Experiencing the body electric

Say jazz and you automatically hear a trumpet or a saxophone, soulful notes floating through a cloud of smoke in a bar perhaps (oh, but that was before the no-smoking-in-public-places rule), and at the beginning of the music is a black band (admittedly a politically incorrect statement) that seems to breathe the music.

Jazz is quintessentially American, and the icons of the genre are the likes of Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Winton Marsalis, Lou Rawls. There’s also a stance and swagger that’s particular to jazz and that is automatically rich with layers of meaning and depths of feeling.

"All that jazz" is a term that encompasses everything and indicates myriad possibilities–possibilities of meaning, of experience, of feeling, of movement.

Ballet Philippines explores all those possibilities in the opening concert of its 37th season, All That Jazz, on August 11, 12 and 13 at the CCP Main Theater.

All That Jazz is a dance extravaganza that explores and utilizes the many stylings of jazz music–like the all-time favorite, Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, as well as classic jazz-blues numbers like The Man ILove, Summertime and I Love You Porgy–as choreographic inspirations.

The results will surely excite the senses. Among the concert’s headliners are Alden Lugnasin’s potentially wicked Benepisyo (Benefit Dance); Jeffrey Floyd Suico Espejo’s Jazza Nova; James Laforteza’s How ’Bout Gershwin; and young choreographers Gil Khan Ravago’s Miedo 5.6 and Novy Bereber’s Queber d’Attitude.

Adding stellar quality to the powerhouse concert are the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra, Bituin Escalante (see cover story), Pinky Marquez, Reuben Laurente, and the Hotlegs.

Audiences are encouraged to keep their fingers snappin ’, their hands clappin’ and their feet tappin’ as Ballet Philippines and their partners the Essenses Foundation and Metro Pacific Corporation give you an evening of super-soulful music and staggering dance.

For ticket and other information, call Ballet Philippines at 551-1003 or visit Ticketworld outlets.