Andy Warhol, the famous artist once said that "Everything has its beauty but not everyone sees it". While there is a whole lot of truth in that, more often than not, people don't get the chance to see beautiful things because of the lack of opportunities. Thankfully there are visionaries like Myra Beltran and Denisa Reyes who have made it their advocacy to demand creativity from the new generation of aspiring and existing choreographers. Beltran and Reyes are responsible for the birth and sustained wind of Wifi and Neo Filipino. They have both continued to support the CCP Choreographer Series (a three part platform that combines Wifi Choreographers Competition, Koryolab and Neo Filipino). This year Koryolab was launched, five promising choreographers were given grants to create work under the watchful eyes of dance influencers (Nes Jardin, Steve Villaruz, Myra Beltran, Denisa Reyes, Katsch Catoy). Aside from this, the mentorship included sessions with different audiences who gave their feedback about their work in progress. The intention clearly was to refine the skill of solidifying concepts with more purposeful choices in movement.
Nothing/Special was Special
JM Cabling gave autism a voice when he chose to present "Nothing/Special". What was exceptional about this piece was that it stayed far away from disability stigma. With so much care and attention, he presented a perspective often overshadowed. Autism is not a disability, it is a special enduring ability. Featuring dancers Marvin Lozana and Kirby Teraza he brought forward ideas often forgotten by many. The piece started with both dancers exploring their own space with unrelated choreography. At some point I started wondering if they would ever relate to each other. I waited and enjoyed the freedom of movement that made use of the floor, the walls, their clothes and even their body parts. While one was stationary, the other was rolling, lunging, rolling travelling freely. Despite the disconnect in movement, they coexisted beautifully, it was like watching two children exploring a playground. Their movement not one bit tainted with any stigma of disability except maybe the stoic eyes concentrated in their imagined matter. They quickly established they were playing in two different worlds. Eventually their two worlds connected and a bold statement unraveled. As soon as the two dancers found each other and stepped into a united rhythm. They committed to an unconventional friendship of sorts, never really doing anything in complete unison but always with a sense of togetherness. The two dancers did athletic lifts and supported extensions. There was a lot of push and pull, action reaction contact that emphasized sharing of something real. Particularly memorable to me was when Lozano supported Teraza as he defied gravity and walked on the walls reaching out for something. At a certain point they lost contact and started moving in their own space and direction but Teraza in movement calls out and Lozano looks back, recognizes he is needed and holds him again. The piece ends with both of them finally moving and looking at one direction. Despite the very brawny contemporary vocabulary, the piece reduced me to mush because it represented autistic people so eloquently. Autism is often times regarded so negatively gives a person the ability to do more than the regular joe. Autism defies every concept we were taught. It defies gravity, borders, limitations. It even defies goodbyes. Autism despite struggles allows people simultaneously see more and be more. The dancers in the piece found each other even if it was a struggle but when they did, they were enriched by the both worlds they now see and move in. The message is poetic. The process (as perceived by me) was poetic. Cabling succeeded in creating imaginative sketches that mean something. Whether I captured his intention or not is irrelevant because I see something colorful that I never really took the time to find.
Onus
Onus is defined as a burden. Jed Amihan wanted to depict the struggle of individuals to survive with the burden of society's demands and commands. His piece is straightforward contemporary in form. A woman is basking in her solitude but is disturbed by menacing voices and bodies. The four bodies took turns moving her, bending her, lifting her. They surround her until they reach the pivotal moment of the piece. Reminiscent of the traditional "Thousand Hands" dance from Thailand, they assembled into a line with the woman in front. They morphed into one body and launched a series of movement in canon with the woman being thrust into different directions. The repetition was effective because it was precise and the continuity was reflective of how society's influence is unending. While I appreciated the visuals and dramatics there were a few things that distracted me a bit. I wouldn't say they were detrimental to the piece but it did leave a few questions in my head. At one point in time one of the dancers Christoper Chan who was part of the ensemble became more prominent than the others and so it left me questioning why one part of society was stronger than the others. I also didn't quite understand why he was dressing up (or undressing). Contemporary is abstract and perhaps there is another layer of meaning that my mind was not able to comprehend properly.
Misplaced Postcard
Russ Ligtas' Postcard was intended to be a visual commentary and it was. It was a colorful display of everyday life. It was quite literally a postcard, a picture of different personalities that people might not be thought of or cared for. It reminds me of how callous and self centered people have become (including me). I do however find that the piece was more performance art rather than exploration of dance and therefore a bit misplaced.
