The lights at Bruin Cafe were dimmed in favor of colored lights and strobes Friday night after Spring Sing as part of the “Club B-Cafe” event, inspired by a music video produced by Spring Sing 2011’s Company.
Loud music, technicolor lights and hundreds of dancing students interrupted second-year economics and statistics student Jesse Hu on his way to get coffee Friday night on the Hill.
The area in front of Bruin Cafe was transformed into a nightclub ““ complete with a DJ and a dance floor ““ following Spring Sing, the annual showcase of UCLA student talent. Hu, quickly abandoning his quest for coffee, started break dancing in the middle of the crowd.
The event, put on by the On-Campus Housing Council, was a re-creation of last year’s Spring Sing video “Club B-Cafe,” said Charle Le, president of OCHC and second-year history student. The music video transformed the dining facility into a nightclub, poking fun at the cafe’s penchant for playing dance music late at night, said Kimia Behpoornia, a member of last year’s Spring Sing comedy group Company and second-year theater student.
The video, made by Company, won the award for best skit that year. It has since gained a solid fan base, racking up more than 40,000 views on Youtube.
“It is really cool that they (put on the Club B-Cafe event),” Behpoornia said. “We knew that people would like it, but we never thought that it would get this big.”
The event was scheduled for after Friday night’s Spring Sing as an informal extension to the show, Le said.
Although Danielle Neal, a Bruin Cafe employee, had never seen the video, she did not hesitate to join in on the dancing during her break.
Fourth-year psychobiology student Janhavi Athavale, meanwhile, spent the night dancing with friends as a send-off to their last Spring Sing as UCLA students.
“It’s my favorite Spring Sing sketch,” Athavale said. “When we saw (the event) advertised during Spring Sing, we had to come and see it.”
Athavale said she was slightly disappointed that it was not actually held inside Bruin Cafe, like in the video.
Dining officials decided to move the event outside maintain the flow of Bruin Cafe’s operations, Le said.
The outdoor nature of the event encouraged more and more students to join in on the dancing as the night wore on. The impressive turnout will most likely lead the OCHC to bring back the event next year, Le said.
The biggest cheer of the night came when the clock struck midnight, a moment referenced in the video, and the DJ blasted the “Club B-Cafe” song. The crowd had no trouble belting out the lyrics.