Philippine dance
Download 1.09 Mb.
|
|
BERNAL, SALVADOR FLORO aka Badong Bernal b. Dagupan City 7 Jan 1945. Set and costume designer, stage director, poet. He is the fifth of 10 children of Santiago Bernal, a dentist, and Ubalda Floro, a clothes designer. He finished his early school- ing at St Theresa's College in Baguio and Dagupan City High School. Later, he went to the Ateneo de Manila University where he finished his bachelor of science in philosophy, 1966, and got the medal for philosophy and the Mulry Award for Creative Writing. Soon after graduation, Bernal taught literature at the Ateneo and set up Tanghalang Ateneo in 1968. While taking theater courses at the Ateneo, he directed Billy Budd, 1967, The Knack, 1968, and The Bald Sop- rano, 1969. He also designed the costumes for Pagli- pas ng Dilim (After the Darkness), 1969, and the sets for lbong Mandaragit (Birds of Prey), 1968. In 1970 he left Manila and pursued graduate stu- dies in Theater Arts at Northwestern University, Evas- ton, Illinois. As a graduate student, he designed the university opera production, Ariadne auf Naxos by R. Strauss, 1972. After presenting his thesis project, "De- signs for C. Debussy's Pelleas et Melisande," he was conferred his master of fine arts in theater arts, major in scenic design. He stayed a third year at Northwest- ern where he was appointed lighting instructor for the Drama Department. He has attended a Midwest Mas- ter Class in Scenography conducted by Josef Svoboda. Upon his return, he taught both Literature and Stage Design at the Ateneo, but after his first design jobs, namely, sets for Conchita Sunico's Cyrano de 189
ARTISTS Bergerac, 1974, and Bancom's Ang Kiri (The Flirt), 1974, he left teaching to go fulltime into stage design. Bernal's design career includes different phases which are determined by his changing interests in research and experimentations with theater materials and techniques, with design shapes and transforma- tions, and with changing spatial relationships between audience and performer. Bernal first studied and experimented with indige- nous and locally available materials which are stage worthy like bamboo, abaca fabric, hemp twine raw abaca fiber, rattan chain links, G.I. sheets, styrofoam, and gauze cacha. Productions which exemplify such studies in materials are: Rajah Sulayman, Abaniko (Fan), La Traviata, Tomaneg at Aniway (Tomaneg and Aniway), and Pagkahaba-haba man ng Prusisyon sa Simbahan din ang Tuloy (Much Ado About Nothing). The studies and experimentation showed interesting theatrical effects and the versatility of indigenous materials: abaca can have an opaque, transparent, and lustrous appearance on stage. In Prince of the Pagoda, stencil painting with a spraygun on gauze muslin achieved a fabric look closely resembling jusi. Already showing skills in translating ideas into visual statements, Bernal also studied shapes and their transformations on stage. Siklo, 1977, transformed a rectangular block of silver into a rising structure of graduated sizes of silver blocks. In Odysseus, 1981, Bernal transformed a ship into the various exotic lands of the Greek's sojourn by moving sails on a vertical and semicircular movement. The later career of Bernal indicated a break from the other worn-out use of a proscenium format in design. In Francisco Maniago, 1987, he played around with the possibility of making theater space, both of the performers and audience, interesting and dyna- mic. He put sweeping platforms to the acting areas from the house. Similarly in Lysistrata, 1988, Bernal created the atmosphere of a Greek performance with audience seated on rising bleachers onstage. Here his design emphasized an interesting floor. In 1987 he joined the Cultural Center of the Philip- pines (CCP) as director for Production Design and proposed plans for a CCP Production Building to house