runthru

Candice Adea and Jean Marc Cordero: Tomorrow, the WorldWifi Body Festival 2012 and more

SEPTEMBER 2012

runthru MAGAZINE september 2012

Editor-in-Chief JOELLE JACINTO

Art Direction LUCAS JACINTO

Marketing Manager ERICA MARQUEZ JACINTO

Operations Manager JACQUI JACINTO

Contributing Writers

CHANTAL PRIMERO . CLARISSA CECILIA MIJARES

Contributing Photographers

VICTOR URSABIA . JOJO MAMANGUN

KERWIN KAISER YU

RUNTHRU is an independent magazine published online at www.runthru.com.ph. No part of this magazine may be reproduced in part or in whole without prior permission from the editors.

Email: runthru.mag@gmail.com

The editors encourage email correspondence. Letters to the editors will not be published in Runthru magazine.

ON THE COVER: Candice Adea and Jean Marc Cordero in Helsinki by Victor Ursabia

ON THIS PAGE: Fuerza Bruta at the Manila Hotel tent by Joelle Jacinto

contentsReview: Edna Vida’s Pulso

Candice Adea and JM Cordero: Tomorrow, the World

Agnes Locsin’s Alay sa Puno

Aspiring to/for Dance: The Wifi Body Festival 6

“Here, they move onstage as one body, one mind, one soul and in one pulse, the Pinoy pulse.”

- Edna Vida Froilan, programme notes of Pulso

The show begins with a single spotlight on the corner of the stage near the audience, on that area where the orchestra would usually go, but with the pit raised. A shirtless man rises from his crouched position, lifting up his chest to the light with his hands beseeching slowly upward. He begins to dance.

Another spotlight shines on a different spot on the stage, on another dancer, then, another, and so on. What is remarkable about this montage is that the dancers are performing different styles of dance: from the first dancer, obviously doing contemporary, to three different couples doing balletic partnering, to another couple doing ballroom dance, to a guy performing some impressive hip hop stunts, to a girl rolling

around on the floor, exploding as she does, to another girl in a large colorful skirt that whirls around her as she spins around in her spotlight. As all the lights shine on all the dancers and they perform their little enchainements together, the breathtaking sight assures that, no matter what style of dance, the Philippines does not want for awesome, talented, highly technical, inspiring dancers. And perhaps this is the point of Pulso.

Directed by Edna Vida, the show brings together the resident dance companies, Ballet Philippines, Philippine Ballet Theatre and Ramon Obusan Folkloric Group (the girl with the colorful whirling skirt), with guests Ballet Manila, contemporary groups UP Dance Company and Ramon Magsaysay Memorial College's Teatro Ambahanon, hip hop crew Unschooled and ballroom dance couples Dansaficionados. The opening and closing montages were carefully crafted by Vida to successfully tie all the groups together, highlighting what each had in common - being Filipino, being awesome dancers, and being in love with dance.

The stark differences between the performing groups were clear in the first two performances - Unschooled launched from the opening number straight into their highly charged hip hop routine

A Review of Pulso: Soul in Dance by Joelle Jacinto

The Philippine Pulse Beats On

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on the raised orchestra pit, very bold and in your face, given the proximity to the audience. As they left the stage, bowing to a cheering crowd, the main theater curtains parted to reveal silhouettes of PBT's ballerinas and danseurs new OPM suite that came next. The adrenaline raised by Patrick "Big Pat" Ceballos' very clever choreography softly evaporated to the languid lyricism of Ron Jaynario's neoclassical vignettes to Basil Valdez's Kastilyong Buhangin, Gary Valenciano's Sana Maulit Muli and Wency Cornejo and Cooky Chua's Walang Hanggan. 

It was a sharp contrast that I highly appreciated, though I wish PBT had done a work more exciting, as theirs was the only mild segment of an evening of "bonggahan." Ballet Philippines, for example, presented their pambato: Candice Adea and JM Cordero, in their now-famous Diana and Actaeon, which they performed at the 2010 Boston Competition, where Candice won her silver. And then, while Ballet Manila's pas de deux from Romeo and Juliet was not bravura, they did boast of having no less than Lisa Macuja perform Juliet for both performances, adeptly taking on the complicated, near-acrobatic partnering that Augustus "Bam" Damian III is known for. 

