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Show TAI (HI DAY BRINGS SERENITY TO THE U CAMPUS T BY CALLI PETERSON /STAFF WRITER ai Chi and yoga students and instructors from around Salt Lake City came to celebrate World Tai Chi day on the Marriott Library Plaza on Saturday, April 25. World Tai Chi day is celebrated every year by people from all different time zones. The U doesn't fail to participate in this international event. Initiated by theatre professor Bill Parkinson, U Tai Chi Day participants included people taking Parkinson's Tai Chi Yoga Movement class as well as otherTai Chi schools and anyone else in the community. The morning began with everyone in attendance socializing and performing warm-ups to prepare for the international event. At 10 a.m., the Tai Chi began. Every student and instructor, of all skill levels, engaged in the slow-moving, control-focused movement. Though Parkinson started as a yoga enthusiast, he discovered his passion forTai Chi in 1969. "I was teachingYoga and practicingYoga one day': Parkinson said. "A guy came by and started talking to us about Tai Chi. To demonstrate ... he stood right in front of me and let me hit him. I couldn't feel anything when I hit him. It just amazed me. I spent the next three years trying to find somebody who knew Tai Chi here in Utah:' Parkinson found a Tai Chi expert, learned the art and started teaching Tai Chi in 1972. Now he teaches Tai Chi Yoga Movement at the U. The class consists of physical movement as well as learning the history and philosophy of both exercises. "Bill's a really good guy': said Hope Twede, a biology major and Tai Chi student. "He related a lot of things back to life, and he's very thorough in trying to get the philosophy and not just the movements:' Tai Chi can help alleviate the stress of the day and calm the senses, which can prove useful for U college students. "It's pretty great because we're really learning a lot about how to stay calm in many situations': said Michael Daniel, a journalism major and Tai Chi student. But relieving stress is just one of the reasons people practice Tai Chi. Many of the Tai Chi practitioners who attended expressed the peaceful emotions that come with exercising this form of movement. "It changes the way you think about confrontation," said Anna Marugg, a student at Dragon Studios. "With Tai Chi, you just move away from it and allow their negative energy to move away from you, and you just go on your way:' While the weather and atmosphere was calm and soothing on the U campus, other parts of the world were in distress. A 6.7 magnitude earthquake struck Nepal, causing over BY BROCK JENSEN PHOTO BY CHRIS SAMUELS 2,400 deaths. Jerry Gardner, U Theatre Professor and Red Lotus School of Movement instructor, said his students spent the earlier part of the morning meditating and sending soothing thoughts towards the victims of the Nepal earthquake. "We can generate positive thoughts in that movement for those individuals or whoever it may be': Gardner said. "Then, we'll make specific prayers at that level, so we're looking at things on a spiritual level that some suffering may be alleviated in the hearts and minds of those who are enduring it:' Gardner has asked for small donations and contributions to be sent to the people of Nepal. c.peterson@chronicle.utah.edu @ChronyArts NO TREADMILLS, NO PROBLEM T STAFF WRITER he question on the mind of many walking into an OK Go show for the first time has to be along the lines of "Well, are they going to bring the treadmills on stage?" How do you possibly produce a live show that compares with the increasing complexity, precision and artistry of their music videos? There is perhaps no other active band whose videos are more anticipated. In all of the Internet hullabaloo surrounding OK Go, it's easy to forget that this is a classically trained band with members who have more than a decade of music-making under their belts. They are pros. This was never more evident than when the sound system went out not once but twice, the second time during an encore glow-in-the-dark rendition of "White Knuckles:' Damian Kulash and Tim Nordwind jumped to the fore, trying to keep an already-pleased crowd happy while the sound engineers went to work. When most bands would have exited the stage for a quick break, to OK Go's everlasting credit, they broke out the acoustic instruments, asked the crowd questions about everything from cereal to Prince and regaled everyone with /STAFF WRITER I RE% BY SAM PANNIER UTES ECLIPSE SUN DEVILS 2-1 stories of the time they met at summer camp and bonded over a mutual love of the Broadway adaptation of Les Miserables before launching into an impossibly well-rehearsed, for-emergency-purposes-only a capella mashup of what sounded like at least the whole first act of the SchOnberg/Boublil musical. No one in the audience walked out or got pushy