Daily Bruin – Page 134

Women’s tennis hopes to continue using doubles point advantage

The Bruins have used doubles play to their advantage all season long.

No. 10 UCLA women’s tennis (15-6, 7-2 Pac-12) has claimed the majority of doubles points this season, including its last nine in match play. Thirteen of the Bruins’ 15 wins have included a doubles point victory, as they have only recovered three times after failing to secure the first point of the match.

Doubles play features three courts of matches consisting of one set each. For a team to race out to a 1-0 start, two of their three doubles pairs must secure the one set victory.

Coach Stella Sampras Webster said claiming the doubles point to begin a match significantly eases the pressure for singles play, especially when the Bruins are pitted against some of the nation’s top programs.

“It just takes a little pressure off,” Sampras Webster said. “Winning four matches is not easy, so it’s a lot less pressure when you only have to win three.”

In UCLA’s six losses this season, three of them started with a surrendered doubles point.

“I think we all know that if we do lose a doubles point, that we are capable of winning four singles matches,” Sampras Webster said. “That’s just the attitude we need to have when that does happen.”

Seniors Gabby Andrews and Ayan Broomfield have shared many matches on the doubles court this season. The senior duo dropped its first doubles match against Washington State this weekend but rebounded to clinch the doubles point against Washington. Despite dropping the occasional doubles match, Sampras Webster said their performances have proved vital to the team’s success.

“We all know that (Andrews) can play doubles,” Sampras Webster said. “I love her energy and her attitude out there. It shows how much she loves the competition.”

The last five matches have featured the same lineup of freshman Elysia Bolton teaming up with redshirt junior Jada Hart, Andrews and Broomfield competing together and sophomore Abi Altick pairing up with senior Alaina Miller.

“I think we have some of the best doubles players in the country,” Sampras Webster said. “It’s great for our team to feel confident going into a match knowing that we’re hard to beat.”

The Bruins will compete in one more match before the Pac-12 championships. Sampras Webster said the Bruins’ key to success will ultimately rely on an array of factors, but the importance of the doubles point will not be overlooked.

“Our team has done a really good job of coming and being focused from the first point to the end,” Sampras Webster said. “It’s a good mentality heading into singles.”

Softball continues developing players’ versatility to gain advantage on field

The Bruins’ primary second baseman last season was then-senior Kylee Perez.

This year, No. 1 UCLA softball (37-2, 11-1 Pac-12), has used sophomore utility Kinsley Washington at second, displaying what coach Kelly Inouye-Perez has been emphasizing all season – versatility.

“I’m proud of how unfazed and confident this team is,” Inouye-Perez said. “The fact that we can be as successful as we’ve been this season with the versatility we’ve had to show says a lot about the players that we are recruiting. We’re recruiting great athletes that work hard in a lot of different positions and situations.”

Washington, who was a shortstop in high school, is starting at second base for the first time this season and in her collegiate career.

In the top of the fifth inning in the Bruins’ 8-1 win Sunday, Washington made a play that prevented Oregon from tying the game.

The Ducks had runners at the corners with one out and tried to intentionally get caught in a rundown in between first and second base, hoping UCLA would lose track of the runner at third. The cardinal rule on defense – which players have been taught about since their days in little league – is to not let the runner from third score.

Washington knew that rule.

In the rundown, Washington never took her eyes off the lead runner, squaring her shoulders toward third base and sidestepping her way toward first to force the runner back to the bag. She had the ball at shoulder level, ready for a quick throw to the plate if necessary.

Both runners had no choice but to go back to their respective bags because of Washington’s play, and the Ducks’ plan of relying on the Bruins to make a mistake failed.

“It’s not easy when you get taken out of a position at this level,” Inouye-Perez said. “We’ve had versatility when we needed it, and (Washington) is a great example of somebody doing whatever it takes to help this team.”

Inouye-Perez said versatility is not only apparent within the starters, but along the bench and inside the circle as well.

Sophomore infielder Malia Quarles has had two pinch-hit home runs in the last two series. In the finale against Oregon, she came to the plate with the bases loaded and hit a grand slam that towered well over Easton Stadium’s scoreboard in left field.

Quarles said she is always focused and ready for when her number is called.

“I just try to focus on what’s happening the whole game,” Quarles said. “I always talk to my teammates and ask them where the pitcher is pitching and what the speed is like. That really gets my mind right knowing what I need to know so I can focus when I’m in the box.”