costume, scene, and prop shops, and other facilities re- lated to production design. The structure was inaugu- rated in December 1992. The Production Design Center has mounted two major shows: Tanghal, Towards a Filipino Stage Design, 1990, and Patterns for the Filipino Dress, From Traje de Mestiza to the Temo, 1992. Bernal is one of the major scholars on Philippine costumes, lecturing on the subject for schools like the Ateneo and the University of the Philippines. He co- 190 authored with Georgina Encanto the book, Patterns for the Filipino Dress, From Traje de Mestiza to the Terno, 1992. Bernal has designed sets and costumes for dance, dramas, concerts, and other performances. For the CCP, he did the Filipino adaptations of the operas La Boheme and La Traviata. For the CCP Dance Company/Ballet Philippines, he did many productions like Baile de Ayer (Dance of Yesterday), 1974, Images, 1975, Anak-Bulan (Moon Child), 1976, The Nutcracker, 1977, Swan Lake and Giselle Act II, 1979, Rama, Hari (King Rama) and La Lampara (The Lamp), 1980, and Encantada (Enchantress), 1992. For Tanghalang Pilipino, he did Sa North Diversion Road (North Diversion Road) and Dalagang Bukid (Country Maiden), 1987, Paglipas ng Dilim (After the Darkness), 1991, Pilipi- nas Circa 1907, 1992, Orosman at Zafira (Orosman and Zafira) and Salome, 1993; and many others. In film, Bernal did the costumes for Lea Produc- tion's Gumising Ka Maruja (Wake up, Maruja), 1978, and the Experimental Cinema of the Philippines' Oro, Plata, Mata (Gold, Silver, Death), 1982. He has also done costumes for concerts, for performers like Celeste Legaspi, Kuh Ledesma, Nora Aunor, and Sharon Cuneta, and for calendars, TV commercials, and books. • M.L. Maniquis BOBADILLA, FRANKLIN MARIANO b. Manila 1 Jul 1950. Dancer. Bobadilla is the son of Florentino Cruz Bobadilla and Paulina Mariano. He studied at San Beda College and then at Ateneo de Manila Uni- versity where he received a degree in mass com- munications. He also did graduate studies in library science at the University of the Philippines and at Frederick Mueller Academy in Amsterdam, Nether- lands, 1982-1985. He has since worked as librarian at the Ziekenfomdsraad in Amstelveen, the Stichting Runstzinnige Vorming, and the Anne Frank Founda- tion Library in Amsterdam. He also trained in ballet and in modem dance. In 1970, he entered the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) Dance School and joined the CCP Dance Company until1975. He guested with Dance Theatre Philippines, Hariraya Ballet, and Movement Men (later Movement Manila) which he helped found. In 1976, he joined the Scapino Ballet in Amsterdam where he danced for the next six years. He also danced with the Hermia Park Ballet School in Zaandam and the Petit Ballet Theatre in Amsterdam. Bobadilla's performances include those as major or lead dancers in Alice Reyes' The Emperor's New Clothes, 1970, rock opera ballet Tommy, 1972, and Dugso, 1972; Remedios de Oteyza's Bolero, 1973; Luis Layag's rock opera ballet The Survival of St Joan, 1973; Eddie Elejar's Trio Con Brio, 1972; Finocchio, 1975, choreographed by Dragutin Boldin in Heidelberg, Ger- many; Layag's Back to Bach, 1976; Elejar's Once Upon a Village, 1982; Basilio's Paean to Pavlova, 1982; Rodrigues' Souvenir; and the Manila and Amsterdam productions of The Nutcracker. Bobadilla was noted for his fluent pirouettes, neat beats, and remarkable ballon; he was also considerably intense in dramatic roles, a number of which were made specifically for him. • B.E.S. Villaruz BoHOL, ANTONIO and JosEFINA BACALSO See INDEX. BoRROMEO, JULIE BARREDO (Julie Borromeo- Roche) b. Cebu City 21 Feb 1941. Dancer, teacher, choreographer. She is the daughter of Tomas Borromeo of the Cebu theatrical family and singer Carmen Barredo, both art patrons; sister of dancer- choreographer Rose Borromeo; niece of