to include some sort of gesture that coincided with the letter they are associated with in order for the dances to have a common thread that kept them together just like UCR is the common thread that unites all the different ethnic groups on campus. The "U" crew's, this is the group I belonged to, dance walk consisted of raising both our arms in order to form the "U" as we walked. It was our intention to keep the "U" that our arms form up the entire parade route however after the first run threw of the parade route we realized that our arms would be exhausted and therefore we made the necessary adjustment of raising and lowering our arms as we walked along the route.

When we all reached the performance stop the "U" crew was the first to perform to Bonde Do Role's "Solta o Frango." "C" crew followed with a performance to Quincy Jones "Soul Bossa Nova." "R" crew ends the individual groups' performance with Tchiko Tchikaya's "Nostalgie Africa Dance Machine." Finally we all end the performance with a mix of all three songs that allows every group to unite and perform around 10 seconds of the other groups dance in order to highlight the acceptance of the differences that exist among each group. We chose different songs in order to demonstrate the variety that exists between ethnic groups. After the mix we all take out our streamers and perform to the Kool & the Gang's "Celebration" in order to show the happiness that we all feel to be part of UCR. When we perform "Celebration" we chant "U-C-River-side come on!" in order to exhibit that UCR united the different ethnic groups through school spirit. After we join and "celebrate" that we are part of UCR we walk out with our streamers raised high and flowing. We do not return to the individual "U" "C" "R" groups in order to show that once we are connected we cannot be separated.

Our costumes consisted of us wearing blue t-shirts with our individual letters in gold. We chose those colors because they are the schools colors. We did not change colors based on group affiliation in order to highlight, yet again, that there are threads that unite the ethnic groups. Allowing everyone to wear a t-shirt with the individual letter of their group allowed us to better demonstrate the unity of the group and show that without the different ethnic groups we could not have "U.C.R." during our performance of the mix of all the songs and "Celebration." The t-shirts allowed us to line up next to each other and spell out "U.C.R." at the end of the performance in order.

I would not change anything from our performance because I believe that we accurately presented our theme through our movements and songs. However I would try and get our group to work on the synchronisation of the dances that ended our performance in order for it to look more coordinated.

The performance allowed me to realize that I am really good at scheduling and getting information out to the people from the group. Most importantly though I realized that I can actually get over my shyness and perform when I am having fun and I feel comfortable with the people around me. I loved this assignment because it allowed me to get over my fears of performing and meeting new people.

"U-C-Ri-ver-side Come On!!!”

“U-C-Ri-ver-side Come On!!!” was the chant that our group, Juicy R came up with to shout loud and proud for the Brazilian dance parade. What a challenge it was to get fourteen people in a group together, all at the same time, and create a parade from a scratch in a matter of weeks! This was the challenge presented to us by our Professor Anna Scott of the third class in the Latin American CHASS sequence Brazilian Dance.

As we brainstormed ideas for our team name, someone blurted a catchy and original idea- “Juicy R.” We then decided that out main theme would be the lack of school spirit on the UCR campus, due to the divisions within our social categories including race, gender, religious background and sexual orientation. Despite ours being one of the most diverse campuses in the entire country, it still lacks a certain amount of assimilation within the social niches. Rather than being one large collection of various backgrounds, our school is more separated into different groupings. With our parade, we hoped to portray the way our campus divides itself, and manages to maintain a distance from what is outside our comfort zone by dividing ourselves into three groups. We also wanted to convey the way that it should be by uniting and cooperating as one in the final dance sequence.