All three starters on the pitching staff have come in for relief throughout the season. The Bruins used two pitchers both in Friday’s loss and in Sunday’s win – something that hasn’t happened all that much as the staff has totaled 25 complete games so far this year.

Redshirt junior pitcher Rachel Garcia said the relationship with the other pitchers, as well as how they work with assistant coach Lisa Fernandez, helps the staff get locked in for every situation.

“Our mentality is that we’re all starters and closers, and we all have each other’s backs,” Garcia said. “On Friday, it was awesome to see (Faraimo and Azevedo) work together and then myself and (Azevedo) in the finale. We’re all in constant communication, and it’s just a great staff to be a part of when all of our roles are the same.”

Men’s tennis displays disparity between top and bottom singles courts

The Bruins’ front and back courts aren’t just separated by the south end of a stadium – the two sides tell different stories on the final score lines as well.

The Los Angeles Tennis Center, home to both UCLA tennis teams, houses its top three courts – No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 – in the stadium proper, while the bottom three courts – No. 4, No. 5 and No. 6 – sit outside the stadium, adjacent to the Mo Ostin Basketball Center. The six courts are physically separated into two halves, and the men’s singles results of the top three and bottom three courts this season are disparate.

Senior Maxime Cressy, sophomore Keegan Smith and freshman Govind Nanda fill the top three spots of the singles lineup, playing on courts No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3, respectively. Together, they have combined for a total of 33 wins across the dual match season so far.

The backcourts – usually comprised of freshman Patrick Zahraj, junior Ben Goldberg and freshman Mathew Tsolakyan – have a combined 20 wins. Freshman Eric Hahn and redshirt sophomore Connor Rapp have also contributed, but have spent limited time in the lineup.

The difference between the top and bottom singles courts is 13 dual-match wins.

Coach Billy Martin said he was impressed with Tsolakyan’s performance against Washington at No. 5 singles, despite his match remaining unfinished, as Nanda clinched the win on court No. 3.

“(He’s got) no quit, even though things didn’t go well early in that first set (against Washington),” Martin said. “He lost three 30-30 games and didn’t panic. He started playing better and didn’t lose faith.”

Tsolakyan has yet to win a match since his victory against Loyola Marymount’s Austin Di Giulio on March 26. He has had four unfinished matches since then, as well as two losses.

The No. 5 spot is typically filled by Goldberg, who has tallied seven wins on the season. Goldberg was unable to grab a win this weekend at No. 4 singles.

“(Goldberg) came out against Washington with a little more determination,” Martin said. “His performance Tuesday (against Pepperdine) was a letdown after his win at the USC match. Today, he was leading his second set 4-1, and I think he lost a little concentration.”

Zahraj, who usually plays at No. 4 singles, has turned in four wins on the season. His first four dual matches went unfinished and he has lost a total of six dual matches this year. He did not participate in the singles lineup this weekend because of an injury.

Hahn has contributed four wins at No. 6 singles, with three coming in the past week. Hahn said adjusting to college tennis as a freshman has been difficult, but he has been making progress.

“My game has definitely evolved (since my loss at USC),” Hahn said. “Playing in that atmosphere is so much different from playing junior and individual tennis. Even when I played Grand Canyon, I was feeling very similar and tight with (the pressure) of the crowd.”

The No. 2 singles spot on the top courts has been filled by Smith, who leads the team in singles wins across all competitions with 18 victories. His most recent win came against Washington’s Jack Davis and was his 10th of the dual match season. Smith, who has lost only two duals, said neutralizing his opponent’s serve was important for him over the weekend.

“(I try to) focus on where he is tossing and try to look to where I think he is going,” Smith said. “You have to take his pace, and not go too much (on the return) and neutralize the point.”

The Bruins have two matches remaining in conference play. Those meetings will both take place at home, against Arizona State and Arizona on Friday and Saturday, respectively.

‘Night of 100 Solos’ dances across three cities, reprising choreographer’s legacy

One hundred solos will grace stages in New York, London and Los Angeles to honor the late American choreographer Merce Cunningham on Tuesday.