It was quite interesting how artistry mixed with spectacle in the curation of this show. One cannot deny the profundity of Teatro Ambahanon's Kuya Julius, depicting a slice of  the regional/urban landscape along with the sorrows and hopes

associated with a Kuya searching for greener pastures abroad, and yet the tricks and stunts mixed with contemporary, almost pedestrian, movement kicked the entertainment notch quite high. UP Dance Company (soon to be renamed as per the University) presented Elena Laniog's Silhouettes, with its demanding sophisticated contemporary technique, engaged the audience in a different way. An abstract view of femininity, the energy these young women unleashed was gripping, belying the delicacy they hinted at in the beginning. 

My least favorite numbers were by Dansaficionados and, regretfully, Ramon Obusan Folkloric Group. I could see how it

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would have been perfect to showcase our world class Dance Sport competitors, but I've seen much better Filipino ballroom dancers elsewhere, and definitely much better choreography. Aside from 3 adult couples, they featured two sets of children - of these couples, the tween-aged girl impressively stood out. 

ROFG's Pastores de Belen was perhaps a tad too long for a show that demanded high energy from start to finish. They did not need to show everything, as it wasn't Christmas anyway; for instance, it could have done without the dance of the children with the fake sheep. The coda of the suite made up for the low points, and flabbergasted the way only Philippine folk dance can. 

Diversity is obviously the point of this show, as it ends with a choreographed finale, wherein the entire ensemble perform short combinations of each style of dance, led by a representative from each group. Let me say, it was such a trip to see Lisa Macuja-Elizalde dance hiphop in her pointe shoes. That's not something you see everyday. 

Even as the choreography ended, the music played on and the dancers continued as well; they started improvising and wound up in a showdown of chops, started off by the hiphop boys, street battle style. The contemporary boys from General Santos knew hiphop too, and joined in the fun. One dancer from the same province started doing all these ballet lift tricks bordering on acrobatic, the ballroom dancers filled up the space like the finals of So You Think You Can Dance. But they all stepped back

respectfully when Lisa Macuja and Candice Adea began to spin 32 fouettes together, side by side. And BP's JM Cordero, BM's Alfren Salgado, and PBT's Lemuel Capa spun tours a la seconde right after them. The girls from UP started to fly through the air, land on their knee and curled their bodies up to roll away from the next flying girl, one after the other like hard rain. It was astonishing.

The dancing would not stop, and the Filipino audience who were now on their feet, didn't wish the dancing to stop either. That pulse rocked through everyone in that theater that night, fulfilling exactly what it set out to do - bring to light that common pulse beating through each of us. Well done, CCP. Well done, Edna Vida. 

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Runthru Magazine publishes reviews of performances on www.runthru.com.ph. Although we cannot promise publication, you may send contributions to runthru.mag@gmail.com.

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When Candice Adea won first prize at the Helsinki International Ballet Competition, she didn't hear the announcement. She was busy with excitement that her partner, Jean Marc Cordero, had been given the Special Jury Award for Best Pas de Deux technique, an award that they weren't aware of, much less expecting.

Jean Marc, or JM as he is known by his friends and family, was not a finalist at the Helsinki competition, but he performed at the finals because Candice was. After their Diana and Actaeon pas de deux, which contained a trick where Actaeon slowly slides into a forward lunge during an overhead one-handed arabesque lift, a trick that has made JM famous, JM pulls on his warmers, and positions himself in an inconspicuous spot by the wings so that he could take photos.

The crew, who were pretending they didn’t know about the award, cued JM to get dressed for final bows, more so that he wouldn't be in his warm-up clothes when they called his name than for the actual bows. The backstage crews at international dance competitions aren't usually friendly with the competitors. Usually, it is JM and Candice who are friendly with everyone.

When JM was announced as Best pas de deux partner, the crew were all cheering him on from backstage.

Moments later, when the winner for the senior womens category was announced, JM had to prod Candice into going onstage to receive her first prize. It was a very good day for Filipino dancers in Helsinki.

This is the 5th competition that Candice and JM have joined together since their first New York International Ballet Competition in 2008. This is also most likely their last. They turn 28 this/next year, and considered over-aged.

