DANCING WITHOUT STORY

Dance is slicing the wind with feet, arms and body. That’s my theory, Folks.


Dance is a human movement that relates to the air, the ground, and to co-dancers.


I developed this theory after I had seen the Danza of the Spaniards who came over here to show their feat, their skills and in dancing with passion, especially through the Tango, More than these, they danced portraying a story of certain characters with great emotions.


I think if we ever should have a distinct dance identity we could tackle our past heritage and look at the Spanish influence on our dance history. Remember our jota, dances with women wearing Spanish panuelo, saya and using fans? Our women dancers are really beautiful and regal in those costumes. 

That does not mean we should copy everything, but rather we could incorporate some of the approaches to presenting an idea through dance, by pulling out from the past influences of the Spaniards.

And so, I watched this presentation at the Abelardo Hall last Saturday, the 24th of March 2018, and I was not disappointed at the beauty and skills of the dancers. However, as I
posited above, I wish, each piece had a story to tell; instead they were physical expressions of the feelings of the dancers most of the time. 

An  exceptionally beautiful piece was Cygnet which played to the classical tune byTschaikovsky, as it presented the dancers executing small and huge steps,  then even choreographed themselves like swans moving collectively with precision. And the way they moved their heads altogether, not missing a bit, seemed as if the swans were playing in the waters,  That was really memorable.


A piece with a solo female dancer acting like a madwoman, danced to the tune of  Crazy She I wonder why the artistic director, if there was one, did not present a counterpart –Mad He;  they could have gotten a composer from the UP College of  Music to compose a song along the same theme and then have a male  dancer interpret it onstage.

The piece Still is very creative but I don’t know the connection between the title and the
dance steps. If Still means to be not moving, how come the dancers never stopped moving at all? There has to be a connection between the title and the interpretation of the music.


Then  I wondered why the musical backgrounds were all canned music.I think UP should aim at presenting an all.original dance including the music. Many budding and accomplished composers at the College of Music are just dying for their  works to be  performed. It is high time that we give them space at Abelardo Hall, which was named first  of all after Nicanor Abelardo, Jr.  the National Artist for Music.


It is nice to see modern dance with dancers exploring the ways they can express onstage

but then, individualism does not seem to be akin to Philippine history of dance. If we will examine our indigenous tribal dances, they all tell a story. We do not find a tribal member executing a dance for himself or herself alone. It is either the dance tells the story of a courtship, a feast, a harvest, a ritual, an honoring of a tribal head who hasdied, and so much more.


Whether from up north or down south, the collective consciousness of our dancers exists. The Singkil, which tells the story of a Muslim princess and her marriage to a prince, has that regal celebration of the people.  The Igorot dances tell of the courtship of Igorot women
by men who would even fight over one beloved.They would dance like chickens flying

up and down  and swishing their blanketlike-capes. It would be a good motto for dancers to keep close to what we really are.

Commentary on women

Femina is a piece with many women dancers dressed in red,blue and white, seemingly hinting as its comment on the situation of Filipino women. For lack of program notes, we can only surmise that the piece is a black interpretation of what is happening to Filipino women - objectification, and that their salvation will be through sisterhood. Is this the  intention of the librettist?

Bullet is the name of the singer and the piece is titled the same. The singer with his guitar was able to relate well with the audience as his piece is contemporary. As the last offering,all the dancers went onstage, dressed in ordinary clothes. However, the stage of Abelardo Hall looks too small for so many dancers crowding there. Also, the choreography just gathered all the dancers and so the presentation appeared having too many scenes to look at.

Blocking
I think that  dance should be conscious of the blocking of the performers. "Blocking is  the precise staging of actors in order to facilitate the performance of a play, ballet, film or opera." ( http:wikipedia/Blocking)

Without clear blocking, the presentation will just appear as a gathering of dancers doing their  own thing. Now it is difficult to view and appreciate the performance if there is no systematic and aesthetic division of groups on stage. For a study of blocking, it would be good to view the late Behn Cervantes' directorial jobs as he was very good at placing his actors and actresses onstage.

Dance literature
Now let me focus on dance literature. The souvenir program should have contained the thoughts of the artistic director, the choreographer and even of the dancers themselves. This could have been very helpful in the audience's understanding of the themes of each piece.Also it is a historical document of an artistic form which is ephemeral, especially if the production did not bother to video or film it.


Folks, there is something wrong with my USB. This morning when I saved my original  article from my laptop at home I had the file but now it is missing here.

There are many questionable happenings in my life that have something to do with my writings and that I cannot really fathom why they are happening to me.

I can only presume that the PNP is on a panic mode. 

“The years of imprisonment hardened me ... Perhaps if you have been given a moment to hold back and wait for the next blow, your emotions wouldn’t be blunted as they have been in my case. When it happens every day of your life, when that pain becomes a way of life ... there is no longer anything I can fear. There is nothing the government has not done to me. There isn’t any pain I haven’t known.”  -- Winnie  Madikizela-Mandela (1936-2018)