Breaking down comfort zones

No other company in Asia can do neo-classical and contemporary works as brilliantly as Ballet Philippines. For its 36th season opener, Men and Women, the company once more flaunted the beauty and dexterity of its dancers. I must congratulate BP artistic director Bam Damian for successfully burying the problems that hounded him: Principal dancers enticed by the green-buck appeal of foreign productions, working with raw apprentices, and dealing with woozy Philippine issues that keep distressing the arts.

As always, the BP dancers conquered their audience with sheer radiance. There are dancers who are set apart by their intrinsic stage appeal, the ones who simply stand on stage and immediately attract attention. Hanedy Sala is one such dancer. She cuts an imposing figure on stage matched with strong technique and appears sensational in any role. There are other dancers who move so eloquently they capture the viewer and never permit them to wander off to other dancers. These are Camille Ordinario and Carissa Adea.

The performance opened with Enrico Labayen’s Stringed, Strung and Estranged, a piece that was, to me, not Labayenish at all. Here, he veered away from the sensuality that usually enveloped his works and, instead, attacked the audience with frostiness and a stern technical demand in his movements. Yes, there was a touch of lyricism in the echoing shadows of the figures behind the scrim. A nice touch, the soft Labayen touch. His biggest achievement in this piece was showing off the prowess of the dancers while keeping them immaculate in the most difficult variations. Not many choreographers are able to meet such a challenge.

In Damian’s After Whom, the unison segment was the most striking. The stage turned into a large tract of land covered with pale dancing trees. Picture a pasty white forest moving in breathtaking synchronization, a beautiful spell on stage. The pas de deux in the beginning was unnecessary, taking delight away in its duration. Damian should edit that and stick to the substantial moment. Anyway, a short piece is always more effective than a drawn out one, so if a segment doesn’t add anything, subtract it.

His following pas de deux, L, was a take-off from Nijinsky’s The Afternoon of a Faun. After the heavy and powerful music that accompanied the first two numbers, Claude Debussy’s lingering melody was a welcome relief. Carissa Adea looked gorgeous in her interpretation of the male dancer’s fantasy, but Michael Divinagracia should work more on his confidence to merit that elusive stage presence appeal.

Damian’s last piece, Anecdotes of Hate, failed in comparison to his preceding works. The ballet, a hodgepodge of character representations, meant nothing much even with the visual impact of elastic bands springing expressively into a boxing arena and various other images of imprisonment. To put figures like John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, the Ku Klux Klan, and representations of Hope, Malevolence, Fire, Flames, the civil rights movement in America, and so forth and so on in a short piece was saying too much in one breath. Therefore, in this piece, Damian was not able to say anything considerable. Anecdotes of Hate needed a tighter mental verification.

Unfortunately, the biggest disappointment in this production was Alden Lugnasin’s Bound. This talented young choreographer showed a lot of promise with his dazzling works, Swimming the Ilog Pasig and Swans, Fluttering Disturbances. He must be careful to keep his reputable standing as an innovative young artist. The ballet started out well with symbolic huts rising to a spectacular height. Their stunning transparency should have progressed into a vivid lighting plan. Regrettably, the general design of the piece did not fit well together. Lugnasin must work on concepts, first and foremost. He must decide on his general approach and proceed from there, asking himself, "Will it be ethnic, jazz, or avant garde?" What am I trying to say and how will I say it effectively?"

If one considered all the aspects of Bound, the movements, music, sets, costumes and props failed to collaborate towards the exposure of Lugnasin’s statement. The hut impression did not jive with the Western design of the costumes. The beautifully elongated huts became a nuisance, clashing with the dancers’ figures both in front and behind. The Japanese parasols further confused the intent of the dance.

Lugnasin’s choice of music was also substandard. The soundtrack of The Matrix does not belong on stage and should remain in the movies with Keanu Reeves. It is good for every choreographer to remember that an excellent choice of music leads to 50 percent of his ballet’s success.

Damian’s programming needed a more thorough deliberation. Labayen’s Stringed, Strung and Estranged was a bit heavy for an opener and following it was Damian’s After Whom, which was too similar in music and style. Having avoided looking at the program, I thought the same choreographer did the two pieces. This was why Debussy came as a welcome breather to me. Ergo, putting in a third heavy piece, Anecdotes of Hate, was a slip-up. In the first part of the program, we were shown three serious pieces with the same weight in music and movement. Each number would have shown well if placed more suitably in the program.

Question: Is there something wrong with dancers smiling on stage? I am tired of watching grave and somber faces. Ballet Philippines’ strength is its versatility, its ability to do all types of dancing, be it classical, contemporary, pop, ethnic and folk-based. So, a word of advise to Damian: Show off BP’s numerous talents through varied programming. Another viewpoint I might add is the evening’s theme, men and women, came in only one perspective – that of distressed relationships. Well, yes, there was that one brief moment of fantasy in the L pas de deux. Could it be because the choreographers were men with ambivalent views of women?

It is not enough to have excellent dancers, riveting movements, a stage as awesome as the CCP Main Theater and great ideas to do a ballet. Choreographers would do well to review the intricate craft of choreography and go back to the basics: Style and composition; beginnings, middles and ends; introductions, climaxes and resolutions; repetitions, rhythmic patterns, focus, contrast, directions, and whatever else adds up to the concoction of a tight piece. Choreography is, after all, a craft. And yes, lock yourself up in a room and think concept.

Nevertheless, it was refreshing to see the choreographers tackle works beyond their comfort zones, a brave and positive move for every artist. I congratulate Ballet Philippines for sustaining its overall artistic superiority and daring to exist even if the odds are great.