review

Skillfull storytelling via dance

LEONOR OROSA-GOQUINGCO
National Artist for Dance, The Philippine Star, June 27, 1996

The Mindanao State University Institute of Technology's IPAG (Integrated Performing Arts Guild), the leading dance theater group of Southern Philippines, gave a farewell performance at the CCP Little Theater on the eve of its departure for Europe.

Well-named, indeed, is IPAG. For in its program, Tales From Mindanao , it has synthesized the spoken word, vocal sounds, movement, mimicry or pantomime, song and music. With fascinating results. Through two straight hours not for an instant did audience attention falter or wander off.

The evening turned out to be a demonstration of skillfull story-telling.

Largely, Tales presented narratives dealing with the serious issues of man's greed and the subsequent destruction of the earth, the need for reconciliation among warring ideologies (as illustrated in the tales of the Muslim maiden forbidden by tradition to love a Christian soldier). These, however, were not treated with a morbid or heavy hand, thus demonstrating that it is possible to provide a moral in a subtle and artistic manner. Further, this significant theatrical stuff was intertwined with some comic relief, making the experience very Filipino. The young dancers performed with unselfish exuberance, one could only wish that they had been rewarded with a full house.

The curtains opened with a near-bare stage, with only a platform on one side to, at times, suggest terra firma, and a blue length of cloth beside it to presumably suggest the sea, and of course, the bare backdrop suggested the sky.

When the audience had their first view of the dancers (Prologue), these were clad in black leotards and trousers. They had ascended the stage from both the aisles of the theater, and with their beaming smiles and energy, seemed to encircle the audience in a welcoming embrace.

The black costumes served as a touch of simplicity, the same virtue that underlined the methodical execution of dance movements. Some of the movements in the "warming up" process reminded this viewer of the serene, deeply grounded and disciplined motions seen in Tai Chi. The rest were mostly pangalay movements and extensions thereof.

Presented in quick succession after the Prologue were Sinulog Suite , Love and Death at Muddas (the Siasi of today), A New Tale of Sarimanok , Monkey Business , and A Tale of the Bird and Fish .

Only a black-out marked the end of each story ballet, thus, transition from one story to the rest was smooth and well-timed. Not a single scene dragged -- a sign of the director's respect for the audience's intelligence... no long-winded tales here!

Sinulog Suitefeatured invocation to the gods. It also voiced a hope for unity among the native Higaonon, the Muslim Maranaw, and the Christian Iliganun. The Narrator praised Mother Nature and her bountiful gifts, then bewailed and condemned man's greed, perversion, and destructiveness, all of which had brought on floods, then drought, then hunger. Interspersed were planting, harvesting and courtship dances, duels and mortal combats.

Love and Death at Muddaswas based on Anthony Tan's story about forbidden love between a Christian soldier and a young Tausog maiden -- a thing strictly taboo in Islamic custom.

How clearly and movingly this tale was told -- in music, mime and exquisite dance movement! How totally expressive was the soldier, as he depicted the realm of tragedy to that of comedy and rollicking laughter.

Quite a scene-stealer was the female monkey flirt sporting a tutu around her waist and ribbons in her hair. Acted/danced by an impish comedienne, she turned out to be the foremost trickster of all.

There was, too, a hunter, his shotgun ready to do havoc on the tribe. Then, surprise, surprise! came unexpected business. A Caucasian gentleman in the audience was fetched and brought onstage. And the fickle flirt showed in no uncertain terms her preference for this tall, good-looking newcomer, over her primate, erstwhile "boyfriend"...

Tale of the Bird and Fishshowed two (male) birds making friends with three (female) fishes. But a horrendous man with a huge ax arrived and began to wantonly destroy and pollute their homes -- the forest, the sea.

The use of the long bamboos in this number, first as an acoustical tool to lend dramatic emphasis, then as a representation of trees in the forest, and lastly, juxtaposed and alternately raised and lowered, to envision waves, was another clear example of IPAG's ingenious use of limited resources.

In the Epilogue, the group sang a song aching for harmony to be achieved among Mindanao's peoples, for respect for Mother Nature, and for abundance.

Impressive was the fact that IPAG's performing group consisted of only three musicians and nine dancers. Both the "orchestra" and the dancing cast proved to be extremely versatile, the latter functioning in a variety of roles with just a convenient change of costumes and movements. The dancer's gestures were lovely and expressive, transmitting the right emotions, specially in the courtship dances. One was treated to a sweet but very sensuous expression of affection.

Above all, IPAG's message got across: "Nature is our mother; the birds have the sky, the fishes the rivers, the monkeys (and other animals) the forest, the earth... Let us all strive for harmony, for respect for each other, and for Mother Nature..."

Cheers to IPAG, to its predecessors at the MSU, to Ligaya Amilbangsa in whose pangalay dance technique IPAG's performers have immersed themselves; to Frank Rivera, former drama director at MSU, who pioneered in MSU in producing dance-dramas; and most especially to IPAG's present-day playwright-director Steven Patrick C. Fernandez, a worthy son of Dean Segundo P. Fernandez, forester, educator and one of the forest's most avid advocates - to whom Steven has dedicated his admirable production Tales From Mindanao .