Philippine dance

The suite of dances has been performed in the United States, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, China, Australia, Greece, Europe, and Southeast Asia as well as various Philippine cities and prov- inces. • E. Vida

CARMEN

·1976. Modern ballet in one act and five scenes. Choreography, Eric V. Cruz; music, Georges Bizet (as arranged by Rodion Schedrin); set, costume, and light- ing design, Eric V. Cruz. Premiered by Dance Concert Company on January 1976 at the Abelardo Hall, Uni- versity of the Philippines. Cast: Vella Damian (Carmen), Rupert Acuna (Don Jose), Eric V. Cruz (Escamilla), Teresita Carreon (Michaela). The ballet in five scenes closely follows the opera narrative. Don Jose who leads the civil guards meets the sultry cigarette girl Carmen but soon takes her in because of a brawl she instigates. He releases her be- cause of the passion she has instigated in him. Mean- while, Escamilla, the matador, captivates Carmen in a tavern. Carmen reads her ill fate while camping out with gypsies. Here Don Jose turns his back on his childhood sweetheart Micaela, but Carmen rejects him. Escamilla is hailed victorious in a bull ring. Carmen is confronted and finally killed by Don Jose. This version created inimitable roles for Damian as Carmen and Acuna as Don Jose, and a most- performed ballet from Dance Concert. Of Damian, Basilio Esteban S. Villaruz wrote that it is "Carmen as only Damian can." Since the ballet was acquired by Philippine Ballet Theater in 1989, it has featured Mai- qui Manosa, Melanie Matus and Maritoni Rufino as Carmen; Nicolas Pacana, Rinat Gizatulin and Osias Barroso as Don Jose. A most popular subject in the Philippines, Cannen has also been plotted similarly by Rene Dimacali in Bacolod in 1976; jazzed up by Agnes Locsin for the Terpsichorean in Davao in 1977; doubled (Loulie Dalupan as Carmen and Cecile Quirino as her Fate) by Eddie Elejar for Manila Metropolis Ballet in 1980, to music by Mauricio Ohana; created in flamenco version for Rose Borromeo by Ruben Nieto (Don Jose), who drew from the Carlos Saura film, at the Light and Sound Theater Lounge, Makati, in 1985; and The Many Faces of Cannen (Her Temperaments) by Jane Dungca for St Anne's Dance and Music Studio, Nueva Ecija, premiered in Manila on 20 May 1988 at the Manila Film Center. • B.E.S. Villaruz

CARMEN

141

CARMINA BURANA

1975. Modern dance in one act. Choreography, Alice Reyes; music, Carl Orff; set and costume design, Salvador Bernal; lighting design, Monino Duque. Pre- miered by the CCP Dance Company (now Ballet Phi- lippines) on 5 Sept 1975 at the Main Theater (now Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo), Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP). Cast: Antonio Fabella, Nonoy Froilan, Gener Caringal, Rey Dizon, Ester Rimpos, Effie Naii.as, Edna Vida, Elizabeth Roxas, Nes Jardin, Florence Perez, Gina Mariano, Emellie Rigonan. The text of Orff' s Cannina Burana (Songs of Beuren) was taken from an anonymous manuscript of goliardic verse discovered in 1893 in a monastery in Bavaria. The poems, which date back to the 13th cen- tury, were written by the wandering students of Eng- land, France, and Germany. Known as the Goliards,

142

the students were better known for drinking, gam- bling, and rioting than scholarship. For his oratorio, Orff chose 24 poems out of the almost 200 published in 1847 by Johann Andreas Schmeller under the title Car- mina Burana. The poems express the frustrations and joys inherent in man's encounter with nature, and in the delights of drinking and love. Keeping close to the temperament of the songs and text, Reyes' dances are exuberant, erotic, and pagan, and building up to a spiritual climax that asserts life's joys. The dances express the sacred and the profane, the earthy and the sublime. Vividly enhanced by Bernal's design, the curtain rises on a stage laden with rocks embodying the earth, which are later trans- formed into medieval stained glass representing the divine. The ballet is considered by many to be one of Reyes' most accomplished works. Cannina Burana was featured in a special concert of the Manila Symphony Orchestra and the CCP Philharmonic Orchestra in October 1984 with Helen Quach conducting. It was also presented at the Simon Bolivar Festival in Venezuela during its Bicentennial Celebration in March 1983, garnering rave reviews from Venezuelan critics. • E. Vida

