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I HAVE
never been a ballet fan. I cannot appreciate its quiet
moments, the so-called lyricism of the moment, and I
believe I can never develop a love for the costumes—both
for male and female dancers. The skirts of the female
dancers look like someone has caught a peacock and
starched its plumes to toxic proportion. The tights for
the male are even more problematic: they are so naked
they have desexualized the male form and transformed it
into something exaggeratedly fey and exhibiting. Aware,
however, I am that for the ballet aficionado, my words
are the ranting of someone in dire need of exposure to
dance in all forms. I am, however, a rabid fan of
synchronicity, of clean lines that manifest themselves
in straight or diagonal formation. Critics call it
extension, but for me, I just love it when ballet
dancers are able to stretch their bodies and defy the
limitations of their physiology. Perhaps, it is when we
do not see those physical limitations that we see a
triumph of discipline and training on the part of these
artists.
Still,
ballet is a foreign art to me. There is always that gap
between what the dance is aiming to narrate and the
dancers who serve as storytellers, even actors in the
story. There is a detachment that does not particularly
appeal to me, and I guess other viewers who go for
passion and great passion in performances, especially
when that passion is highly correlated with heat and
sensuality. I know, I know, ballet dancers can also have
heat but you know what I am referring to, I am talking
about the kind of dance that can make you weep and
perspire and approach a sense of high almost there with
death and love and drunkenness at the sight of a huge,
huge orange sun erased by tropical rains unpredictable
and scary. In other words, give me Martha Graham anytime
and her gloriously demented choreography.
In a
poor country like ours where there is no visible
audience for this art form, I am always left wondering
as to how some groups are able to develop this dance
form and stage recitals even. It was, therefore, an
experience last Thursday to see a presentation from the
Philippine Ballet Theater and come out of it praying
that this group and other groups get more support from
those who have the means and who believe that ballet is
another way of telling the many-layered stories of this
nation.
Gener
Caringal, artistic director of Philippine Ballet
Theater, was the choreographer of the ballet based on
the Maranao epic Darangen ni Bantugen. The epic
chronicles the life of the hero Bantugen, which is part
of an oral tradition reputedly the oldest and most
popular among the people in
Lake Lanao.
The story itself has already gone through many cultural
filters, with the story of Ma. Lourdes C. Sanchez and
the strands culled by folklorist E. Arsenio Manuel used
by Caringal. The ballet form further complicates the
roots and, therefore, the direction of this epic. And
for that night, it was more enthralling.
Somewhere between this week and the next, a dance critic
will perhaps raise a certain sadness about how the corps
de ballet (I call them extras) in the Philippines is
always the least developed of a ballet company. With
more biting sarcasm, some reviewers will perhaps arch
their eyebrows because the production design seems to
have flaunted Orientalia to the hilt. I did note how the
white lattices seem to come from Kyoto traditional
houses. More disturbing was the backdrop with a giant
hole in the middle. With red light on it, it looked like
the indomitable red circle on the Nippon flag.
Viewers
might quibble and complain about the Sarimanok costume
and the mistakes committed by the dancers—how one male
dancer in a frenzied battle scene almost fell off the
shoulder of another male dancer; or how the male lead
fumbled in catching his partner, etc. We can go on but
that night, when the intermission was announced, I was
surprised to find myself looking forward to the ballet’s
resumption.
Let me
enumerate the many reasons for my sudden interest. There
were the two leads: Jared Tan as the hero Bantugen and
Katherine Sanchez-Trofeo as Princess Datimbang. I would
not associate them with grace, though with that the two
were imbued, but with a fearlessness that pushed the
story to the wonderful resolution, you know that where
the Good triumphs over Evil the hero would return with
boon to share with his community, and a love to receive
from the woman he would love forever. There was the
music of Jesse Lucas, with the kulintangan sounding at
home with the strings, rendering labels like ethnic
music naïve.
The
darangen needed several nights for the more than 20
chapters to be recited. The charm of this epic is
immeasurable on a different plane. The ballet is never
the epic, but it is a good retelling, with the pop
sensibility peeking in and assuring us about the
universality of the stories about our past.
In the
opus produced by the Philippine Ballet, the epic’s
length is terrifically sustained by dancers creating the
stories. The costumes of Salvador Bernal, for the most
parts, were colors that we would associate with the
stories of the past. The purple and the green and the
yellow flowing into each field merely evoked the Maranao
tapestry of history and myth. They were not academic
footnotes. One got the sense of another storyteller
improvising on the details, but as the great
Levi-Strauss pointed out, the elements of the myth may
change but its structure will remain the same.
Arriving
at the
Cultural Center
of the Philippines, I was not surprised to see that the
attendance was far from good. After the ballet, I
strongly felt that more people should have seen the epic
story danced.
Darangen
ni Bantugen
is part of the Filipino Heritage Festival spearheaded by
the National Commission for Culture and the Arts and the
Department of Tourism. Happening all in May, Heritage
Month is described as a nationwide initiative
highlighting cultural heritage sites by utilizing them
as venues for cultural events and performances. The
range of activities is wide, with events including,
among other things, the culinary treat Bicol Harvest
Festival ongoing at Hotel Inter-Continental up to the
end of May; the exhibit Kisame: Bohol Ceiling Paintings
from May 26 to July 6 at the Ayala Museum; and the
linambay (komedya) and banig exhibit in SM Cebu.
There is
one more thing to celebrate: Darangen ni Bantugen,
the Maranao epic, was declared as one of 43 new
“Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritages of
Humanity” by the Unesco. |
