The Philippine Online Chronicles

Two new dance events - one delving into memory and the other into madness - will be open to the public later this month.

It begins on June 25 with the opening of the annual Wifibody Independent Contemporary Dance Festival 2010 at the Ayala Center Greenbelt in Makati City.

The festival was organized by the Contemporary Dance Network Philippines (CDNP), currently chaired by Angel Lawenko-Baguilat. From Makati, the festival will be going to the Dance Forum Space in Quezon City and the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) in Pasay City.

This year’s theme is "Body and Memory," and the festival will feature a photo exhibit with video portraits of ten choreographers involved in the festival.

"It is when the body remembers that one proceeds to create.  When the body remembers, there is dance," said festival director Myra Beltran. "This festival allows those involved in contemporary dance to 'remember' how we grew, how we got to where we are, and trace where we are going."

The festival will feature IndepenDance, which will show new choreographic work from Ava Maureen Villanueva and Rhosam Prudenciado Jr. of Airdance, Gerardo Francisco of Ballet Manila, Herbert Alvarez of UP Dance Company, and Christine Crame of Seven Contemporary Dance Company.

Also to take place during the festival are the New Choreographers Competition for up-and-coming choreographers, the Emerging Talent Showcase for young dancers, and Dance-on-Site which will showcase performances choreographed specifically for unusual venues, such as the driveway in front of the CCP Main Theater lobby.

"Wifibody is distinguished by its innovative use of traditional spaces and its exploration of non-traditional spaces,” Beltran added. “Wifibody aims to engage the public by allowing everyone to access contemporary dance.”

Dancing to Bencab

Another dance event to look forward to will be the show Sayaw, Sabel, choreographed by Davao-based choreographer Agnes Locsin. Sayaw, Sabel will explore the Filipino psyche through dance, drawing inspiration from two of the country’s most popular and enigmatic icons of despair – Bencab’s Sabel and Jose Rizal’s Sisa.

According to the show’s press release “The show's concept was inspired by one of National Artist for Visual Arts Benedictor Cabrera (more popularly known as Bencab)'s iconic figures.  ‘Sabel’ is a major subject that recurs in his works through the decades, inspired by a real-life scavenger that he photographed and sketched in 1965.  The Sabel image has become his vehicle for the transmission of intensely emotional moods.”

"For Bencab, Sabel is a melancholic symbol of dislocation, despair and isolation, the personification of human dignity threatened by life's vicissitudes, and the vast inequities of Philippine society," said Locsin. "In this production, Sabel is a reinvention of Jose Rizal's Sisa, whose sad and relentless plight has come to represent an image of the country's continuous and seemingly endless struggle to survive. Sabel dances, speaks and sings to express what could have been her past life.”

The show will feature seven performances by seven different dancers, each exploring a different facet of madness.

Sayaw, Sabel will open on June 26 at the Peta Theater Center. An invitational repeat performance will follow on July 17 at the Ayala Museum, before the show goes on tour to Laguna, Bacolod, Iloilo, and Davao City.