The NYIBC was their first competition together and not noteworthy to the Filipino public as they had been eliminated before the finals. But it definitely whetted their appetite for more - they had a better idea what to work on, what judges were looking for, what they could get out of the experience. They competed in the USA International Ballet Competition in 2010, also more popularly known as Jackson, as it was held in this Mississippi city, and as one of the top competitions any serious dancer should join. Their tactics paid off: JM was a semi-finalist and

Cover Story by Joelle Jacinto

Tomorrow, the world: Candice Adea and Jean Marc Cordero win at Helsinki

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Candice won the silver. This made them the first male and female dancers from the Philippines to achieve their respective triumphs.

They joined the Boston International Ballet Competiton, and the Seoul International Dance Competition, but were not as successful. Candice won a silver in Korea, and neither placed in Boston, though Candice did win the Maris Liepa Award for Artistry and both won the privilege to perform with Andris Liepa's new company in Paris. Some wondered if this was good for the real-life couple, this seeming addiction to competing. Others wondered what else did they need to prove?

If JM had to prove anything, it would be to prove to himself that he can dance. Co-competitors are impressed when they discover that JM only started to dance ballet six years ago. He was a theater major in high school who had a ballerina girlfriend. It was only when they left Makiling and started college did JM decide to take ballet class. He fell in love with it so much that he changed his major to a Performing Arts degree in Dance at the College of St. Benilde, and joined Ballet Philippines.

This may seem like a "the rest is history" scenario, but there are very few men who could successfully pull off what JM did. Those

who have personally witnessed his growth as a dancer would note his keen awareness of how his body works and careful application of theoretic technique. The constant training for competition definitely helped.

Candice maintains that she competes to challenge herself, to keep growing as a dancer. To this goal, Candice has achieved several times over, given her medals and special prizes. The Maris Liepa Best in Artistry Award is particularly important because Candice spent her early professional career praised for her precise technique but criticized for her lack of emotion onstage. Winning this particular award speaks volumes of how far Candice had come.

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Candice and JM also share that aside from improving their dancing technique and artistry, what they get out of competitions is they are able to travel to places they've never been. "How else can we travel the world together, doing what we love doing best, with the person we love best?" JM posed.    

Coming home from the Jackson competition was as important as winning itself. With her silver, and the couple's constant appearances on the news, Candice broke into public consciousness. Ticket sales to Ballet Philippines shows have gone up, more so now with the Helsinki win, hordes of new fans coming to see Candice and JM perform. After the performance of BP's Songs, held on the weekend of July 6-8, 2012, JM and Candice's Facebook pages were flooded with tags on photos of the couple posing with various fans during the post-show Meet and Greet, happy pictures indeed, with the brightly colored costumes of Augustus "Bam" Damian III's 4C&J: Rossini Grand Pas de Deux and the giddy grins on the faces of the fans and the idols they are getting their photos taken with.

Offstage, Candice and JM ease back into their lives before the acclaim and prestige. Ballet superstars are still not mobbed in the street, and there are practical concerns to address - home, finances, family, each other. Their competition fund was not generated by magical benefactors, but from painstaking savings and the strong support of family. They had not expected to win the Best pas de deux partner award in Helsinki, but all the prize

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money went straight to airfare. They do not lead more glamorous lives now, but then glamor and wealth was never what they were after in the first place.

Of the major ballet competitions still left, Candice and JM slightly regret not competing at the Varna International Competition in Bulgaria. The only reason why they didn't compete in Varna is they couldn't afford to go to both Varna and Helsinki, which occurred in this same year. Although Varna is more popularly prestigious, Candice and JM chose Helsinki after recounts from co-competitors, who like them have made the rounds of the major competition venues, wherein all agree that dancers are treated better in Helsinki - better rehearsal space and schedule, better accommodations and, most importantly, better food.

This reflects how JM and Candice have matured into competition, that they make their choices practically instead of being led on by all that glitters. And if triumph at International competitions have changed them at all, it hasn't changed the fact that Candice still giggles constantly or that JM is still the one responsible for 80% of Candice's giggling. Or that the next day, they have rehearsals to look forward to.

This may be the end of their competition days, but Candice Adea and Jean Marc Cordero are looking forward to more dancing. After all, the Philippines and the rest of the world are just starting to take notice.

