Philippine dance

147

which for the first time weaves the rice-planting cycle (from the planting and weeding to the threshing, pounding and winnowing of rice) and a new inter- pretation of the tinikling into a continuous, artistic whole. Described as an "epic," a "saga," a "synthesis of history, legend, and tradition," Filipinescas is a "vivid, unforgettable reincarnation of Philippine cultural history and of the history and spirit of the Filipino people." • B.E.S. Villaruz

FOR THE GODS

1985. Modern dance in one act. Choreography, Denisa Reyes; music, Fabian Obispo; costume design, Salvador Bernal; lighting design, Katsch S.J. Catoy. Premiered by Ballet Philippines on 17 Oct 1985 at the Main Theater (now Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo), Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP). Cast: Edna Vida, Sofia Zobel, Tina Fargas, Gina Katigbak, Melissa Cuachon, Nicole Gaston. This modern ballet was inspired by the dugso, a ritual dance of the Bukidnon of Mindanao, performed to give thanks to the gods for the harvest. The ritual involves the basic aspects of life: religiosity, birth, pain, freedom, and death. It starts with five women behind a central figure, a woman in the throes of childbirth. As in the dugso, they hold hands and stomp their feet in rhythmic progression. The dance progresses from the ritualistic and staid rhythmic pat- terns of the feet into more intricate and stylized move- ments involving the whole body, which conjure varied images of fertility. Towards the end of the dance, the woman joins the other women, her union with divinity affirmed with the ritual of birth and sacrifice. In For The Gods, Reyes depicts Western dance movements as radiant and extensive while those of the Eastern dance are intensive. The contrast between sculptured images sweeping across the floor and the ritualistic beginning that is concentrated in center stage clearly define the influence of both cultures on the choreographer. For The Gods was first presented in April 1984 at the Larry Richardson Dance Gallery in New York dur- ing a concert titled Neo-Filipino. In Manila, it was featured in Hiyas, a festival of original Filipino works that highlighted the 1985 CCP Annual Philippine Music Festival. After the ballet's premiere, Basilio Esteban S. Villaruz wrote: "No excesses and all exaltation. The coruscating choreographic togetherness is relieved by

148

duets (the woman and the seemingly midwife-leader), trios, quartets and togetherness again among the five move-mad dugso maidens and the central woman. They all eat up space like ravenous bacchantes, but more in heat after the fecund and flagrant female prin- ciple. For the Gods creates a trance-like world in itself, so ferociously inventive and ingenious within its brief earthy ecstasy" (Villaruz Dec 1985). • E. Vida

1841. Classical ballet in two acts. Scenario, Theophile Gautier and Vemoy de St George, after Heinrich Heine; choreography, Jean Coralli and Jules Perrot. . revised by Marius Petipa in 1884. Premiered on 28 Jun 1841 at Theatre de 1' Academie Royale de Musique, Paris. Cast: Carlotta Grisi, Lucien Petipa, Jean Coralli, and Adele Dumilatre. Filipino Giselles: Pacita Madrigal- Warns, Maribel Aboitiz, Maureen Tiongco, Felicitas Layag-Radaic, Purita Asiniero, Maribel Aboitiz, Maniya Barreda, Ester Rimpos, Anna Villadolid, Lisa Macuja, Cecile Sicangco, Toni Lopez Gonzalez, and Gina Katigbak. This ballet in two acts centers on Giselle, a Rhine Valley maiden deceived in love by Duke Albrecht. When Giselle discovers Albrecht's true station and en- gagement to Duchess Bathilde, she dies of a broken heart. Like other maidens who died before their wed- ding, Giselle is turned into a wili, a female spirit of the glades and vales who lures men to dance to their death. She is initiated as a wili by their queen, Myrtha. The wilis force Giselle's peasant suitor, Hilarion, to dance to his death. They would have done the same to Albrecht but for Giselle's pleas and the timely coming of the dawn when the wilis must disperse or return to their graves. With a heavy heart, Albrecht returns to his society and laments the fate to which he had unwit- tingly sent the innocent Giselle. Of the ballet classics, Giselle has been performed the most in the Philippines. It was first staged in the Philippines by Ricardo Cassell in 1950 for the Manila Ballet Academy, with Pacita Madrigal as Giselle and Benjamin Villanueva Reyes as Albrecht. It was re- staged by Anita Kane in 1955 with Maureen Tiongco and Antonio Tarrosa in the lead roles, and Carmencita Barreda as Myrtha. Felicitas Layag-Radaic was Kane's other Giselle. In Cebu, Fe Sala-Villarica staged the ballet in 1956 for her Studio of Ballet Arts, with Purita Asiniero, Nene Cui, and Emma Sanchez. In 1961, at the UP Theater, Diliman, Quezon City, Sony Lopez- Gonzalez staged the ballet, starring Maribel Aboitiz, Eddie Elejar, and Amelia Garcia. For the Manila

