Dancing at its most perfect/Betsy: An artist’s portrait/Philippine Odes to Chilé

A few days ago, dance lovers had a glorious time watching TCM’s reprise of films and musicals on television, these featuring some of the world’s best dances and dancers in both the modern and classic idioms.

The musical West Side Story, based on Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” had, instead of the warring Montagues and Capulets, rival teen gangs in New York dancing to Jerome Robbins’ choreography and Leonard Bernstein’s music. (I recall having-watched Robbins rehearsing in Covent Garden the London Royal Ballet in his “Dances at a Gathering”.)

There were the Ziegfield Follies with hundreds of men and women dancing in perfect precision, the women zigzaging in huge circles, triangles and in other dizzying alignments. The fantastic Fred Astaire partnered by Ginger Rogers or Cyd Charisse, or dancing with Gene Kelley, another brilliant dancer, took one’s breath away as they did ballroom  and  tap dancing. Their flawless synchronizations were incredible.

One admirable musical followed another, fleet-footed women in gorgeous costumes partnered by similarly fleet-footed men — hundreds of them in synchronized movements no matter how fast the music. Nothing could have matched those dazzling numbers.

Modern dance high priestess Martha Graham — she gave a press conference in Manila before her company’s performance — had her own distinctive moments, followed by the earlier modern dancer Isadora Duncan, and the early classical dancer Anna Pavlova.

At this point, I remember seeing Alexandra Danilova, the last Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo ballerina dancing in the grand manner, perform at the FEU auditorium (there was no CCP then), partnered by Benny Villanueva over whom she towered.

The reprise included performances by the Russian Rudolf Nureyev and Mikhail Barisnikov who both combined technique and style in superlative manner. Such clean, brisk, clearly defined steps, such grace, ballon and elan!

Then there was Dame Margot Fonteyn — thus far the only female dancer to be awarded the title of prima ballerina assoluta — giving viewers an ethereal vision. Fonteyn danced in Manila when she was already 53 but she was still magnetic. (Decades ago, I saw the French ballerina Yvette Chauviré dance at the Paris Opera House and she impressed me as much as Fonteyn did.)

Hopefully, members of Ballet Manila, Ballet Philippines (which began as a modern dance company), Philippine Ballet Theater and Steps saw the TCM film which would have provided them with inspiration and incentive.

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On Jan. 17, 2013 at 6 pm, an exhibition of paintings by the celebrated artist Betsy Westendorp will open at the Manila Contemporary Gallery Whitespace, 2314 Chino Roces Ave. (formerly Pasong Tamo) in Makati. The exhibit titled “Portrait of an Artist: Betsy Westendorp” will run through Feb. 10.

Herewith is the official announcement of the exhibition:

Spanish artist Betsy Westendorp has established herself as a respected practitioner within the Filipino art world with a career that spans over 40 years. A poetic and expressive painter, Westendorp is well known for her portraits of prominent European and Filipino figures as well as her romantic landscapes and depictions of exotic flowers. Betsy Westendorp: Portrait of an Artist presents a highly personal conversation about her practice through new and existing works that predominantly consists of the artists’s emotive skyscapes or ‘atmosferografias’. In addition, Architect Ramon Antonio has designed a bespoke room as part of the exhibition, for audiences to see how collectors ‘live’ with Betsy’s art.

Westendorp’s portraits will also appear in The Upstairs Gallery in the form of small works from the artist’s private collection as well as photographic documentation of her iconic commission works. By presenting these two sides of her practice viewers are allowed to compare and contrast her work as a painter of others and as an individual artist exploring formal beauty and her own human emotions.

Chilean Ambassador Roberto L. Mayorga and Oscar M. Lopez, chairman emeritus of the Energy Development Corporation, have graciously sent me a booklet entitled “Chilé”: Odes from the Philippines”.

A joint project of UST, UP, EDC and the embassy of Chile, it contains poems by Filipino students honoring the bicentennial of Chile and the rescue of the 33 miners trapped for 70 days in the San Jose Mines, Atacama Desert, from August to October 2010.

The poems are by Rene Calunsag Jr., UP (first prize), Therese Marie Villarante, Cebu Normal U. (second prize), Maria Celine Anastacia Socrates, UP (third prize), Marie-jo Mariss Sawal Ramos, UP (fourth prize), David John Descalzo Ubera, Nueva Vizcaya State U. (fifth prize), and Minerva Yuson, UP (second fifth prize).