Candy’s Ballet Theatre/ Two voice recitals/ Aussie Jazz Quartet

To break the routine of watching professional performances, I attended last Sunday "Inspired to Dance", the CAP Ballet Theatre presentation by students of Candy Africa Piedad at the James Reuter Theater in St. Paul’s College, QC.

It was a thoroughly delightful program wherein dancers, from tots to teen-agers, performed for the sheer pleasure of it. Candy knows how to "integrate" the young ballerinas with the older ones. As they danced together, the children in the background went through basic, elementary movements while the advanced ballerinas jeté-ed and pirouette-ed, with the children enriching the various ballets in no small measure while gaining more and more experience.

The program consisted of the Scherzo from "The Midsummer’s Night Dream" to Mendelssohn’s music and Balanchine’s choreography; "Friends of Swanilda" to Delibes’ music and Balanchine’s choreography; Ballo De la Regina to Verdi’s music and choreography after the New York City Ballet; "Festival of the Bells" from Coppelia to music by Delibes, and choreography adaptation after Balanchine’s, Tchaikovsky Pas de Quatre, choreography by Candy Africa Piedad adapted from Leonor Orosa Goquingco and the Grand Pas de Deux of Frantz and Swanilda, this danced by Benjamin Ella and Florence Lapat.

Fun numbers, combing jazz, modern dance and ballet, were "I Enjoy Being a Girl", choreography by CAP, with music sung by Lea Salonga; "The Cat in the Hat", with music from Seussical the Musical, with choreography by student dancers Katrina and Kristina Dumos; "Grease Lightning", with music by John Travolta to choreography by CAP, Catherine Angangco and other dancers, and "Footloose" to music from the original soundtrack, and choreography by Paola Kagaoan, the Dumos sisters and other dancers.

As one can see from the foregoing, Candy encourages her students to try their hand at choreography. It might also be noted that none of the dances, classic or otherwise, were beyond the competence of the ballerinas. The pas de deux was not high-powered dancing, but the performance of Benjamin and Florence was technically clean, precise, fluent and polished.

Candy’s recitals are given every other year, and the dancers’ improvement is always perceptible. I particularly remember seeing Alexandra Lim onstage two years ago. She then seemed rather timid and insecure. Last Sunday, she appeared serene, secure and confident, graceful and very light on her toes.

Katrina and Kristina Dumo, Camille Barruga, Kara Cantiller, Therese Gaerlan, Sofia Ibarra, Paola Kagaoan and Danica Lopez might likewise be singled out for their very good dancing.

The costumes designed by Candy were elegant, ravishingly so, with not a single superfluous rhinestone or bead on them.

We trust CAP will be producing bravura dancers in the near future – she opened her school only a few years ago – because of the diligent and authoritative training she gives her young wards.

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Earlier, I attended the soiree Nuit d’Amour (Night of Love) hosted by soprano Tata Poblador who sang with tenor Ramon San Agustin at her well-appointed Makati apartment. Tata, who has been studying with Fides Cuyugan Asensio for only two months, readily admits she is an amateur who loves to sing, and that night, she sang for family and friends.

Ramon, however, is a professional who trained for almost fifteen years under Maestra Jovita Fuentes, Nanette Moscardon Maigue, and the Agustinian priest Fr. Santiago Escura. Both Fuentes and Escura concentrated on training him in Italian songs, including operatic arias.

Tata and Ramon rendered "Tales of Hoffman" by Offenbach and "My Heart at Thy Sweet Voice" from Saint-Saens’ Samson and Delilah. Ramon’s solo numbers were Di Curtis’ Torna a Sorriento and Lara’s Granada. Tata sang S’es tu m’ami by Parsotti and Schubert’s Serenade.

Light songs – solos by either singer or duets – from Broadway, a few kundimans, folk and other songs made up the rest of the program. Sonya Valencia was assisting pianist.

Ramon demonstrated a finely honed voice that soared and gained considerable power in the top notes. He showed controlled dynamics, singing with verve. Tata interpreted her numbers with gusto and deep expression. Her French diction in La Vie en Rose was excellent and this was heartily attested to by Alliance Francaise director Philippe Normand who was present. It was obvious Tata was enjoying herself hugely as were her listeners.

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Allan Cosio and his wife Ivi Avellana Cosio are painters who have made a real dent on the visual art scene. Of late, they have turned to singing with serious intent, and recently, they gave a voice recital at the residence of Ester Vibal, rendering art songs and arias.

Allan has a tremendous asset in his powerful voice which, if fully trained and developed, can eventually lead him to sing in professional opera presentations. That evening, he impressed with arias from Cavalleria Rusticana, Forza del Destino, Turandot, among others, and a duet with Ivi from La Traviata.

Ivi’s voice is small, with limited dynamics but she manipulates it skillfully and artistically; further, she sings with acute sensitivity.

Both painters have been studying voice under tenor Mamerto Villaba for about six months. In due time, the husband-and-wife team, Allan particularly, will make their mark in the vocal scene.

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From the Australian Embassy comes this announcement: Heavy rains and flash floods did not deter over 200 people from flocking to the Podium Saturday night in early June to listen and enjoy the music of one of Australia’s most outstanding jazz bands – The Jamie Oehlers Quartet.

Tenor saxophonist Jamie Oehlers is one of the most distinguished jazz musicians from Down Under. He is attracting well-deserved international notice after having gained honors at the World Saxophone Competition in last year’s Montreux International Jazz Festival.

His performance here demonstrated his high regard for the American jazz tradition. His collaborators were pianist Sam Keevers, bassist Rodrigo Aravena and drummer Ben Vanderwal. The local band Subconcept opened the concert with its own brand of jazz fusion.