Metropolitan Opera and Ballet Association, Lopez- Gonzalez staged Act II in 1963 at the Rizal Theater for Nora Kovatch, Istvan Rabovsky, and Alicia Parham. In 1965 Le Grand Ballet Classique de France performed the work at the Rizal Theater, with Liane Dayde and Nina Vyroubova as Giselle, Juan Giuliano and Michel Bruel as Albrecht, and Maina Gielgud as Myrtha. In 1973, the Kirov Ballet performed Act II at the Cultural Center of the Philippines, with Xenia Ter-Stepanova and Anatoly Nisnievitch. In 1976, Inday Gaston- Maftosa and Lopez-Gonzalez staged Giselle for the Ballet Federation of the Philippines, with Maniya Barredo, Burton Taylor, Nida Onglengco, and Vella Damian. Several Philippine productions followed. Three were from Ballet Philippines: in 1982, by Alice Reyes, with Yoko Morishita, Ester Rimpos, Nonoy Froilan, Robert Medina, Edna Vida, and Gina Mariano; in 1986, by William Morgan, with Anna Villadolid, Cecile Sicangco, Froilan, Brando Miranda, and Mercedes Maftago; in 1991, by Froilan, with Sicangco, Toni Lopez Gonzalez, Gina Katigbak, Julio Bocca, Ou Lu, Brando Miranda, Hazel Sabas, and Sofia Zobel. In 1983, Villadolid danced Giselle with Manila Metro- polis Ballet with Luther Perez and Rebecca Rodriguez. In 1986, Act II of the ballet was performed at the Manila Metropolitan Theater: first with Lopez Gon- zales and Rupert Acuna, and second, with Lisa Macuja (a noted Giselle in the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) and Froilan; both performances featured Mara Eileen Viado as Myrtha. In 1988, Dance Theatre Philippines staged Giselle with Macuja, Froilan, Sabas, and Angela del Pilar at the Meralco Theater. The same

GRADUATION BALL

GISELLE. The 1962 Giselle featured Maribel AboiHz In the lead rale partnered by Eddie EleJar as Prince Albrecht. (Weekly Women's Magazine '1962, University of the Philippines Archives)

production was staged later in the same year for Philip- pine Ballet Theater with Macuja, Vivencio Samblacefto, and Pilar Borromeo-in a special tribute to Anita Kane. • B.E.S. Villaruz

GRADUATION BALL

1940. Ballet in one act. Choreography, David Lichine; music, Johann Strauss, as arranged by Antal Dorati; costume and set design, Alexandre Benois. Premiered by Col de Basil Original Ballet Russe on 28 Feb 1940 at the Theatre Royal in Sydney, Australia. Lead dancers: Tatiana Riabouchinska and David Lichine. Ricardo and Roberta Cassell restaged their own version in Manila in 1955, following the original story. The students of a girl's school in Vienna in the mid- 1800s meet cadets from a military academy in celebra- tion of the end of the school year. The headmistress keeps the eager girls in order, and an elderly general does the same for his charges, the cadets. But the young people flirt with each other. The cadets and girls dance, while a boy delivers notes between them. Among the featured dances are those for a drummer boy, a young girl in pigtails, an evocative recollection from La Sylphide (a ballet of the period), a turning competition between two girls, a sequence Mathema- tics and Natural History, which is no longer done, a mazurka between the headmistress and the general, which is cut short by the returning boys and girls, and a final Perpetuum Mobile. All bid goodbye, but a cadet

149

MAJOR WORKS

IBONG ADARNA

(Adarna Bird). 1970. Modern ballet in one act and three scenes. Choreography, Remedios de Oteyza and Inday Gaston-Manosa; music, Rodolfo S. Cornejo; lib- retto, Remedios de Oteyza and lnday Gaston-Manosa; costume and set design, Arturo Cruz; lighting design, Teodoro Hilado. Premiered by Hariraya Dance Com- pany on.S Nov 1970 at the Main Theater (now Tangha- lang Nicanor Abelardo), Cultural Center of the Philip- pines. Lead dancers in premiere cast: Effie Nanas and Carmina Gutierrez (Thong Adarna); Conrad Tiolengco (Don Juan); Eric Cruz (Don Pedro); June Dalit (Don Diego); Nida Onglengco, Vella Damian, Amelia Yulo- Garcia (princesses); Rene Dimacali (King); and Arturo Cruz (royal physician). Singers: Luzviminda Azarcon, Conchita Casas de Leon. The story is told in a purely classical ballet idiom in one act and three scenes, complete with the typical grand pas de deux. Set in Berbania, the story begins with a court scene. The three sons of King Fernando are bethrothed to three beautiful princesses. But the king falls ill and the three sons-Pedro, Diego, and

