From day to night, ACA All Day showcases the world of dance with its moves.
Following a win at the All-Cal Annual Hip-Hop Dance Competition, the student-led competitive dance team is returning to this year’s Spring Sing stage with its multifaceted choreography. The open-style group amalgamates various styles – ranging from jazz funk to waacking – for its sets, said Tiffany Papazian, the administrative coordinator of ACA All Day. Emily Nguyen, a fourth-year disability studies and neuroscience student and executive coordinator of the team, said its Spring Sing set will feature music of a myriad of genres – from “Alter Ego” by Doechii and JT to “All In” by Solo B to “Boogie Wonderland” by Earth, Wind & Fire and The Emotions.
“We’ve always done very different routines than other teams have,” said Papazian, a fourth-year psychology student. “If you go back to our old sets and you watch them on YouTube, they’re very weird and different concepts than what the traditional dance team would do, which I think makes us stand out in a very unique way.”
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Nguyen said the dance group emphasizes different styles depending on what type of audience or environment it will be performing for. In the fall and winter, the team creates stage sets that are generally more artistic, visual and experimental, she added. In the spring – during which Nguyen said the dance team participates in various competitions with other student dance groups – the team prepares club sets with more energetic choreography based in the hip-hop and house genres.
Papazian said the team’s experimental approach to dance not only attracts dancers of various experience and backgrounds but also allows for opportunities for members to dabble in styles they’re not familiar with. She added that dancing with ACA All Day exposed her to styles that she did not have experience in prior to joining the dance team.
“It’s nice to be able to have a collective of people who have a love for different styles, and they just love learning everything,” Papazian said. “It’s really nice and rewarding to see them grow.”
She added that the dancers of ACA All Day gather in Parking Lot 4 for practices, which are typically more than five hours long and oftentimes extend past midnight. Under the dim lights of the parking lot, the team divides into smaller groups to rehearse and “clean” different sections of its set. As part of the cleaning process, the members repeat a segment – some of which are just a few seconds long – multiple times to make minor adjustments between each instance, whether it be aligning the angles at which their arms are extended or synchronizing the members’ moves.
As full-time students, the hourslong rehearsals can at times be exhausting, both physically and mentally, said Hanah Abualhaj, a graduate student at the School of Law and a general member of ACA All Day. Bryan Hernandez, another general member of the team, added that the lengthiness of practice has made it challenging for him to balance his academic life and commitment to the group. While there are times when he could have traded the hours of practice for hours of studying, the first-year geology/engineering geology student added that he is glad to have dance as an outlet.
“Dance is definitely a way for me to destress,” Hernandez said. “Even though it’s definitely hard to balance the two, it (dance) also helps me a lot.”
In addition to the lengthy hours of practice, Heather Ongpauco, a third-year dance student and artistic assistant for ACA All Day, said she has faced challenges in terms of her health, especially given that the practices occur in the parking lot, where numerous cars are located. But she added that the products of her commitment and effort as she watches the team steadily become better, along with the feeling of satisfaction that follows, are what continue to motivate her.
From the perspective of the administrative coordinator, Papazian said she has faced challenges in navigating ways to lead the group, such as voicing her opinions for the best interest of the team, given that she did not have prior experience of leading a dance group. As an executive coordinator, Nguyen said she faced barriers juggling her commitments as a dancer and a leader who handles the behind-the-scenes work of planning rehearsals and performances.
“It’s usually worth it when you see how close the team is and how much they love the team,” Nguyen said. “Because at the end of the day, they want to come back, and they trust your vision, and they trust your leadership.”
Similarly to Nguyen, other dancers – Papazian, Abualhaj, Hernandez and Ongpauco – also said they are appreciative of fellow members of the team who not only share a passion for dance but also are there for each other. The term “family” was commonly used by Papazian, Hernandez and Ongpauco when explaining what the dance team meant to them.
“I consider them like my family, and I think that’s honestly the best part of the team,” Hernandez said. “What I enjoy the most is just bonding with people.”
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Nguyen said the dance team has had a longstanding tradition of symbolizing each year with a distinct animal that has traits the members of the class want to embody. This year, the class is represented by a shark for its symbolism of determination and intuition, she added. Alongside this ongoing tradition, Nguyen also said ACA All Day has a strong network of alumni – some of whom return to support the current members. Papazian added that the network is one of the distinctive aspects of the dance team, with some alumni continuing to contribute to the team by serving on the board.
Papazian said alumni have shown their support for current ACA All Day dancers by helping make the sets’ mixes and choreographing portions. Ongpauco said she was astonished when Kyle Lester, one of her mentors, returned to choreograph the team’s Spring Sing set as an alumnus. She added that his choreography – which is of the Afrobeats style – provided her the opportunity to dance in the genre in a competitive setting for the first time.
Ahead of their performance at Spring Sing on Friday, the dancers of ACA All Day said they hoped that the audience would recognize the diversity in styles of dance that are incorporated into the set while experiencing a sense of amazement at the choreography.
“I hope that the audience will be able to notice that we’re just a group of people who loves doing what we do, and we love to share and entertain. … Once you see our team dance together, you could notice how our synergy is,” Papazian said. “Once you see it (the synergy) with our whole team, it’s a different story. So hopefully, the audience and the judges are able to see that as well … because we just had a great time making this set.”
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