“Night of 100 Solos: A Centennial Event” will feature dancers from all over the world performing Cunningham’s choreography, with UCLA’s Royce Hall serving as the LA venue. Former members of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, which disbanded in 2011, two years after Cunningham’s death, taught the solos to dancers of all ages and stylistic backgrounds for the event, hosted in the LA location by UCLA’s Center for the Art of Performance.

Each of the venues’ performances will showcase a different arrangement and staging of 100 solos, in addition to music and visuals created specifically for each venue, said Ken Tabachnick, executive director of the Merce Cunningham Trust.

While the show honors Cunningham’s 100th birthday, it also exposes newer generations to his legacy so dancers born after his time can perform and learn from his choreography, said dancer Katherine Helen Fisher, who will be performing at Royce.

“They’ve chosen notable dancers or people who have histories in other lineages (of dance) who don’t necessarily have Cunningham training to come into the technique and to teach them and to bring them into the legacy,” Fisher said.

Fisher was a young dancer living in New York while the Cunningham company was producing work, but she said she never auditioned because of her short stature: Cunningham’s dancers were tall and strong with long limbs. When first asked a year ago to participate in the production, Fisher embarked on a crash course in Cunningham technique with former company dancers to prepare.

The technique, created as a reaction to classical ballet, uses opposing forces in the body relative to the spine. Fisher said this helps dancers find shapes in their bodies that might feel unnatural or at times impossible. Unlike other techniques that aim to make movements appear effortless, Cunningham’s style allows for the choreography’s rigorous nature to take center stage, she said.

Dancer Lorrin Brubaker said his experience with Cunningham technique led to unexpected challenges. While the choreography is not vigorous in the same way athletes move, Brubaker said he finds the deceptively simple moments to be the most difficult to control. In his solo “Nearly Ninety,” one of the last pieces Cunningham choreographed, Brubaker stands with his legs far apart, heels raised, only to simultaneously twist and arch his spine to look behind himself.

“It’s very simple, but it’s also one of the hardest things that I’ve had to do. If I get to the point where I fall, that’s okay, I can just pick right back up,” Brubaker said. “It doesn’t matter about how perfect I can be and how strong I can look – it’s more just doing the task is all that is asked of me.”

While the choreography is highly specific, the solos’ abstracted themes remove them from particular moments in history and aid them in feeling timeless, Brubaker said. Though each solo does not necessarily have a plot or emotional motivation, Fisher said her excerpt from “Variations B” can seem confrontational because of its spatial positioning. She dances close to the audience, at the edge of the stage, facing viewers as if addressing them directly.

“I’m seeing the people watching me and, vice versa, I’m watching them,” Fisher said. “It’s quite nice because I feel like I make eye contact with people in the audience, (and) it’s an interesting energy exchange.”

The creation and coordination process involved half of the former dancers from the Cunningham company, Tabachnick said. The alumni have taught the dances rather than performing them, demonstrating that any dancer can perform Cunningham’s choreography regardless of their background. Following Cunningham’s love of technology as well as his belief that dance should be accessible to a wide range of people, the three shows will be livestreamed so that people from all around the world can celebrate his legacy.

“The Cunningham repertory continues to be performed at a high level and a level that people can appreciate,” Tabachnick said. “Because of the unique decision that Cunningham had to close his company, there were real questions about, ‘How would this work, how would the legacy survive?’ Who was going to dance it? Part of “Night of 100 Solos” is to provide a demonstration that the work continues to live.”

Film showcasing Chinese culture features graduate students in cast and crew

Mahjong will be the key to preventing the apocalypse in “The Lucky One.”

Four goddesses, who reign over love, death, wealth and fertility, will play a never-ending round of the Chinese board game in the comedic film. “The Lucky One,” which finished shooting April 7, will be screened in Melnitz Hall on June 12.

In the film, a rich playboy, played by graduate animation student Kuozheng Hao, wishes to become a god. The apathetic goddesses, seeking distraction from their humdrum existence, decide to grant him his wish.

The cast for “The Lucky One” is comprised entirely of Chinese international students, and Hao said influences from Chinese culture are visible in many facets of the film.

“It’s not westernized or (based on) Buddhism or anything like that. … (The story) is picked out from the traditional Chinese Gothic stories,” Hao said.

Hao said his character Ren Min’s name is a detail in the film that can be traced back to Chinese influences. Ren Min is a wealthy man who has enjoyed all human luxuries and now wants to live the life of a god, Hao said. Ren Min’s name sounds very similar to the Mandarin word for “people,” and Hao said this could be a symbol for Ren Min’s role as the only human in the film.