pianist Lou Borromeo; cousin of stage actor Carmen Barredo; mother of dancers Maricar, Annamarie, and Gigi Aragon; and aunt of prima ballerina Maniya Barreda. Her husband is David Roche. Borromeo started ballet with Ricardo Cassell and Puck Hoog Meyer, and later studied with and per- formed for Anita Kane, who arranged for her, and Tony Llacer and Israel Gabriel, scholarships in New York. Aside from dancing ballet, mainly with Vladimir Dokoudovsky, she also took jazz with Matt Mattox. Coming home, she started Dance Arts Studio at the age of 17 and soon also worked for television. In 1971, she received an Asia Foundation grant to study again in the US, training with Robert Jaffrey in ballet, Martha Graham in modem dance, Luigi in jazz, and Herbert Bergoff, Lynn Simonson, and Hagen in musical comedy. In 1968, she founded Dance Theatre Philippines with Felicitas Layag-Radaic and Eddie Elejar. She was its president, lead dancer, and choreographer, well- known for her wide-ranging work in ballet, jazz, and stylized ethnic dance. Borromeo's major works include Mir-i-nisa, 1969, the first Filipino three-act ballet, which she co-choreographed with Layag-Radaic, Babae at Lalake (Man and Woman), 1968, Zagalas de Manila (Manila Maidens in Procession), 1968, Kalingan, 1969, Bamboo Fantasy and Philippine Revue, 1986, Merry Widow, 1987, and Graduation Ball, 1988, after Cassell. She was artistic director of Philippine Ballet Theater in 1990. Borromeo also ventured into musical productions, producing, choreographing, and/or starring in them. BOA ROMEO In the 1970s and 1980s, she presented Man of La Man- cha, Sweet Charity, The Fantasticks, Apple Tree, Promises, Mahal (Beloved), They're Playing Our Song, The Wiz, I Love My Wife, and Broadway Our Way. From her school Dance Arts Philippines, she launched the Julie Borromeo Dance Company that has toured locally, the United States, and Singapore, and appeared on local and Hong Kong television. • M.L. Globio/M. Ojeda/B.E.S. Villaruz BoRROMEO, RosE BARREDO b. Manila 23 Jul 1943. Dancer, choreographer. She was born to Tomas Borromeo and Carmen Barredo. Belonging to a theat- rical family on both sides, she is a niece of the piano jazz virtuoso Lou Borromeo; sister of dancer-choreographer Julie Borromeo; cousin of stage actor Carmen Barredo; and aunt of ballerina Maniya Barreda. Borromeo trained in ballet with Ricardo Cassell and Anita Kane, in tap dancing with Roberta Cassell, and in Spanish dance with Ruben Nieto. From 1958 to 1961, she studied in New York at the International Dance School, Ballet Arts Studio, and the June Taylor Dance School. Later she danced with the Bayanihan Philippine Dance Company and the Julie Borromeo Dance Company (where she was also assistant choreographer and dance leader), and as partner of Nieto. In 1961-1962, she was with the Philippine Festival of Steve Parker and Shirley MacLaine in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. When she returned to Manila, she danced for television, and from 1966--1988, acted in musical comedies like Flower Drum Song, Promises, Promises, Gypsy, Man of La Mancha, and Chorus Line. She also choreographed for Repertory Philip- pines productions, like Hello Dolly, Mame, The King and I, What's New Charlie Brown, and I Do, I Do; for television shows like Changes; and for movies, like Blue Jeans and Sinta (Darling). At the same time, she taught ballet, Spanish dance, jazz, Polynesian dance, and slimnastics in Dance Arts Studios, the Academie for the Performing Arts in Makati, and for a while, her own school in Zamboanga City. Borromeo was a trustee and manager of the Ballet Federation of the Philippines, 1976--1979. In the late 1970s, she trained further with Luigi and Ben Forella in jazz, and Amelia Gilmore and Robert Andy in Spanish dance in New York. Moving to Singapore to direct the studios of Dance Arts there, she stayed on to work with the Singapore Broadcasting Company, and eventually be- came artistic administrator of the American Club of Singapore. At present she continues to choreograph and direct shows there. • B.E.S. Villaruz 191
