Thursday, September 18, 2008

meryll soriano, direk paul alexander morales, and jay aquitania

at concerto gala :)

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Concerto


Concerto
Originally uploaded by laz'andre
on andre's flickr

Friday, April 11, 2008

Contemporary Dance Map 08


Inviting all to the 4th year of the Contemporary Dance Map, A project of the Choreographers’ Network of World Dance Alliance-Philippines, in celebration of International Dance Day.

Contemporary Dance Map 2008 is in partnership with
Instituto Cervantes Manila and Cinekatipunan at Magnet Café.

Enjoy contemporary dance!

Performances / events

April 9 Uncensored Bodies, dance video screenings with artists’ talk
With Paul Morales and Denisa Reyes
Venue: Magnet Café Katipunan, 530pm

April 16 Uncensored Bodies, dance video screenings with artists’ talk
With Sarri Lluch Dalena, Ruello Lozendo and Myra Beltran
Venue: Magnet Café Katipunan, 530pm

April 19 Not mine
Performance by Myra Beltran, Dance Forum
Venue: Library, Instituto Cervantes Manila, 3pm

April 19 Memory Wares
A Chameleon Dance Theatre production
Venue: Chameleon Dance Studio, 7pm, Gate P100

Retrospective works by Oliver Palad, Rudolph Segundo, Eric dela Cruz, Joel Simbulan
and Raul Alcoseba

April 20 Academe creates New
A UP Dance Co. and HC School of Ballet production
Venue: HC School of Ballet, 7pm, Gate P100

April 23 Uncensored Bodies, dance video screenings with artists’ talk and dance jam
With Diego Maranan, Jay Cruz and Tes Jamias
Venue: Magnet Café Katipunan, 530pm

April 25 Betrayed by Martha
A Dance Forum and Airdance production
Venue: Dance Forum Space, 8pm, Gate P100

A performance that inquires where contemporary dance practice in the Philippines grounds itself.

“Ms. Martha! [Graham] – I tried.
I tried hard to find an original idea, and summon it from the depths of my being, like you said.
Alas! My body or myself, was not great enough to contain a grand emotion.
I just wanted the space to be – suspended, held, within the logic of my body, there I felt free.
Ms. Martha, is dance not deemed complete anymore? Do border crossings crumble even the human body? The world of successive ruptures you made possible now threaten to exclude me.
Oh, Ms. Martha, was I not betrayed?”

April 26 Contemporary Dance Map Gala 2008
Gala performance by artists of Contemporary Dance Map 2008. Features:
Dance Forum, Airdance, Chameleon Dance Theatre, UP Dance Co., Dancing Wounded Commune, HC School of Ballet

April 27 Colorum Code
Venue: PETA Theatre Dance Studio, 830pm, Gate P100

Dancing Wounded – Contemporary Dance Commune unlocks power points in Philippine Contemporary Dance in their latest work. After three years of existence, the commune plots its journey the way a yogi would conjure the universe in naming and aligning his chakras together; and just like a true believer, by faithfully and consciously choosing to maintain his wide eyed optimism, would manifest the future.

April 29 Día Internacional de la Danza International Dance Day
Venue: Instituto Cervantes Manila

Danza y periodismo/ Dance Journalism
A seminar to discuss about issues in writing about dance, with special guest, Amb. Delfin Colome,
Courtesy of Instituto Cervantes Manila
Time: 2pm-6pm

Coreografías para el Día Internacional de la Danza / Dancers for International Dance Day
Time: 7pm
Intimate dance pieces by artists from the Choreographers Network, World Dance Alliance-Philippines, exploring the body as text, dance and writing.

Features:
Sepia
Choreography by Ava Maureen Villanueva (Airdance)

Dulce
Choreography by Elena Laniog (UP Dance Co.)

Heavy Side Layer
Choreographer by Raul Alcoseba (Chameleon Dance Theatre)

And a piece by Dancing Wounded Contemporary Dance Commune

Venues:
Magnet Café (Katipunan)
Instituto Cervantes Manila (855 T.M. Kalaw St., Ermita, Manila)
PETA Theatre Dance Studio (5 Sunnyside Drive, Brgy. Kirstong Hari, QC)
Chameleon Dance Studio (89b Diego Silang, Cubao, QC)
HC School of Ballet (1227 Quezon Ave., QC)
Dance Forum Space (36e West Ave., QC)


Since 1982, Dance Day is a yearly event celebrated on the 29th of April by the international community of dancers and dance enthusiasts. Yearly there is a message from a renowned dance artist. This year it is from Gladys Faith Agulhas of South Africa.

Message:

The Spirit of Dance has No colour, No selected shape or size
But Embraces the Power of Unity, Strength,
And Beauty found within us.
Each Dancing Soul, Young, Old, person living with a disABILITY
Creates and transforms ideas into life changing moving Art.
Dance is the mirror reflecting the impossible made possible.
For all to touch, hear, feel and experience.
Sounds from our hearts and Soul is our rhythm,
Our every move reveals the history of mankind.
It is the element where the Human Spirit can embrace the ultimate
Freedom.
Whenever our hands touch, something beautiful happens,
What the Soul remembers, the body portrays through movement.
Dance is therefore the healing force for all to access,
You are my eyes and I am your feet.
Celebrate INTERNATIONAL DANCE Day,
Use your Passion for Dance to heal each other,
Unify your dance community,
Most importantly be the Best that you can be in your Own Right,
We are able to stand unified through the Power and Spirit of Dance.
- Gladys Faith Agulhas
Mosadi Wa Konokono (Woman of Substance) Awardee, South Africa

The Contemporary Dance Map series was initiated in 2005, by then Choreographers’ Network Chair, Myra Beltran. It is the experimental ground of the larger festival, Wi_fi Body Festival, held at the Cultural Center of the Philippines. It is mainly an artists’ initiative, now on its fourth year.

WDA-Philippines
Basilio Villaruz, president
Corazon Inigo, vice-president
Shirley Halili-Cruz, secretary-treasurer
Paul Morales, choreographers’ network chair
Angel Lawenko Baguilat, project director

Artistic directors:
Paul Morales, Airdance
Myra Beltran, Dance Forum
Herbert Alvarez, UP Dance Co.
Angel Lawenko Baguilat, UP Dance Co.
Raul Alcoseba, Chameleon Dance Theatre.
Jose Jay Cruz, Dancing Wounded Contemporary Dance Commune

Friday, February 08, 2008

The Latest Philippine Scandal


The senate ZTE investigations on television brings us back again to face the grim reality of the sad state of the Filipino nation.

It makes us face the institutionalized corruption that still plagues our nation. It illustrates how, in their wanton desparation, leaders can throw the rules of law out the window. And hence our basic indifference to the law and to government.

In the theater of politics too we see; how learned men all, pawns and bishops alike, scamper and scheme to push their own agendas. Asking us to be discerning. Critically listening to the slow chiseling of the truth. May the truth finally be freed, and hence also set us, free. Free from the baggage of the thick skinned crocodiles who corrupt our sense of right and wrong.

I can't stop watching it, because it makes compelling viewing, the morality tale playing out. The necessary purgation by our showing up a mirror to our ills. And yet I am jaded still, amazed how it just seems to go on, the trial of corruption/temptation by power theme that keeps rearing its ugly head. The heroic braveries, the coy politiking. The stoic tiredness of the people numbed already by the endless re-runs.