Photos of Diana and Actaeon pas de deux performed at Boston International Ballet Competition (page 6) and at the Helsinki International Ballet Competition (cover) by Victor Ursabia.

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Consistent, was the word that came to mind

during Wifi Body Dance Festival’s closing gala this year.  I was

happily surprised that throughout the three-hour show, not one piece was unfavorable, or at least from this young spectator’s perspective.  Call me trusting but I loved the choreography and dancing that were showcased the night of July 14, 2012 – but of course, with varying degrees of appreciation.

As expected, all of CCP’s resident dance companies took part in the show.  As a matter of fact, Ballet Philippines was first to take the stage with Alden Lugnasin’s brazen choreography, Lahat ng Araw, performed by four of BP’s male talents.  A good way from the stage, the piece resembled a Flamenco dance, by virtue of the red ruffled skirts, flaring fans, and unafraid movement vocabulary.  The Chinese influence, as was written on the program notes, was evident in the yin and yang behind the masculinity in full skirts, and the idea behind the continuity of time – lahat ng araw indeed.  Alongside BP’s theme was Philippine Ballet Theatre’s La Femme by Ronilo Jaynario, who

practiced artful understanding of semiotics.  In maroon leotards, pointe shoes, and high ponytails, the three women in all their long-leggedness exuded confidence and female independence.

Gomburza was as the title suggested, a tribute to the country’s most famous martyrs.  I found the main event in this dance was to be the purposeful fashion each of the three performers covered themselves with blindfolds.  It was ceremonial.  I have not seen a better abstraction of that catalystic martyrdom than this Ballet Manila piece as choreographed by Ernest Mandap.

Chameleon Dance Company’s Seasonal Syndrome, by Marvin Ryan Arizo, was a dance on fidelity between couples.  As four pairs took the stage, each in different color motifs, and different moods, I was somehow reminded of Balanchine’s Four Temperaments.  Maybe it actually was a deconstruction of it, with an added narrative?  Using music from the likes of Hans Zimmer, who happens to my favorite film composer, the choreography was undoubtedly strong and sharp.

Review by Chantal Primero

Fidelity: The Wifi Body Closing Gala

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Apart from these professional companies were school-based dance groups.  Seven Contemporary Dance Company, a group formed of De La Salle – College of St. Benilde alumni, performed Kristoffer Legarde’s thought-provoking Invisible.  Where I am mindful of titles, the ambiguity of the word “invisible” prompted a number of questions that eventually led to an assumption that this piece must be a discourse on strangers.  Here were men and women in sleek black, each dancing in their own spotlight, indifferent to the rest of the actors onstage.

On a lighter note, Lyceum of the Philippines University Dance Troupe performed “a different kind of dining experience,” or rather a different take on societal relations.  Choreographed by Robbie Hayden and Mark Abriza, Boodle was a delightful caboodle of different Filipino dining mannerisms, eccentricities, and such.  Had they used glass plates or plastic instead of paper plates, they would have generated more of the interesting sounds that the dancers were already vocally making.

University of the Philippines Dance Company’s Bilang 1,2,3,4,5 was choreographed by the musically adept Sarah Maria Samaniego to original music by Filipino composer Alexander John “AJ” Villanueva.  With it being my second time to watch the piece, I somehow understood it better and realized how the dance gave off the illusion of one man having four shadows.  The five men, despite the differences in their size and stature were clean and consistent, movement-wise. 

Another of UPDC’s performances for the night was an excerpt from their 30-minute dance the previous night, Feet of Clay.  Choreographer Elena Laniog and guest performer Ea Torrado who also had a piece during the night (more on that in a bit) looked like a sisterhood tandem with an almost uniform valuation of the ‘isolation-laden’ choreography.  Laniog has a way of entrusting her intricate dance style to her dancers that allows them to be uniform at the same time diversified with one’s own movement quality.  As always, she did not fail to produce a captivating piece with her masterful understanding of isolations and minute details.