ARTISTS c CALZADO, LITO (Feliciano Dilo Calzado) b. Manila 20 Jan 1946. Dancer, choreographer. Calzada is the son of Miguel Calzada, a dancer in Samar, and Iluminada Dilo. He studied at the University of the East (UE) and then at San Beda College where he received his degree in marketing. While a student at UE, he joined the university folk dance troupe under the direction of Maggie Shea. From 1961 to 1969, he danced with the Bayanihan Philippine Dance Company and the Ballet Folkloric Filipino, which he helped form in 1966. In 1967, he danced for television with Alice Reyes' group for Time Out with Lynn and with Amelia Apolinario's group. He also danced briefly for the stage. From 1965 to 1968, Calzada was assistant choreo- grapher for the Insiders, a group he helped form for Laura Danao' s shows on Channel 9 and later on Channel 4. In 1969, he was choreographer for Joey Lardizabal's show Swing-In on Channel4, and in 1970 for That Young Image with Jeanne Young for which he won the Citizens' Award for Television or CAT. Later he became dance direc- tor of the ABS-CBN Dance Company. He directed shows including Marilen, Buhay Artista (Artist's Life), On with the Show, and the Nestor and Nida Show. He did specials for Lita Gutierrez and choreographed for The Sensa- tions and An Evening with Pilita. He was involved in People, Tony Santos Presents, and Student Canteen. For popular shows, Calzada formed the Lito Cal- zada and His Dancers, also known as The Body Machine. He also directed the Larawan Dance Company, the Bureau of Customs folk dance troupe. At present he trains dance groups for clubs and other venues in Japan, and runs an entertainment and management center. He is a member of the Philippine Entertainment Managers Association and the Chamber of Industries in Music Entertainment. • B.E.S. Villaruz CARINGAL, GENER b. Ibaan, Batangas 17 Jul 1947. Dancer, choreographer. He started dancing at 16 by joining the University of the East (UE) Dance Troupe under Corazon Generoso-Ifiigo. It was at the UE that he obtained his degree in business administra- tion. While a student, he also joined off-campus pro- ductions, like Maureen Tiongco's Flower Drum Song and Dance Theater Philippines' Mir-i-nisa, 1969. He became one of the original members of Ballet Philip- pines in 1970. All these enabled him to train in folk 192
dance, jazz, ballet, and modern dance with Generoso- Ifiigo, Eddie Elejar, Tony Llacer, Alice Reyes, Pauline Kaner, Norman Walker, Mira Zolan, Jan Stripling, Luminita Dumitrescu, Garth Welch, William Morgan, Vakhtang Chabukiani, and Mikhail Kukharev. With the UE and Ballet Philippines troupes, he toured Asia, Aus- tralia, Europe, and the US. In 1979 he observed German dance companies under the auspices of the Goethe Insti- tut and the German International Theater Institute. In 1974, Caringal became director of the UE Dance Troupe. Soon after he also became director of the Phi- lippine National Bank Dance Group, the Yeh Shian Folk Ballet Company, Ballet Philippines' Repertory Company (predecessor of Ballet Philippines II), and his own Gener Caringal Repertory Company. In 1985, he led the Philippine delegation to the 15th Asian Festival of the Performing Arts in Singapore, featuring his work Labaw Dunggon. He also led some of the groups to festivals in Europe and the US. He is one of the founders of the Philippine Ballet Theater and chair of its artistic council. In 1988 and 1989, he choreo- graphed for the Singapore Dance Theater. As a dancer, he excelled in works by Alice Reyes, among them the lead roles in Tommy, Company, Tales of the Manuvu, and Rama, Hari (King Rama). His own choreographic