150

ICARUS ETERNALLY DAMNED/THE DUPE OF TIME

1991. Modern dance in one act. Choreography, Enrico Labayen; music, Shant Verdun; libretto, Enrico Labayen, based on a poem by Alfred A. Yuson; light- ing design, Katsch S.J. Catoy; set design, Santiago Bose. Premiered by the Lab Projekt on 11 Apr 1991 at the Tanghalang Aurelio V. Tolentino, Cultural Center of the Philippines. Cast: Conrad Dy-Liacco (Icarus); Wendy Panganiban (female sun); Perry Sevidal and Tina Fargas (satellites). According to Labayen this modern ballet in one scene portray man's "thirst for limitlessness" by por- traying Icarus' ambition and the threat to his daring. It was inspired by Yuson's poem:

Hanging, Poised on poisoned sense, essences dripping on his head, centered. Were the dancer To do a cartwheel His figure would show In the revealed arc as the Hanged Man. This man knows. He stays there. He falls. And His Falling He knows. He knows he is falling He is falling. He has fallen

The story is deceptively simple. Icarus is ordained by two female satellite figures who come from suspended beams. This set of bamboo poles, strung horizon- tally together against a cyclorama of changing colors,

ICARUS. Through the use of bamboo beams, Enrico Labayen explores and expands the dimensions of time and space In his eclectic Icarus Eternally Damned/The Dupe of Time, 1991. (Julio Sambajon, Cultural Center of the Philippines Public Relations Depattments)

dominates the whole ballet as an overhanging, swaying but predetermined sky. Even while on the ground, Icarus feels as if he is up in the clouds, riding a bicycle, and wearing a black helmet. The helmet is changed to a white one with a red crest. Icarus climbs despite the swaying of the bamboo and the risk of falling and kisses a female sun. He then rides a sus- pended bicycle, sculpts his moving body on the objec- tive article, and climbs further up even above the sun. From there he falls. From rung to rung of bamboo beams, he seems to fall again and again, until he reaches the ground. As he falls, the bird sounds grow in intensity and end in silence. Icarus is an expanded form of Labayen' s "multi- gravitational" art, which he does with ropes in Maya which is named after the Hindu measurer or law of polarity. Both ballets show and signify the risk of heights; the indeterminacy of movement while up above and the limitation of the same by the chosen setup; and the process from the mind, not simply from the senses. The dance plays with the idea of human ambition which is driven to doom. • B.E.S. Villaruz

IGOROT

1987. Modem ethnic ballet in one act. Choreogra- phy, libretto and costume design, Agnes Locsin; music, Lucrecia Kasilag; lighting design, Tony Esteban. Pre- miered by Petit Ballet Theatre in Amsterdam on 9 Nov 1987. Premiered in the Philippines by Ballet Philippines in Female Moves on 30 Sept 1988 at the Tanghalang Aurelio V. Tolentino, Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP). Cast (Manila premiere): Camille Ordinaria, Jean Salas, Jun Mabaquiao, Paul Ocampo, Alia Hioca. Ballet Philippines added the work to its repertoire in 1989. Igorot, Bagobo, and Encantada all use a choreo- graphic style Locsin calls "neoethnic." She describes !go- rot as "a suite of Igorot dances interpreted in neoclassical ballet." The modem ballet in one act plays up the charac- teristic birdlike gestures and earthy footwork of the quin- tessential Cordillera dances. It sets off key figures, like a prayerful woman prostrate at the start of the ballet, a trio in rivalry over a woman, and a priestly female leader. The music keeps on shifting or doubling with voice (chanting) and instruments (gangsa or gong , flute, and bamboo or wooden percussions). The costuming is sty- lized, with the women wearing G-strings like the men, and traditional wide blankets or narrow scarves. After some women trace a winding path around the crouched supplicant, the praying woman gradual- ly stands with accented movements and sharp poses. The other women soon return to join her in a file, their feet "puncturing" the ground with their pointes to the melody and rhythm of a salidummay. Their knees and feet are earthbound, but their torsos and arms are upright and almost birdlike-dancing in unison to gongs but in various directions. They scrape the ground with their feet or leap like birds in flight. To a chant, they kneel, while a female leader dances with arms carried up, flat and bent. They all dance together, the leader weaving in or leading. Left alone, she simply swings an arm and bounces to amplified bamboo sounds and under an over- head light, as though entranced by the gongs and her own movements. She then leaves. To powerful gong playing, two men enter, earth- bound, yet lP.aping, crawling, sometimes hopping. The women join them in unison, but go in various directions. Left together, the two men squat, crawl, and jump, their arms in accented flying gestures. A woman enters and one of the men courts her by taking one of her two scarves-symbols of choice. Their dance is a contest to frenetic gongs and bamboo per- cussion, sometimes to chanting, which sometimes sound like taunting. At the end they separate. The other man reenters and he seems to be the woman's