Ethnic Tributes in Millenial Bodies
Al Bernard Garcia's "Haya" (To let be) has ethnic references which I have a tendency to love. His piece is about the passing on of a heritage. The black box was turned into a set using lights that painted a picture of a house. I thought it was quite clever as it quickly established that on stage was a community and that was their communal space. The dance was all about symbiotic relationship of all the dancers. They were either dancing in circular fashion, dancing in unison or dancing in one line of sight. It was as if they had their own rituals or traditions that just kept on going on and on with a sense of normality. Like a cycle of life, birth, struggle, moving forward, moving on. That's one of the things I like about his piece, it depicts a picture of ethnicity in a somewhat millennial point of view. While the movement was engaging, I found that the dancers lacked the maturity to really give depth to the piece. It lacked the highs and lows that are imperative in sending a message. I think with more discussion of what their assigned movements are, the real intentions would be revealed in a stronger more imposing manner.
Black Out
Byuti Balaga's piece is about sexual molestation. I honestly did not quite get that at all until I re-read my blogpost about what they said about their individual pieces. Balaga performed the piece herself dressed in a short white dress crouched down holding a rose with the screen showing an old tv screen. She is then joined by four greasy shady looking men in white briefs looking at her salaciously. What follows is honestly quite a jarring experience. The men take turns throwing her to the ground in different ways done with different blocking. She steps towards them and falls to the ground abruptly. This continues for a good five minutes. I found myself completely forgetting the point of the movement because I was so concerned for her health with the repetition of the painful descent to the floor. They also had another round of falling when the men were in table top yoga position and Balaga steps up on their legs one by one and again falls repeatedly to the ground. The piece ends with the men trying to kiss her in her neck one by one with Balaga avoiding the contact. Visually memorable was the scene where the men hold on to the ends of their braids mimicking the "evolution of man" image. The final moments have the men all try to kiss her at once and the lights black out.
Budots Authenticity
"Pidots" choreographed by Erl Sorilla is a product of a great mind. His progression as a choreographer is fast. His pieces are noticeably nicely differentiated from each other. Each piece stands on its own whether it is a quick solo, a duet or an ensemble performance. More importantly, he has not paused. Just this year alone I saw a total of four new very concrete pieces. Each piece reflected totally different points of view from the simple Filipino, to the art connoisseur, to the spiritual community. It's actually exciting watching out which aspect of the Filipino will he choose to play with.
Pidots was a cinematic take on "Budots" which is a slang term for jobless people who hang out because they have so much free time. Apparently Budots is quite a big dance phenomenon in the regionals that is in itself a hybrid of a Badjao tribal dance and and hip hop. I didn't know about this when I watched the Koryolab showcase and was blown away by the accuracy of the Budot craze incorporated in his piece. His dancers could very well be Budots from Davao. The resemblance in movement is uncanny. Sorilla just used the Budots as his medium to tell a more prevalent story because his piece was so much more than replicating the basic movement. His piece started with darkness drawing silhouettes of six people. Then the light hit and revealed bums with very realistic costumes depicting homelessness really. The ensemble sit together with their back on the walls doing nothing until they transition to even more recognizable pedestrian movements. Budots troop, walked together, mumbled together, grunted together. Eventually they were seen mimicking senseless drug use for entertainment. With the drum beat and techno music, the re-imagined but strangely authentic Budots dance craze was depicted in a club scene. Hazardous to the eyes but largely contributory to the aesthetic were the club lights that would shift from color play to singular spots featuring the effect of the drugs in realistic movement. It was as if I was watching a movie with the camera panning and settling on a subject via zoom in to short frame. Then came the spew of Duterte's dirty mouth saying his profanities against drugs. Unperturbed the Budots carried on with their casual entertainment. A spotlight hit their faces signalling a conflict and chaos unfolded. Before they knew it a friend was seen in apparent danger with his eyes blindfolded and his body pushed to a corner. In a dramatic ending everyone else shouted out for him. Their voices were silenced by a gunshot. The story ended with darkness. As I said previously Sorilla has a million ways of expressing himself. Devoid of any recognizable classical or contemporary technique, he was able to put together movement in a fluid meaningful narrative. It's funny because if I saw a Budot out there sniffing drugs I would probably run away in an instant. I would probably go all Duterterd and say a handful about "DO NOT DO DRUGS.STOP IT". But his piece humanized them. It was a reminder that they are people just like us who laugh at the silliest things, who dance... who love. There was a quick ache in my heart as it seemed all too real to me. What if it happened right in front of me? What then?! Truly, the impact was strong. I would have to say his dancers should be commended too for their commitment to the role. Ballerinas and danseurs as Budots were quite an impressive transformation. Convincing it was! Important it was!
The Black Box seemed to be fertile ground for the choreographers as a varied display of movement was shared with the audience that day. Nothing was redundant. It reflects the capacity of the choreographers create works that are distinctly unique and personal to them. Similar to a good cup of coffee paired with awesome conversation, shows like this fill you up with things to ponder about (google about). I look forward to more conversations.
Aug 26,2017
2pm and 6pm
CCP Studio Theater (Tanghalang Huseng Batute)
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