By separating into three groups, we made a social commentary about how many students choose to stay with their own clicks, rather than experiencing new things by meeting new people. We split into teams under the different letters of our school- UCR. This was an obvious intention to call out our campus on the situation we were presenting. Each team had a choreographer- the U’s were lead by Melissa Rivera, while Stephanie Contreras was the head of the C’s, and I (Axel Santana) directed the R’s. We chose our own music to dance to, whatever we felt comfortable with that had some sort of Afro-Brazilian influence. The “U” team shook their hips to an “M.I.A.esque” modern Brazilian funk song by Bondo Do Role. While the “C” crew got jazzy with the Soul Bossa Nova by Quincy Jones, and the “R” squad broke it down to some of Africa’s best Congolese grooves by Africa Dance Machine. Each group wore blue shirts with their respective teams’ letter in gold (for the school colors in the essence of school spirit). As each group performed, the other two stood in the background engaging in mockery and using sign language to debunk the performing groups’ performance. This represents the lack of acceptance of other social groups at our school, and how hard it is for people to engage one another if not from the same click. The dances represented the groups of people expressing themselves and their beliefs, backgrounds and place in society. While the other groups’ mockery represented people’s lack of willingness to embrace others despite the differences in religion, ethnicity and other social categories.

At the end of the dance, the three groups came to realize that they were not so different after all, and decided to join forces by learning one another’s dance moves. As we performed as one, we characterized the unity that we hoped to perpetuate through this parade in the UCR community. We joyfully pulled out our blue and gold streamers and rejoiced to the song “Celebration” by Kool and the Gang. This last sequence is meant to teach us all a lesson in harmony and unity. As corny as it sounds, we could all benefit from a little more love from our neighbor.

Even I learned a lot from this working on this project. Working together with so many other people posed a challenge for us. It was quite difficult to gather all fourteen of us at one time in one place. This was probably the biggest challenge for us, and it taught me a lesson in teamwork and communication. Since I was in charge of one of the dance sequences, as choreographer I had the tremendous responsibility of teaching an organized series of steps and movements to a group of inexperienced dancers. This proved to be especially hard for those who are a bit uncoordinated, not to mention any names. . . I believe our performance went fairly well, but if I could change something it would have to be the energy of the dance. Our moves were on fire, but I believe we needed to be more expressive in our presentation of the theme, since it was school spirit.

Overall, it was a great learning experience, and I could not have asked for a better, more entertaining group of individuals to work with on this project. Shout-outs to all my homies from Juicy R!!! Long live the Juicies! I love you guys.

Juicy R Makes UCR a Sweeter Place to Be

The F1st Year CHASS Connect: Latin America parade at the University of California Riverside on June 4, 2009 was a successful portrayal of problems we face both at UCR and in the world around us. The student-produced demonstrations, addressed problems that hurt the environment, futures and innocent people in today’s surroundings. Juicy-R, the group in which I was involved recognized the issue of a lack of school spirit and unity on UCR’s campus. Juicy-R, a name appropriate for the dance topic that focused on, spontaneously came about due to pressure from Teacher’s Assistant Ryan Mongelluzo. Fortunately, for our group, our topic was chosen after the decision on a group-- Juicy-R will address the lack of unity and as a result, lack of school spirit at UCR. Our theme was successfully portrayed by each element that went into our performance. Choreography, music, gestures, chants, costumes and props all played a part in getting Juicy-R’s statement clearly across to spectators.
The evident choreography of Juicy-R’s main performance consisted of three different groups that perform different separate dances and eventually come together for one common choreography and song. Choreographers Stephanie Contreras, Melissa Rivera and Axel Santana each lead a group of 4 or 5 Juicy-R members and conducted separate dances to completely distinct musical flavors. Melissa’s group, also known as the “U” group, danced to a Brazilian funk song by group Bonde Do Role. Her choreography consisted of turning hip movements and accompanied arm movements that accentuate attention to the hips. Stephanie’s group, the “C’s”, danced to Soul Bossa Nova by Quincy Jones. Stephanie’s choreography focused on a 60’s feel, with step-hip movements and an up-and-down wave like motion with the arms in unison with the swaying body. Lastly, Axel’s crew, the “R” group danced to a rendition of Africa Dance Machine’s Tchiko Tchicaya, a Congolese cultural dance that evidently portrays the foreign roots of merengue. Following many of the moves in the choreography performed in the music video, the “R’s” dance consisted of hip rolling, arm scoops and a light sway of the arms to follow up with the hips. The finale was choreographed for all groups to dance in unison. To show utmost respect for each segment, the entire group performed moves taken from each group’s dance. Finally, the group freestyles a dance to Kool and the Gang’s Celebration song, a symbol for individuality and diversity.