151

MAJOR WORKS

ITIM ASU

(The Onyx Wolf). 1970. Modem ballet in one act and three scenes. Choreography, Alice Reyes; music, Alfredo S. Buenaventura; scene based on Virginia Moreno's play The Onyx Wolf; set design, Jaime de Guzman; costume design, Arturo V. Cruz; lighting design, Teodoro Hilado. Premiered by the Alice Reyes and Modem Dance Com- pany (now Ballet Philippines) on 5 Nov 1970 at the Main Theater (now Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo), Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP). Cast: Alice Reyes (ltim Asu), Manuel Molina (Gov Gen Bustamante), Joy Coronel (Sandugo ), Eddie Elejar (Indio Juan), Antonio Fabella (His Son), Luis Layag, Gener Caringal, Steve Villaruz, Jose Antonio, Tommy Sabarre, Tommy de Jesus, Romy Go, Nini Gener, Cecile Santos, Irma Bringas, Josette Salang, Tessie Reyes, Deidrie Watts, Ester Rimpos, Denisa Reyes (Friars and townsfolk). In subsequent performance: set design, Ray Albano, Salvador Bernal; lighting design, Monino Duque, Katsch S.J. Catoy, and Alex de Guzman. Itim Asu is the near-legendary heroine of Aztec origin whom the Spaniards called La Loba Negra, the black she-wolf who, like an avenging she-wolf, kills the assassins of her husband, Gov Gen Bustamante. Itim Asu's revenge is further carried through by San- dugo, her daughter, and a son-in-law by a subsequent marriage to an Indio. Fernando Manuel de Bustamante y Bustillo began his tenure as governor general of the Philippines on 9 Aug 1717. His discovery and investigation of anoma- lies and corruption in the Public Treasury and the Gal- leon Trade set him at odds with the religious orders and influential persons in Manila. In 1719, after several per- sonages had been jailed on his orders, a procession of friars and religious escalated into a mob, and Bustamante

152

was assassinated in the Residencia in Intramuros. Three ritual scenes from the play are the literary source for the ballet: "The Assassination," wherein the Indio Juan and his son, Angelita Soliman, are terrified onlookers to the murder of Gov Gen Bustamante; "The Transfiguration," wherein the vengeful wife seeks re- fuge in the hut of Indio Juan and transfigures herself into Itim Asu, who vows perpetual revenge on the assassins performing a ritual dance as she holds the Aztec lamp that lighted up the death of Bustamante; "The Revenge," wherein Itim Asu, attended by Indio Juan, pretends to need a confession and goes from convent to convent to reenact her ritual killing, each announced by a frantic ringing of the campanilla. Her victims are ushered out from the confessional box which, when carried out by the townspeople, looks like a coffin. She is pierced by a mysterious bullet in the midst of her vendetta but rises in her death pangs like a woman, not a beast. She blesses the blood mar- riage of her daughter to the son of Indio Juan as San- dugo. The two later carry out her primitive justice. Itim Asu was presented by the CCP in association with the League of Filipino Composers as its second

offering in the 1970 Philippine Music and Dance Fes- tival. The concert premiered two one-act ballets, !bong Adarna performed by the Hariraya Ballet Company, and !tim Asu performed by the Alice Reyes and Mod- ern Dance Company (later known as Ballet Philip- pines) to the commissioned works of composers Rodolfo Cornejo and Alfredo S. Buenaventura. !tim Asu, was hailed by critics as a "milestone in Philippine dance" and "the top cultural event of the year" after its world premier at the CCP Main Theater in 1970. • E. Vida