On a more apparent note, mahjong is a main component of the film that expresses Chinese culture, Hao said. Mahjong is a Chinese gambling game that requires four players and is similar to poker. The goddesses in the film play mahjong round after round without stopping and only grant a human’s wish once per year. Hao said the game’s circular flow is reminiscent of the philosophy of cyclical time. Though mahjong’s presence in the film can be interpreted as a metaphor for the monotonous flow of time, writer and director Yichi Zhang, a graduate student, said it also places a comedic spin on the goddesses by making the all-powerful characters experience the same boredom as humans.

“All we do is play mahjong all day and night without eating or sleeping. That’s our job, and that’s our life – it’s very boring,” said Shenli Zhao, a graduate acting student who plays the goddess of death.

Influences from Chinese culture also play into the goddesses’ costumes. Zhao said each of the goddesses is ordained in a qipao, a traditional Chinese dress that is form-fitting with a high neckline. The color of each goddess’ dress corresponds to her given power, Zhang said, with the goddess of death wearing black, and the goddess of love donning bright pink.

While the set design does not emphasize the Chinese inspirations behind the film, Zhang said it highlights the theme of luck. The goddesses live inside a large, inward-facing die, and Zhang said their mahjong table is actually a pip on a face of the die’s side. Zhang said there are also smaller dice placed throughout the set to represent the importance of luck. Decorations in the background highlight the roles of each goddess: skulls and shackles to represent death alongside piles of money to represent wealth.

In addition to the details nodding to Chinese themes within the film, most of the cast and crew members have a strong connection to Chinese culture. While the film’s primary language is Mandarin, Zhao said there will be English subtitles added. Zhao said the entire cast and 60% of the crew members are fluent in Mandarin.

“I’m very happy to see that a film about our culture is being made in this country. I’m very proud of them and proud of ourselves,” Zhao said.

Though the film has Chinese influences, Zhang said its message can be universally applied to all cultures. During her initial conceptualization of the story, Zhang said the characters spoke English, and the goddesses played bridge instead of mahjong. She chose to switch the film to Mandarin to broaden her directorial range, Zhang said.

“I think the core of the story is really universal,” Zhang said. “It doesn’t belong specifically to one culture.”

Student’s staged reading questions intersection of race, religion, identity

Religion, race and gender will intersect in a one-woman performance about faith on Wednesday.

Graduate acting student Taji Senior will perform a solo staged reading of “’A’ (What the Black Girl Found While Searching for God)” at the Fowler Museum. The story follows a 16-year-old African-American girl who questions her connection to religion. Amid her inner turmoil, the girl, named A, finds comfort in her relationship with God, with whom she has a close friendship. When God disappears with no explanation, she’s forced to embark on a journey in search of him.

“This piece is a journey, not even about what religion is but about connecting with something higher than yourself, something other than yourself,” Senior said. “There’s a stance that it takes, that the journey is incredibly personal.”

Senior first began writing “’A’” toward the end of 2016. She was inspired by George Bernard Shaw’s 1932 play, “The Adventures of the Black Girl in Her Search for God.” Matrex Kilgore, who directed the original 2016 production of “‘A'” in Austin, Texas, said the play does not take place at a particular time. Instead, it is surrealist and existentialist, contemplating what it means to be an American black woman in relation to God.

Senior said the reading considers which parts of one’s identity are most important and how one defines oneself. Being both a woman and black has certain implications that include injustice and stigma. But such implications should not stop people from viewing her character as a human being, she said.

“Because of the world we live in, I don’t know if people ever see me as human first and then all those other things,” Senior said.

Senior’s reading is one of the few nonmusical acts that are part of the Fowler Out Loud performance series, said Laura Jane Yee, series coordinator and fourth-year ethnomusicology student. The Fowler Museum typically showcases a lot of African art, and Yee said Senior’s reading about her experience as a person of color is relevant to the venue.

The context of one’s race and gender typically influences what they’ve been influenced to believe within the sphere of religion – the play aims to spark conversations about these beliefs. The play encouraged Senior to consider her relationship with her own faith, Christianity, and how her worldview was influenced by others. Through this, she said she hopes “‘A'” will encourage audiences to question what they have been told to believe.