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Jose Jay Cruz’s solo was also a study on isolation – on hyper-isolation, more importantly.  I wonder how I would have perceived his Contemporary Investigation Number One had I not been familiar with the background of this dance.  From December 2010 to March 2011 I was one of the resident artists in the dance research that Jay Cruz along with his associates and Transitopia Contemporary Dance Commune undertook: the Contemporary Corporeality.  The research was a inquiry on movement and space, an attempt towards an integration and cooperation of science and soul, I would say.  It was a cerebral undertaking that exposed dance on a more technical and deeper sense, one that

the Philippines ought to have more of.  And since number one always suggests the presence of a number two, I am hopeful of a sequel to Contemporary Investigation Number One.  (More of Contemporary Corporeality in http://contemporarycorporeality.wordpress.com/)

Myra Beltran’s Lullaby for a Journey was also a solo of intellect.  I had the privilege of talking to her during technical rehearsals.  She told me that her piece was done as a result of a three-month long dance residency in New York.  With the haunting music of Meredith Monk who she had in fact seen perform live – I envy her

for that – and a video of herself and her poetry, I found the solo to be quite solemn and nostalgic.

Ea Torrado’s Touch was among my favorites.  The soft and fluid but strong movements in this pas de deux, brilliantly supported by (and/or in support of) Debussy’s Clair De Lune, narrated romance and sensuality between her and her partner.  The dance was almost an aphrodisiac in an enchanting sort-of-way.   Ah, love. 

And again, love was the dialogue in Jed Amihan’s “search for a date.”  The audience was quite receptive to his solo, Alone or Two, where he was interactive with the crowd.  As a matter-of-fact, by the end of his choreography, he had found his date in one of the ladies in front row.  But even devoid of his new-found partner, the dance would have still seemed like a pas de deux – one-sided, at least, that explained his

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want of a companion.

Job (Un)Fair was the appropriate finale with its exhilarating and powerful choreography, brave lifts, and even braver dancers.  The exhausting number was an accurate interpretation of an economic-driven society that is constantly in the race to the top.  Bravo to Frederick Fernandez who had managed the reliable talents of Airdance beautifully in this piece.

As an epilogue to the show, first place winner of the the New Choreographer’s Competition, Al Garcia, performed his 15-minute Entry No.  __ , where you can only guess that the blank in his title is reserved for “of the deserving champion,” but more on that next time.  For now, a congratulations and a thank you are in order to the participants of this year’s closing gala for an excellent show!

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This review first appears in Chantal Primero’s blog, at http://twelve11am.wordpress.com.

Photo of Elena Laniog’s Feet of Clay by Jojo Mamangun. Visit his portfolio at http://jojomamangun.com.

Photo of Ea Torrado’s Touch by Joelle Jacinto

The Wifi Body Festival poster by Avel Bautista

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Rare is the dance critic in the Philippines.

Even more rare is one who with an expansive breadth of knowledge.

Rarer still is the one whose criticism is not the self-serving kind, but whose overriding goal is to keep the work of dance-makers alive, to serve only the DANCE.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I have just described Basilio Esteban Villaruz. His first book, Treading Through 40 Years of Dance launched as well in the first Wifi Body Festival in 2006, showed us Steve’s range and expertise as a dance critic and historian, but with a lightness of touch, an empathy, an understanding for dance-makers that could only come from a choreographer and dance educator who was so committed.

In his second publication which we launch this afternoon, the three-volume Walking Through Philippine Theater, not only do we see the same range and expertise, but also an academic rigor that is nevertheless accessible. As we go through these three volumes, we are exposed to complex questions of choreography, of aesthetic goals, of tastes, of patronage but rendered in very human terms, within the struggle and aspiration of the dance-maker, the dancer. As we go through these essays, grouped together under broad topics, we find ourselves right in the middle of the story of how Philippine dancers discover themselves within the impetus of Philippine dance history. In the process, we come away a bit more with a sense of being Filipino.

Welcome to the world of dance, through the eyes, the sensibility, and the writing of an irreplaceable Philippine dance critic and historian. In behalf of all the dance artists here present in this festival, my colleagues, I thank you, Steve, for this link across generations of dancers that these books provide. We are so grateful.

- Myra Beltran, presenting Basilio Esteban Villaruz at the launch of his Walking Through Philippine Theater (UST Press 2012)13

New Choreographers Competition

Photo of Al Garcia’s Entry No. ___ by Joelle Jacinto

This year’s New Choreographers Competition turned up a wealth of potential talent burgeoning beneath the surface, apparently making use of the 2 years that the Wifi Body Festival had been on hiatus to come up with competition pieces to reckon with. The significant change between this and the previous competitions is that there is a semi-final round this year, forcing the new choreographers to invest more in their work.