COMPANY

1970. Modern ballet in one act and three move- ments. Choreography, Alice Reyes; music, J.S. Bach; set design, Roberto Chabet; lighting design, Teodoro Hilado. Premiered by the CCP Dance Workshop Com- pany (now Ballet Philippines) on 24 Sept 1970 at the Main Theater (now Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo), Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP). Cast: Alice Reyes, Eddie Elejar, Tina Santos, Antonio Fabella, Manuel Molina, Gener Caringal, Steve Villaruz, Irma Bringas, Menchu de Jesus, Delia Javier, Luis Layag, Nini Gener, Cecile Santos. In subsequent perfor- mances: set design, Salvador Bernal; lighting design, Monino Duque, Katsch S.J. Catoy, Alex de Guzman. This modern ballet shows the company "at work, at play, and in performance," beginning with dancers warming up, the stage crew and anybody else who wishes to join the act milling about, against the back- ground of a bare stage with equipment scattered about and the overhead lights down. As the dancers execute individual, then group movements, everything is gra- dually cleared, the movements slowly coalesce and develop into a formal performance on stage. The "fun piece" ends with the dancers vying for prominent positions during the curtain call.

COMPANY. One of the most raved about and engaging productions In the modem bollet mode Is the Company, 1970, which featured, left to right, Gener Carlngal, Manuel Molina, Luis Layag, and Enrico Laboyen. This Innovative piece shows the dance company "at work, at play, and In performance." (Rudy Vldad, Ballet Philippines Collection)

Company was premiered at the First Dance Work- shop Scholarship Gala Concert. Its unorthodox begin- ning caused a stir, prompting some in the audience to leave the theater thinking that they had come to a dress rehearsal. The ones who stayed sat bewildered in their seats, losing their discomfort as the ballet slow- ly progressed into a more conventional "performance look," at the end of which they applauded in relief. Company has since been included in touring programs that consist mostly of serious works, as an icebreaker and eye-opener, enjoying rave reviews from critics and delighted reactions from audiences worldwide. It has been performed in the United States, United Soviet Socialist Republic, China, Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Great Britain, Greece, Australia, Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, and Hong Kong as well as various cities and provinces in the Philippines. • E. Vida

DABAW

DABAW

143

swirling vortex of darkness that the cloth has become. Eventually, the punching, kicking monster itself is en- veloped in the rising, murky maelstorm created by the dancers under the black cloth, and is carried off, high and struggling, into the wings. The eclipse ends, pla- cidity returns. • B.E.S. Villaruz

DIABLOS

(Demons). 1989. Modern dance and experimental dance drama in two acts. Choreography and direction, Denisa Reyes; musical direction, Lutgardo Labad, Ronnie Quesada, Lucien Letaba, Vincent de Jesus, Linus Sto. Tomas, Louie Pascasio; original script, AI Santos; concept for dance, Denisa Reyes, AI Santos, and Rody Vera; set and costume design, Salvador Bernal; lighting design, Soxy Topacio. Premiered by Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA) and Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) on 14 Apr 1989 at Dulaang Raha Sulayman, Fort Santiago, Manila. Cast: Chie Concepcion (Suwana), Jojo Atienza (Minokawa), Melvin Lee (Mao), PETA Kalinangan En- semble. Based on a Bagobo folktale, Diablos is a modern ballet and experimental dance drama in two acts, which makes powerful statements about the people's struggle for the preservation of life versus the indiscri- minate use of arms and nuclear power. The story is about Suwana, a woman about to give birth, who lives in a hamletted Bagobo town where people are suffer- ing the ravages of war. The people believe that her child will save the enchanted land from the dark spell that is to be sown by the evil bird Minokawa. Fore- seeing the end of his mystic powers over the people, Mao, the babaylan (priest), is overcome with jealousy. He invokes the spirit of Minokawa to conjure a bloody plan to kill the unborn children of the tribe. Through deception, Mao coerces the people to offer a mass sacrifice in preparation for the coming darkness (eclipse). Suwana escapes from the mass abortion and flees to the dark forest, coming into the care of the old Diwata. She is given a burning stone, a chain of bells, and a flock of birds to help fight the evil bird. In the final scene, the pregnant Suwana confronts Minoka- wa. She undergoes labor in the midst of the battle but the people protect her from the evil monster. The baby is born and Minokawa is vanquished. The sun reap- pears and the whole town celebrates. Diablos as originally envisioned by Santos is an "allegorical drama of rituals"; rituals that are still a central element among most of Asia's folk and tradi- tional theater forms. Reyes integrated these Asian ele-