works include Ang Sultan (The Sultan), 1973; Judith, 1977; Diversions, 1978; Atlantis, 1978; Jazz Moods, 1979; Recuerdos (Memories), 1980; Ta-o (People), 1985; The Rite of Spring, 1978; Vennilion Scarf, 1982; Sanggumai, 1986; The Tribe, 1988; Harami! (Forbidden!), 1987; Vinta, 1989; The Offering, 1990; Prism, 1991; and Pilipino Komiks, 1993. • M.L. Globio/M. Ojeda/B.E.S. Villaruz CASIMIRO, BAYANI b. San Pablo, Laguna 16 Jul 1918 d. Manila 27 Jan 1989. Movie, stage, television actor, dancer. His parents were Trinidad Gutierrez and Paulino Casimiro, a comedian of the sarswela and komedya. He finished elementary school at the Calo- ocan Elementary School. He married choreographer Nieves Manuel, with whom he had two children. At age seven, he entered show business as a down and comedian, earning 50 centavos for his act. He loved to dance, particularly tap dancing, and won in a song and dance contest at the Teatro Zorrilla. He also won in an amateur singing contest in 1928 for his rendi- tion of "Rainbow on the River." In 1936 he visited Hawaii as part of a performing troupe headed by sar- swela queen Atang dela Rama. In 1938, Bayani appeared in his first movie, Excelsior Films' Bayan at Pag-ibig (Country and Love). After some time he transferred to Filippine Films and later became part of Lou Salvador's stage shows. It was here that he met his partner, Jose Cris Soto. Because of the success of their team, they came to be known as the "Oliver and Hardy of the Philippines." As a tap dancer, Bayani Casimiro came to be known as the "Fred Astaire of the Philippines." When he died, he left behind his legacy to his son Bayani Casimiro Jr. • M. Enriquez CASSELL, RICARDO AND ROBERTA CASSELL b. Chicago, Illinois, USA Nov 1921. Dancer, choreo- grapher, teacher. Married to Roberta Cassell, b. St Maries, Idaho 30 Nov 1923, also a dancer, choreo- grapher and dance teacher. She studied with Cassell, graduated in dance, and the other arts from the Cor- nish School in Seattle, Washington, and appeared in musicals in New York like Oklahoma and Hello Dolly. Ricardo Cassell studied with Gladys Height, Nicholas Tsoukolas, Lee Foley, Ivan Novikoff, Prideaux, Vicenzo Celli and Bentley Stone. He danced with the opera companies of San Carlo, the Seattle Civic Opera and the Bentley Stone-Ruth Page Ballet Company, and became balletmaster of the Seattle Civic Opera. He first came to the Philippines in WWII with the US Army Air Corps. He became chief of the facility at Janie Tower (now Nichols Tower). After the war, he returned to instruct Philippine air traffic controllers at the Manila (now Ninoy Aquino) International Airport. Through Roberta Cassell's part-time teaching in Anita Kane's School of Classic Dance, he started teaching ballet in Manila. They were both invited to establish the Manila Ballet Academy by one of their pupils, Pacita Madrigal-Warns. In 1950, it presented the Philippine premiere of Giselle, with Pacita Madrigal-Warns as Giselle, Benjamin Villanueva as Albrecht, and Greta Monserrat as Myrtha. Around 1952, the couple established the Cassell Dance Studio (after teaching for a while at the Young Women's Christian Association or YWCA), where they founded the Studio Dance Group in 1953. The Studio Dance Group aimed to develop the professionalization of ballet dancing in the Philippines. It sent Villanueva (Reyes) to New York on a scholarship. It also built a repertoire which helped to develop dancers. Among their ballets were: Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony, 1954, by Ricardo and Roberta Cassell; Street Scene, Lost Generation and Lament, between 1954 and 1955, all to Gershwin and by Ricardo Cassell; Adagietto, 1954, to Mahler and by Ricardo Cassell, based on a poem by Jose Lardizabal; The Transgressor, 1954, to Gould-Ricardo Cassell; Ballet Blanc, 1954, to Luigini and by Roberta Cassell; Sketch