This year’s semi-finalists are

Manuel Malonzo, finalist

Riel Bulos, finalist, recipient of best performer award

Lariza Jane Cabaltierra

Mark Rosaroso

Love Llena Macapagal, finalist

Danny Vale

Delphine Buencamino

Sarah Maria Samaniego, finalist, second placer and recipient of the audience choice award

Al Bernard Garcia, finalist, winner

The jury, made of Basilio Esteban Villaruz, Myra Beltran (for the semi-finals, replaced by Paul Morales for the finals), and chaired by Nes Jardin, were unable to narrow down the list of finalists to four, so remarkable were the entries. In the end, Al Garcia’s Entry No. ___, which involved gender reversal, role switching and audience interaction, came out the strongest.

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More coverage of the Wifi Body Festival 6 is available on www.runthru.com.ph

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On February 10, 2012, Agnes Locsin premieres Dahon, at the Locsin Dance Workshop in Davao City, featuring Georgette Sanchez. Dahon is  a one-hour solo concert, and the second in Locsin's Alay Sa Puno series, inspired by the movement of the leaves of common trees and "how the four elements of Nature affect the existence of trees in our environment," according to her initial proposal letters for the work.

The letters continue: "A tribute to trees, a dirge for their disappearance and a plea for reforestation, this solo concert explores the literal, physical and symbolical virtues of the foliage that surround and purify the air around us.”

The series started off in 2010 with Ugat: Unang Galaw, (which featured Biag Gaongen) with dances that took inspiration from trees namely: the balete, kawayan, calachuchi, acacia, narra, niyog and mangga trees. Through movement, Dahon will now focus on how the four elements of nature (earth, wind, sunlight and water) affect man and nature with movements derived from leaves of trees commonly seen around the country, such as the talisay, kulo, bayabas, ipil-ipil, kamansi, and neem trees; in a series of solo dances extolling on the beauty of trees and find parallelisms between their life and ours.

With the trees slowly disappearing around us, some of these formerly common trees are no longer familiar to most of us.  Dahon will attempt to remind us of not

Interview by Joelle Jacinto

ALAY SA PUNO

This interview appeared in www.runthru.com.ph on February 4, 2012. Since then, Locsin has performed Dahon in Manila, at the De La Salle College of St. Benilde Black Box, and completed the third movement, Puno, which was performed in both Davao and in Manila, at the PETA Center. Puno featured Sanchez again, and Gaye Galiluyo.

Locsin also launched her book, Philippine Neo-Ethnic Choreography at the premiere of Puno in Davao. Published by the University of Santo Tomas Press, the book describes Locsin’s creative/choreographic process and outlines the history and development of neo-ethnic dance in the Philippines.

Currently, the book is available in a number of National Bookstore branches in Metro Manila, and should be available in regional branches by the end of September.

Agnes Locsin on Dahon and the Alay sa Puno series

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only the beauty of trees but also of our need to keep them alive and around us. "

Unable to make it to the premiere of Dahon, Runthru sends Ms. Locsin a series of questions on this work, how her choreographic focus has evolved, and what her plans are for the future.

RUNTHRU: Back in the 90s, your works had a strong Filipino personality, and the genre neo-ethnic was coined to describe your choreographies. Your latest works don't have this visible neo-ethnic stamp; what would you say contributed to this change in direction/approach in your choreography?

AGNES LOCSIN: Ah, the question that keeps coming back.  The way I see it, neo-ethnic has evolved as I have evolved.  If you look at how I transformed ethnic to neo-ethnic, by using the same procedure, I merely transformed neo-ethnic to urban-native movements in the last decade. Where by combining neo-ethnic and civilian gesture, I came up with a seemingly new direction. 