JULIET AND HER ROMEO

1970. Ballet in one act. Choreography and libretto, Eddie Elejar; music, Dimitri Shostakovitch; set design, Ray Albano; costume design, Marcella Lopez; lighting design, Teodoro Hilado. Premiered by the Alice Reyes Modern Dance Company (now Ballet Philippines) on 24 Dec 1970 at the Main Theater (now Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo), Cultural Center of the Philippines. Cast: Alice Reyes Ouliet), Manuel Molina (Romeo). Regular in the early repertoire of Ballet Philippines, the ballet was last repeated by the Manila Metropolis Ballet at the Rigodon Ballroom of the Manila Peninsula in 1980. The one-act ballet retells the story of Italy's most famous lovers, starting in medias res. Juliet is already presumed dead in a crypt, and Romeo rushes back to Verona. Both characters reenact the story in a stiff and sombre flashback. The corps de ballet is all in black (in distinction to the all-grey of the leading characters). It generally functions as a chorus but members occa- sionally take on specific characters. In a few (if repetitious) strokes, Elejar captures the quintessence of Shakespeare's universal story, re- minding one of Zefferelli' s Zabriski Point love scene. The use of dancers (in grey and black) as other charac- ters and "as sets" is clever. These characters produce a hazy background which highlights the pearly richness and perfect innocence of Juliet and her Romeo, their love and inevitable death. Juliet and Her Romeo is one of Elejar' s best ballets, and one of the best produced in the country. Reviewing the ballet in 1974, Isabel Taylor noted: "Dimitri Shostakovich's music for Juliet and Her Romeo is almost as moving as Prokofiev's music for the same lovers, but Eddie Elejar' s staging lent the number all the fire and ice it required. Alice Reyes and Nonoy Froilan limned their individual roles superbly, stressing the poignancy and despair of the star-crossed pair" (Taylor 1974). • B.E.S. Villaruz

JURU-PAKAL

JURU-PAKAL

(The Enchanted Kris). 1971. Modern ballet in one act and three scenes. Choreography, Eddie Elejar; mu- sic, Jose Maceda; libretto, Eddie Elejar with Anacleta M. Encarnacion and Rustica C. Carpio; costume de- sign, Arturo Cruz; lighting design, Teodoro Hilado; set design, Jose Joya. Premiered by the CCP Dance Work- shop Company (now Ballet Philippines) at the Main Theater (now Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo), Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP). Cast: Manuel Molina (Indarapatra), Eddie de Guzman (Sulayman), Alice Reyes (Moon Goddess), Irma Bringas (Sarimanok), Eddie Elejar (Rinamuntaw), Josette Salang (Rinayung), Basilio (Sultan), Ester Rimpos (Sultan's Daughter), Arturo Cruz (King of the Court), Bubut Guevarra (Queen), Aurelio Estanislao (Bard), Nereo Torres (Tarabusao), Franklin Bobadilla (Pah), Enrico Labayen (Balbal). The performance was accompanied by in- strumentalists playing the Agungan, Ugma-ugma, and Kubing, as well as a band, the Madrigal Singers, the UP Concert Chorus, and vocal soloists Aurelio Estanislao, Andrea Ofilada-Veneradon, and Annette Belen. This one-act modern ballet in three scenes starts with a recitation of the story of the legendary brothers Indarapatra and Sulayman. In the , opening court scene, the brothers are warned of the dangers infesting Maguindanao, such as the many-limbed and -headed amphibian Kurita, the human-eating giant Tarabusao on Mt Matutum, the winged tiger Pah, and the bane of the constellations, Balbal. Indarapatra sends Sulayman to subdue these monsters with the enchanted kris, Juru-Pakal; Sulayman's life is symbolized by a magical tree which flourishes or withers. Sulayman conquers all except Pah, who kills him. Indarapatra searches for his brother's body, finds it, and prays to the gods to bring hiln back to life. Indarapatra himself goes on to subdue the mighty Balbal, is hailed by the populace, and marries the sultan's daughter. They have a daught- er, Rinayung, and a son, Rinamuntaw. Later, Indara- patra bestows his magical kris on his son. The last part of the epic finds Rinamuntaw on a hunt. He spies the Moon Goddess and her maidens, and catches the god- dess' pet, the Sarimanok. In exchange for her liberty, the heavenly bird flies Rinamuntaw to the skies where he has a celestial wedding with the goddess. The ballet was described as belonging to "the tradition of Asian theater," with elements of Kabuki drama, as well as dance movements from Thailand, Indonesia, and Cambodia. Although the dance utilizes the Mindanao epic, the choreographer went beyond territorial boundaries to present what he felt is dance in the Asian tradition. • B.E.S. Villaruz