144

ments with her style of Western improvisational dance. Reconceptualizing her spatial designs of circles, diagonals, and angles to suit the unconventional struc- ture of the open-air T -shaped stage in the ruins of an old Spanish fort, and working closely with artists who were limited in dance technique but brimming with creative energy, she evolved methods of using props, like bamboos, in ways that were innovative and visual- ly stimulating. The PET A pool of musicians expanded and adopted their musical language to the styles and concepts of the choreographer. For Suwana's crusade, they used melodies drawn from the musical cultures of Mindanao; for Minokawa's nuclear aggression, they explored inorganic sounds and electronic synthesizers. • E. Vida

1972. Modern dance in one act. Choreography, Alice Reyes; music, Ramon P. Santos; set design, Ray Albano; costume design, Marcella Lopez; lighting de- sign, Teodoro Hilado. Premiered by the CCP Dance Workshop Company (now Ballet Philippines) on 14 Oct 1972 at the Main Theater (now Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo), Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP). Cast: Gener Caringal (High Priest), Enrico Labayen (Young Man), Franklin Bobadilla (Rival), Irma Bringas (Young Girl), Joy Coronel and Antonio Fabella (Girl's Parents), Marose Estella and Jose Antonio (Boy's Parents), Denisa Reyes, Florence Perez, Edna Vida, Elizabeth Roxas, Cynthia Salang, Arlene de Guzman, Ronnie Leonardo, Max Luna, Romy Go (Members of the Tribe). In subsequent performances: costume design, Salvador Bernal; lighting design, Katsch S.J. Catoy, and later, Alex de Guzman. This modern ballet was inspired by the sacred dances that mark the turning points of tribal life among the Bukidnon of Mindanao. It depicts the initia- tion ritual presided over by the babaylan (shaman) which marks a young man's ascendance to manhood, courtship, and marriage. The dance culminates in an offering. All movements were choreographed to Ramon P. Santos' music entitled Dingding nga Diyawa. Like many of his other works, Santos' com- positions is in the avant-garde idiom using Philippine folk material. Being one of the early works that merged tribal and modern dance movements, Reyes' Dugso is a source of inspiration for choreographers involved in the search for a uniquely Filipino dance form. • E. Vida

EN CANT ADA

(Enchantress). Modern ethnic dance in two acts. Choreography, Agnes Locsin; music, Joey Ayala at ang Bagong Lumad; libretto, Al Santos; costume and set design, Salvador Bernal; lighting design, Teodoro Hilado. Premiered by Ballet Philippines on 20 Feb 1992 at the Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo, Cultural Center of the Philippines. Cast: Cecile Sicangco (Encantada), Joey Ayala (Estranjero), alternated by Gerald Mercado, Wendy Panganiban (Babaylan), Jinn Ibarrola (alter- nated by Melvin Martinez), Paul Morales and Lee Wen Cheng (priests). A sovereign spirit called Encantada rules over hills and dales, mountains and streams. Upland, her medium is the Babaylan, a female shaman who leads a group of women called Kababaihan in a trance dance. This is expressive of and a call to nature, earthy and supplicative. In the lowlands, the converted Christians