In the first decade of this century, my choreography became collaborative with other art forms.  Deriving movements from poetry (by Ricardo de Ungria, Tita Lacambra-Ayala, Jo Bacani-Angeles, and Alfredo Salanga), short stories (Aida Rivera Ford), sculptures (Ray Fuentes) and paintings (Jose V. Ayala, Bert Monterona, Ang Kiukok and BenCab) of Filipino artists. Most of these collaborations were done in Davao City with only Sayaw

LikhANG KIUKOK and Sayaw, Sabel performed in Manila, receiving national media coverage.

I have not stopped doing pure neo-ethnic works, having done a number of works for Ballet Manila, Steps, Perry Sevidal Ballet, PHSA and my very own Locsin Dance Workshop. This decade, though, saw my publicized works leaning towards nature inspiring the movements.

Thus being the case, I really have not deviated from Filipino themes.

Is Dahon tied to the fact that your dancer is Georgette? Would it have come out differently, or would you have chosen a different tree part if you were working with a different dancer?

It all began with my desire to build a forest in dance and in real life.  The idea was there and I figured it would take a few years to germinate in my mind. So Biag and I experimented on a solo concert as a study for the forest dance. Ugat was such a fulfilling project for both the dancer and the choreographer that I thought of doing it again with other dancers. Biag was so Ugat in movement. I then listed the dancers with time to stay in Davao for a month and the stamina to withstand an hour of dancing. We broke down the parts of a tree and matched the dancer with the theme and came up with: Ugat is Biag (2010), Dahon is Georgette (2011 turned 2012), Puno (tree-trunk) is Gaye (Galiluyo) and Georgette (2012), Sanga is Sonny (Locsin) and Biag (2013), Bunga

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is Krisbelle (Paclibar-Mamangun), Clark (Rambuyon) plus one more dancer (2014). And then, these “planted seedlings” will have become trees in the future forest.

The choreography will be tailor-made for the dancers performing in their specified concert.

How long did you choreograph this work on Georgette? How different is Georgette a dancer now than when you remember working with her in BP?

Four weeks, that includes production week and performances in Davao City. Georgette has always been an exciting dancer…a gorgeous dancer. Her passion seems to have tripled. Now, she has complete mastery of her body. She’s much more confident and is more aggressive in collaborating with me.  She’s a choreographer now! Making it much much easier for me to work with her. After all, she knows her body much better than I do. Tsaka, mabagal na ako mag-choreograph so the hyper Georgette just keeps moving and I direct, guide and censor her moves. As a choreographer, this is the easy life…hahahaha. 

What did you think of Georgette's take on your Encantada? Is there anything you'd have wanted her to do differently?

Happy ako the way she embraced the role and made it her own. Cecile (Sicangco) did such a great job in depicting Encantada, I had to get a veteran to do it after her. Georgette did so well. I would have wanted to alter more movements for Georgette but

didn’t have time as the corps and new dancers needed so much attention, not having had training under me. I did add a few steps here and there, but not nearly enough as I had intended.

What are your and your school's plans for 2012?

The school has its regular schedule of classes, workshops, and recitals. We’re having our 64th Annual Recital in March which will feature an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream; our 29th summer workshop in April to May culminating with a showcase in May, and our Christmas Program in December.

For my own artistic release, Puno: Pangatlong Galaw will premiere on July 27. Gaye and Georgette will be here for a month before that. Oh, and in June, Dahon will have performances in Bacolod, Iloilo and Manila.

That’s all, folks. 

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Photo design by Don Locsin. Raw footage by Mark Gary and Anne Marie B. Locsin.

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calendar

september1 Airdance’s Hollywood Dance Master Classes, Unit 303 Frisco Place, 158 Roosevelt Ave. cor. Del Monte Ave., San Francisco del Monte, Quezon City

1-2 Ballet Manila’s Alamat: Si Sibol at si Gunaw, Aliw Theater, Pasay City

14-16 Ballet Philippines’ Neo-Filipino: Anting CCP Little Theater, Pasay City

october5-7 Ballet Manila’s Don Quixote, Aliw Theater, Pasay City

19-21 Ballet Manila’s Giselle, Aliw Theater, Pasay City

26-27 Ballet Manila’s Carmen, Star Theater, Pasay City

These performances are part of The Lisa Macuja Swan Song Series.

More announcements on performances can be found on www.runthru.com.ph Photo of Ava Villanueva and Reagan

Cornelio in Myra Beltran’s Itim Asu by Joelle Jacinto