during the musical interruption and the crowd was as charmed as ever. The group's peppy and well-balanced set list included songs from all four of their albums, such as "Skyscrapers," "I Want You So Bad I Can't Breathe," "This Too Shall Pass," "There's a Fire" and "Do What You Want." The stage show emanated so much fun and sounded so good that even the stoic security guards were caught tapping their hands on the speaker and bobbing their heads. Forty years later, people still go crazy for a Led Zeppelin cover, and rightfully so. OK Go's cover of "Black Dog," which no one saw coming, nearly blew the doors off the place and was one of the best parts of the show. Kulash did Plant's vocals proud, and shout out to Dan Konopka's Bonzo-worthy 10 { THECHRONY I NEWS I OPINION I ARTS I SPORTS I MONDAY, APRIL 27, 2015 } closing drum fill. The all-ages audience played their part admirably too, timing the classic "ah-ah-aaaah" just right. It wouldn't be very OK Go of the band if the show only paid attention to their sound and not their look. Keeping the show visually interesting was a near perpetually firing confetti cannon and cameras trained on each musician's face throughout the show that projected in real-time a visual distortion reminiscent of the cover art for their most recent album "Hungry Ghosts" onto the rear stage screens. For their encore, the band reemerged to chants of the syllabically convenient "0-K/Go!" in white jumpsuits and launched into the "backyard dance" from their very first homemade music video "A Million Ways" to squeals of delight from their hardcore fans. Satisfied audience members exited The Complex into rain Saturday night, laughing, confetti-covered and still singing along. s.pannier@chronicle.utah.edu @ChronyArts he Utah softball team had yet another successful road trip, winning its fifth straight Pac-12 series by taking two games from No. 22 Arizona State over the weekend. Utah had to battle for the series, though, after falling in the first game. In game one, the Utes took an early lead on Arizona State's home field and led 4-2 heading into the bottom of the fifth inning. That was when the Sun Devils took over. Arizona State scored four runs in the inning off four hits and a Utah error to take a 6-4 lead, and they would hold on to the win by that same score. "We didn't like how we played in that first game': said team captain Kate Dickman. "We knew we could play a lot better than that." Even though the Utes had a lead midway through the contest, it seemed like it was inevitable that Arizona State was going to break through, as the Sun Devils had seven hits in the first three innings. Utah, on the other hand, was much more efficient in turning its hits into runs. Despite only having four hits the entire game, the Utes were able to plate four runs. All of Utah's runs came off of home runs hit by Dickman, Hannah Flippen and Bridget Castro. Despite the success they had at the plate in game one, the Sun Devils were cooled off by the Utah pitching in the next two games. The Utes started a little slow in game two, but a solid pitching performance from Katie Donovan kept them in it long enough for the offense to start putting up runs. Arizona State scored its first and only run in the bottom of the first inning, and then Donovan only allowed three hits the remainder of the game. The Utah hitters tallied nine hits, which led to eight runs. Bella Secaira, Anissa Urtez and Maddy Woodard all homered to help the Utes seal the 8-1 game two win. "The emotions are all exciting," Secaira said. "We're really showing off all the hard work that we've put in:' As was the case last series with Arizona, both teams entered game three with a chance to take the series win. And just like the series against the Wildcats, the Utes came out victorious. Utah shut out the Sun Devils in game three, en route to winning the series. Runs were at a premium in the series finale, but Utah was able to get enough. A My one reason. The Utes plated one in the second, and then Dickman hit a solo shot in the fifth inning before Utah added two more runs in the seventh to take the game, 4-0. "It's just fun to enjoy the moment while also working hard': Dickman said of the series win. "That was something I wanted to be sure to do with it being my last road conference series:' Despite the low score, both teams hit the ball decently with Utah notching 12 hits and the Sun Devils getting seven. Utah will have the week off before it prepares for its final regular season series with No. 18 Washington, which begins on May 7 at 6 p.m. at the Utah Softball Stadium. bjensen@chronicle.utah.edu @brockjensen02 1■• 3 T EL 1 DADDY'S To help books and tuition. -i You only need one reason to donate plasma. Find out how becoming a plasma donor can make a difference for patients and help you earn extra money. 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