ENCANTADA The mystical powers of nature and Its exploitation by foreign colonizers are the themes explored by choreographer Agnes Locsln, librettist AI Santos, and composer Joey Ayala In their neoethnlc ballet, Encantada, 1992. (Rudy Vldad, Ballet Philippines Collection)

ENCANTADA

or Taongbayan worship an icon of the Virgin Mary, led by three frailes (friars) who move in studied and gnarled piety. The people seem repressed to truly ex- press their feelings. Meanwhile, an indio called Estranjero, rebelling against the oppression of the people, steals the jewelled icon and brings it to the mountains. Angered, the priests send out the guardias civiles (civil guards) in pursuit. The guards run after him like acrobatic mon- keys. Estranjero is wounded, but is saved by the Encan- tada who descends from a mountain, and by the Kaba- baihan. Led by the Babaylan, they heal and baptize him. They all dance a celebration, as though purifying him and fructifying nature. Estranjero sings about the power of the diwata in "Biyaya ng Lupa" (Earth's Bles- sings). The holy image is stripped naked, now pristine looking like the Encantada, and is passed around with reverence, in jubilation. In Act II, the priests send out the guards on a headhunt. Many heads roll or fly about. Estranjero himself is unfortunately shot at. Encantada grieves as the women gird for vengeance. A fight ensues where they are raped by the guards, symbolic of and paralleled by the rape of nature who is personified by Kalikasan. The forest and pagan altars are burned as the priests reclaim the holy image. Overwhelmed, Encantada sheds tears enacted by the Babaylan, Kababaihan, and Kalikasan with their storm-tossed

145

and wavelike bodies. This flood cleanses the moun- tains but devastates the lowlands and the cathedral. The waves bring back the holy icon to the Encantada, as though an image of herself restored. Another ritual brings men and women together in joyful exultation and social harmony, implying the restoration of nature's balance and the spirits' appeasement. • B.E.S. Villaruz

EN SALADA

(Salad). 1981. A suite of modern dances. Choreography, Edna Vida; music, Ryan Cayabyab; set and costume design, Salvador Bernal; lighting design, Monino Duque. Premiered by Ballet Philippines on 13 Nov 1981 at the Main Theater (now Tanghalang Nica- nor Abelardo), Cultural Center of the Philippines. Cast: Ester Rimpos, Malu Rivera, Cecile Sicangco, Gina Mariano, Tina Fargas, Hazel Sabas, Juliet Molina, Perry Sevidal, Florence Perez, Brando Miranda, Ramon Victoria, Edward Malagkit, Jinn Ibarrola. Ensalada is a group of dances in modern ballet interpreting the moods and temperament of four Fili- pino songs: "Limang-dipang Tao" (Throngs), Ang Bakya Mo Neneng (Your Wooden Clogs, Neneng), "Tsismis" (Gossip), and "Mamang Kutsero" (Mr Rig- Driver). Avoiding a literal interpretation of the lyrics,

146

EXULTATIONS. The pas de deux from Basilio's Exultations, 1984, Is performed by Regina Debuque and Jonathan Terry. (Dance Theater Philippines Collection)

EXULTATIONS

1984. Modern ballet in one scene. Scenario and choreography, Basilio; music, Nicanor Abelardo (Sin- fonietta for strings); costume design, Arturo Cruz and Basilio. Premiered by Dance Theatre Philippines on the occasion of N. Abelardo's 50th death anniversary on 15 Dec 1984 at Puerta Real, Intramuros, Manila. Cast: Regina Debuque and Jonathan Terry (Central couple); Susan Atizado and Roberto Clemente, Rose Miranda and Eugene de los Santos (Other two cou- ples). Lines from the American poet Emily Dickinson helped generate the ballet: "Exultation floods me. I cannot find my channel/the creek turns sea at thought of thee." The dance structure evolved from the way