Class, 1954, to Offenbach and by Ricardo Cassell; Graduation Ball, CASTILLO 1955, to Strauss and by Ricardo and Roberta Cassell; Backstage, 1953/1954, by Ricardo Cassell; and Merry Wives of Windsor, 1954, and Divertissements, 1955, Ricardo Cassell, to several composers. Around this period, he also choreographed Beauty and the Beast to Ravel, and Peter and the Wolf to Prokofiev. In 1955, the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy banned girls in Catholic schools from studying ballet. This had a grave consequence on the efforts of the Cassells such that they decided to return to the United States in 1956. Ricardo Cassell worked with the Federal Aviation Administration and occasionally taught as a guest teacher. He returned to Manila for a visit in 1981, and again with Roberta Cassell in 1983. A tribute-performance was held at the Colegio de San Agustin in Makati. Ricardo taught master classes at the CCP Dance School, the Uni- versity of the Philippines College of Music, and the Elejar-Fabella School of Dance. In 1988 Philippine Ballet Theater paid a tribute to him in its season called Homage at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP). The Cassells are credited with having brought the art of ballet to a certain level of professional compe- tence with the seasons of the Studio Dance Group, which brought together the most outstanding dancers in the Philippines at the time. • B.E.S. Villaruz CASSELL, ROBERT A See CASSELL, RICARDO AND ROBERTA CASSELL CASTILLO, CARMELITO ADVIENTO b. Alcala, Cagayan 10 Oct 1949. Dancer, choreographer. The son of Luz Adviento and Felix Castillo, he is a qualified physiotherapist with a diploma from the University of Salford in England, 1985. As a dancer he trained with Rosalia Merino-Santos, Tony Llacer, Julie and Rose Borromeo, Basilio, Felicitas Layag-Radaic, Robin Haig, and Gerard Sibbritt in Manila; and with David Blair, Peter Schnitzler, and Peter Clegg abroad. He was a member of the Far Eastern University Experimental Dance Group of Merino Santos, 1969- 1971; Dance Arts Studio, 1970-1973; Dance Theater Philippines (DTP), 1972-1975; and Movement Men/ Manila. He danced principal roles in Nan-Pangkat, Maho-no-ken, The Prey, and Japonsina by Layag- Radaic; They Came Joking In and Survival of St Joan by Luis Layag; Elements, Mosque Baroque, and Between the Sky and Sea by Basilio; Lenore and Triptych by Haig; In the Beginning and Les Patineurs by Llacer; Zagalas de Manila (Manila Maidens in Procession) and Sweet Charity by Julie Borromeo; Gypsy Rose by Rose Borromeo. In Hong Kong, he danced Franz in Coppelia 193 ARTISTS
Act III, partnering Mufleca Aponte; with DTP he al- ways partnered Australian ballerina Robin Haig. He choreographed Solitaire, 1973, and The Crea- tion, 1973 and 1974, in Manila, and the Filipino version of Jesus Christ Superstar, 1976, in Oberhausen and Essen, Germany. In 1976, he guested in Aachen, Germany and joined Northern Ballet Theater in Manchester, England, the only Filipino who became a member of a British ballet company. For six years, he was soloist and later principal dancer, appearing as Pierrot in Geoffrey Cauley' sMiss Carter Wore Pink, Piccolo in Cinderella, Bottom and Puck inA Midsum- mer Night's Dream, both by Robert de Warren, Harlequin and Chinese Dance in An de Prokovsky' s The Nutcracker, Bonze in Madame Butterfly and Swan of Tounela, both by Jonathan Thorpe, Eros in Richard Glasstone's Sylvia, NewsboyinKurtJooss' The Big City, WalterGnore'sEaters of Darkness, and the ballets of Charles Czarny, Jack Carter, and Royston Maldoom. Castillo has been awarded by the Philippine Inde- pendent Church, 1972, and Pope Pius Catholic Center, 1973-1975, in Manila. He represented the Philippines in the 1976 Congress of the International Theater Insti- tute in Finland. • B.E.S. Villaruz CATOY, I Download 1.09 Mb. Share with your friends:
|