Many symbolic gestures were performed outside of the actual dances. In the walk on the way to the performance site, U’s, C’s and R’s each conducted a walk of a few choreographed steps at a time—all distinguishing the group letter with the arms over the head. During the actual performance, while on group would perform their piece, the remaining two groups would snicker and make silent gestures of dislike. These specific gestures were implemented to further distinguish the separation and animosity each group has for each other. The gestures at the finale were small, brief renditions of each dance performed by each group and a final freestyle of gestures varying from individual to individual, to show and promote individuality and unity combining to form spirit in the UCR community. The gestures of “U” “C” “R” with the arms over the head to further depict a combination of all three groups to form one massive, diverse group.
Closely tied to the gestures performed, chants mostly went along with the introduction of each group or the actual motions of the performance. For example, as the “C” group dance off stage and the “ R” group steps in, the “R’s” chant, “Can’t U C that we R the best?!”. As a result, Juicy-R’s chants served as a form of introduction of a new group and choreography. A rally call was also used at the finale. The members of Juicy-R shouted, “UC Riverside come on!” over Kool and the Gang’s Celebration. Kool and the Gang’s smash hit was the perfect fit for the “UC Riverside” call because the group wanted to shout a sign of happiness and depict a celebration as a group together.
The costumes were closely tied into the theme of lack of school spirit. We decided to use the letters of UCR to best distinguish differences between groups. Originally the group had been discussing using cultural costumes to depict differences, but along with Ryan, it was decided that non-stereotypical distinctions among groups would be best. Blue paw prints were colored on everyone’s cheek, so as to illustrate a visual unison between U’s, C’s and R’s. Yellow and blue streamers were used at the finale, once the Celebration song came on. It was unanimously decided that the implementation of streamers would allow for the performance to be more impacting on the audience as well as would be a great aid in getting the final point across.

Overall, I feel that Juicy-R’s performance successfully translated the issue of lack of school spirit at UCR. If I had the opportunity to change anything, I would not take any aspect of the performance away. However, I would add a minor maneuver at the end rendition. As all of the letters are united, I would prefer to add a chain-link maneuver between group members, having interlocking between Juicy-R members and a walking in-and-out of the line. Also, in addition, I would add a minor costume detail; I’d like to better distinguish individuality and diversity between members. Instead of having a blue paw print on everyone, I think it would have looked more creative to add other symbols of UCR, such as Scotty the bear or a plaid print of the Highlanders.
Throughout this entire process of creating a parade, I discovered a few qualities about myself that were not evident prior to the project. The dance final was completely different to what I have been used to. This was my very first dance class, and the class genuinely intimidated me, as I did not know what to expect. However, what I took away from the class exceeded even the slightest expectations that I did have. I stumbled upon some qualities about myself that perhaps I would not have known having not taken this class. Many of the people in my group come from an extremely different background than I do. I found that I can mesh well with new ideas and perspectives and can constructively share my own ideas to help points already made. Also, building upon others ideas allows for a creative flow to take place between minds and causes a product of creativity and art. All in all, the project has given me the comfort and confidence to publicly state my ideas and opinions—something that has always been a challenge for me to do.

-Alexandra Pernudi

JuicyR : The Heart of School Spirit

Dance, dance, dance! That was the weekly routine here at the University of California, Riverside in Spring 2009. For our final project we had to make our own parade that incorporated the moves from several different Brazilian styles of dancing. We were assigned to pick out a theme that had a great significance to people. As a group we decided that our theme would be the lack of school spirit UCR has. UCR is known for being one of the most diverse institutions of the nation but we somehow lack school spirit. School spirit is one of the foundations of having a good memorable college experience. In our group we discussed that the lack of school spirit derives from the lack of unity UCR has. By lack of unity I mean the fact that most ethnic groups just mingle among themselves instead of conjugating with other groups. This brings lack if unity because no one is opened to other cultural practices. This lack of unity brings no school spirit and students are not able to share with other classmates or other ethnic backgrounds. Not being able to share school spirits just deepens the problem of unity even worse. We knew that the lack of unity and school spirit is a big problem here at UCR and it was necessary for us to present it in our parade.