relationships among six dancers could be c~anged and interchanged in lovelike partnerings, gestures, and movements. In silence and to their own time, three women and three men walk forward and backward to the front. As they complete a line, the music wells up and they link and unlink among themselves. They make similar movements, but in ever-changing relations and direc- tions. With the music's rise and fall, they indicate their separate or joint feelings. The three women are left alone to dance out their fears and longings, moving and gesturing together with slight variations. As in a trance, two of the men walk in and steal away two of the women, leaving the third and central woman alone. Soon she is joined by the central man who reaches out for her as she does for him. There are reservations, even resistance, until they quietly walk off together. The two earlier couples return and link up in changing pairings. But the two men leave. The two abandoned women dance together. They are joined by the central man who dances with each of them in tum, and all three go off none-too-happily together. As they leave, the two men return with the central woman. She throws herself at each of them, until one of them drags her away. The man drops to the ground. In a line, the three women now glide in together, as the three men congenially circle behind them. They pair up, reach out, even cry, for each other. As the music wells up again to a dramatic coda, they mark stark partnerings. Along a multilevel diagonal line, they fix none-too-final relationships as the darkening lights catch them in silhouettes. The ballet was described by critic Leonor Orosa- Goquingco as "skillful, mature, well-structured com- position, shot through with passion and arresting lyriddramatic imagery" (Orosa-Goquingco 20 Jan 1985). • B.E.S. Villaruz

1954. Modem ballet in four movements. Choreography, Roberta Cassell (1st movement) and Ricardo Cassell (2nd, 3rd, and 4th movements); music, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky; set design, Pancho Uytiepo; costume design, Mitos Sison; lighting design, Alan M. Mittelsdorf and Fernando R. Nicolas. Premiered by Studio Dance Group in March 1954 at the University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City. Cast: Ma. Luisa Abeto, Greta Monserrat Aguilar, Cristina Carrion, Elizabeth Guasch, Mercy Lauchengco, Mitos Sison, and Pancho Uytiepo.

FILIPINESCAS

In four movements, the ballet interprets the mood of the Tchaikovsky music in dance form. The style is abstract. The lonely motto prevalent in each of the four movements is tempered at the end with a calm and almost religious joy. In the Philippines, it exemplifies the symphonic ballets espoused by Leonide Massine, who himself has done a version (in parts Action, Passion, Frivolity and War) called Les Presages which was performed by Col de Basil Original Ballet Russe in 1933 in Monte Carlo. • R. Cassell and B.E.S. Villaruz

FILIPINESCAS: PHILIPPINE LIFE, LEGEND AND LORE IN DANCE

1961. Modem ballet in five scenes. Choreography, Leonor Orosa-Goquingco; music, Marina Leyran, Zenas Reyes, Luisa Torres, and Leonor Orosa- Goquingco. Directed and produced by Leonor Orosa- Goquingco on 8 June 1961 at the Theatre du Vieux Colombier, Paris. Filipinescas includes the first choreography of the Legends of Creation; of Philippine lenten and easter practices, e.g., the pabasa (chanting of the pasyon), anti- pas, salubong (Easter Sunday meeting of Christ and the Virgin), the prusisyon (religious procession with candle lights); the first duel; the first trading scene; the first wedding; the first native fiesta; native games, e.g., palo cebo, juego de prenda, juego de anillo, the sipa; and Fili- pinescas' signature dance-the sabong (cockfight)-the first graphic depiction of cockfight as a sport in a realis- tic setting, complete with a grand entrance of cocks, kristo (person who takes bets), and a rowdy group of bettors. The individual folkloric pieces which comprise the whole ballet include: "Eons Ago: The Legends of the Creation"; "Long, Long Ago: Tribal Story," the first Philippine folkloric ballet woven around the death of a tribal warrior; "Long Ago," which divides into "Morolandia I," featuring fishers and children at the beach, the arrival of a vinta, the fervid activity of the barter, and a duel of two prince-brothers over a beauti- ful princess; and "Morolandia II," showing a wedding ceremony and a court celebration ("Morolandia I" and "II" incorporate creative interpretations of ethnic dances found in the south); and "The Arrival of the Spaniards and the First Conversion in the Philip- pines"; "Yesterday: Cuadros Filipinos," celebrating in dance native lenten and easter traditions; "Today (and a provision of the future): "The Bird and the Planters,"