A eventually realizes that her spirituality and her identity are constantly evolving. But instead of forcing her character’s views on audiences, Senior said she wants people to begin to understand themselves on their own terms instead of the beliefs of others.

“I hope that anytime that I am onstage or any work that I do gives you a way to think more thoughtfully about your life and the decisions that you make for yourself, and I hope that it brings you to a clearer understanding of yourself,” Senior said.

UCLA’s Zero Waste initiative may be too poorly executed to realize its goal on time

UCLA is determined not to waste anything – especially time.

The university has set the ambitious goal of having zero waste to landfills by 2020, and is banking on its students and faculty to help contribute. The effort is part of a broader campaign by the University of California for each campus to generate less trash.

The Zero Waste to landfill campaign is run by a committee whose job includes managing and recycling university waste. It has done things such as installing trash cans for students to properly dispose of compostable, recyclable and landfill items. It also has partnered with student organizations to serve leftover food to students in need when dining halls close.

Despite all the new initiatives, the way these programs are implemented seems more like indulging a fad. Students are presented with great ideas for how to help the environment, but they aren’t given any follow-up.

UCLA and the committee already have the resources they need to successfully reach the goal of zero waste by 2020. However, if they’re truly serious about getting more students on board, they need to work on making existing programs more effective. Otherwise, their hard work will become the waste they’re avoiding.

One of the program’s initiatives is to use only compostable materials at restaurants on the Hill, which helps Bruins create less waste. At the beginning of fall quarter, students with meal plans received blue reusable water bottles in order to replace, or at the very least, decrease their use of compostable drinking cups.

But needless to say, the bottles’ effectiveness has been watered down.

Students not only have difficulty fitting the canisters in their dorm sinks to wash them, but they’re also not incentivized to use them because they already have their own water bottles.

Erin Fabris, UCLA’s sustainability manager, said students’ use of the blue water bottles is low, between 5% and 15%, varying by dining restaurant.

So not only was this program a flop, but the university also indirectly generated emissions to create bottles that students aren’t using.

Even newer initiatives show lack of forethought. Hedrick Hall, for example, is piloting a system where all trash cans in the women’s restrooms are replaced with compost bins. This is instead of having bins for both compost and waste, which other dorms have. But many women have complained that not all materials they dispose of in the bathroom are compostable.

A lot of UCLA’s programs are like this: They start with amazing ideas, but fail in execution. This lack of organization discourages students from truly adopting zero-waste practices.

The committee may not have failed in its goal yet, but the odds of reaching zero waste to landfill by 2020 seem slim if things continue the way they have been. And it’s not even clear whether this messaging will continue past 2020.

Kikei Wong, UCLA’s Zero Waste coordinator, said there are a lot of factors, such as varying dumpster weights, that need to be considered when determining how close each UC is to achieving the goal of zero waste.

“On average, the diversion rate for the campus hovers around 65%, give or take 5%,” Wong said. “This goal is a UC systemwide policy target that is reported to the regents – it has not been determined what will happen if campuses are unable to achieve it.”

But UCLA can make small changes to generate less waste. It could replace paper towels with hand dryers, for instance. It could also add more water-filling stations around campus so students won’t need to buy plastic water bottles.

The university also can think big. Coffee shops in Amsterdam and other European cities have established systems where customers can purchase their drinks in reusable cups they can take anywhere. During their next visit, customers can return their cups to be cleaned and receive their drinks in cups that already have been washed.

Instead, UCLA’s focus is on making inadequate changes that are primarily for show.

Certainly, the initiatives have had some effect. Remy Escher, a first-year pre-public affairs student, said everything UCLA does for the environment is a refreshing change compared to her home in Rhode Island.

“In Rhode Island, we just threw away everything,” Escher said. “I think it’s cool UCLA has all these environmental initiatives, but they could do more to be environmentally conscious.”

The university, like all others, brags about how great it is. But it’s not about the overall perception people have of UCLA – it’s about the university’s approach to smaller environmental issues that could eventually have bigger impacts on the future of students and staff.

It’s not that UCLA isn’t doing enough, but that its tactics could be applied more efficiently. Very few students know the details of its sustainability efforts, and the status quo isn’t enough to get Bruins working cohesively to change their consumer-heavy lifestyles.

And if that trend continues, UCLA will just have a pile of wasted ideas come 2020.