[Meet the Group ! Go U-C-R ! ]




For costumes we decided to go with something that showed off the separation of groups even though we are one school. There were three groups and the letters U, C, and R represented them. Our attire was blue and gold which is school colors but the letters showed the separation of the groups. At the beginning of the performance we can see how the groups are separated and doing their own dances. The audience was also able to capture the expressions the U group portrayed. The expressions of the U group illustrated that they were not interested in no one but themselves. One of their moves symbolized Oxum, the orixa of love, fresh water, and fertility. Oxum is always carrying a mirror, which suggest that she was vain and just into her looks. The U group was indeed dancing to moves that suggest that they had a mirror in their hands. The mirror just allowed the group to see themselves and nobody else. When the U group finished their dance, the C group followed and they had their own dance as well. The C group seemed to be dancing to their own style as well and ignoring the other groups when they were performing. When they finished performing the R group performed and they were more upbeat and school spirited. The U group and the C group realized how much fun they were having and decided to imitate the R group dance movements. When imitating their moves, groups U and C realized that being united brings out more school spirit. Both groups decided to unite and join the third team. Once all three teams were together they incorporated dances from all three groups. When this occurred, the audience was able to realize how different ethnic groups got together to form one group that respected each others culture. When all groups got together one can the U-C-R as a whole instead of segregated. Our theme was conveyed perfectly in our parade because from the beginning groups were separated but then they united together to form school spirit.


In order to have a successful parade one needs music. Our group incorporated a total of three songs. U group used a recent song named "Solta O Frango" from a Brazilian band named “Bonde Do Role”. The following group used the song “Soul Bossa Nova” by Quincy Jones. The final group danced and chanted to a Afro Brazilian dance called “Nostalgie Africa Dance Machine” by Tchiko Tchikaya . All of these three songs represented music from different ethnic backgrounds. Although they were all Brazilian, the beats and dance moves gave it a sense that we danced representing different ethnic backgrounds.

Learning the course material was a bit challenging due to all the symbolism that every dance movement carried. I was not aware that dance movements always mean something. For example, certain orixa’s can move like they have a machete in their hands. Also, Oxossi, another orixa dances and moves like he is carrying a bow and arrow. This bow and arrow means that he can be a hunter or wizard. Omolu uses a horsetail whip when dancing and this suggest that he is carrying a disease. All these characters carry a lot of symbolism and I was not aware of how important that is.

Now that the parade is over, I wish I could change one thing. As a group we lacked facial expressions. Facial expressions were a big key to our parade because our theme was school spirit. Even though at the beginning we were not united, we still had to express our dislikes for other groups. Many just had a straight face while performing. Having facial expressions throughout the whole performance would be something I would want to add.

Overall, as the leader of the group I had many great challenges and I learned a few things about myself in the process. First I had to assign people their jobs and they had to agree with it. Once we all had our jobs it was time to work for our parade! There was one person who did not show up to one major rehearsal and I had talk to that individual because everyone’s grade could have been in jeopardy. As the leader I needed to fix the problem but I was also afraid to confront a person. Therefore, I had to learn to speak up in order to better the problem. Speaking up now about problems was not as hard as before. At the end we had a great parade for the campus to enjoy. Go Juicy R!


[Looking at the Competition very intensively, including Ryan! ]


[The U Group imitating Oxum]

[ C Group...Austin Powers anyone?]



[ R Group...just being upbeat ]


[Fun day at Rehearsals...I took the picture]


[ The Finishing Product....UCR is united and full of school spirit....Go Highlanders!]








-Stephanie Flores