Underneath this part of the sky

The Yokohama Dance Collection-R (YDC) is an open competition for new young Asian choreographers. Launched in 1996 and dubbed as Asia’s largest dance market, it has grown to become an important platform promoting the work of young emerging dance makers from Asia. Alongside the main competition, YDC Solo X Duo Competition +, other aspects of the festival such as workshops, symposia, performances by previous prizewinners, promotional booths and showcases are meant to intensify public interest in contemporary dance. It has also become a good place for other dance artists, to promote and create awareness about their work to a wider public through the promotional booths and afternoon showcases.

This year, the competition attracted 125 entries from Japan, Korea, the Philippines, the UK and US with 14 entrants. Likewise international directors, officials and programmers came to witness the event. Among those who attended were the directors of Masdanza, Monaco Dance Forum, Julidans Next Melweg and theatre directors of The Place, and International Tanzmesse NRW. Indeed, just to be part of this festival presents a unique opportunity to participate in an international platform for contemporary dance. In contrast to the modest contemporary dance scene back home, Jay Cruz and myself were inspired and overwhelmed to be in the company of this highly visible and vibrant dance gathering. As the first Filipino participants, it is with both pride and pleasure to be able to represent our country and generate further interest in Philippine contemporary dance among our Asian and international counterparts. On an encouraging note, our pieces, Jay Cruz’s Gestures of the Flesh and my solo Beneath Polk-dotted Skies were both warmly received by audience, artists and critics alike. Moreover meeting the jurors, critics and some members of the audience after the performances facilitated invaluable insights and feedback, crucial to the growth of any young choreographer.

It must have been six degrees as I stepped out of the Narita International Airport waiting for the bus that will take me to Yokohama. A little bit nervous and anxious–I have never performed during winter, much less in a competition atmosphere–I did not know what to expect. Admittedly, I am not one who is keen on competitions. The idea seems so daunting that I would typically shy away from such. However, the prospect of reaching out to a wider audience in contemporary dance and create new channels of communication were reasons enough compelling to overcome my own inhibitions as a performer. My experience in Yokohama reaffirmed my belief in art, dance, as a means to communicate an idea to the world if not opening new pathways and spaces for communication.

Spending the most part of the year working as a solo artist, I constantly find myself in dialogue with dance and its role in contemporary society. While working alone, definitely brings a closer understanding of my own body and its specific experience of dance, sometimes this kind of isolation also presents an uneasy comfort zone needing of brief interruptions to understand the bigger picture that encompasses each and every one of us, artists and non-artists. Reasons why I find collaborations, artistic exchange and performing in international festivals/platforms always a welcome break from the sometimes monotonous and lonely path of a solo artist. Moreover, such experiences give me the privilege of distance and renewed perspective of home. By meeting peers from other parts of the globe, hearing their stories and experiences, one surmounts the myopic trap of working in isolation.

Performing my solo Beneath Polka-dotted Skies, bringing home the Jury Prize Award of the 2007 Yokohama Dance Collection-R Solo X Duo Competition back to the Philippines, has instilled an overwhelming sense of pride. Admittedly, when I entered the competition, I never really thought of the bigger implications this entailed. My primary motivation then was the desire to bring the work to wider audience. As it turned out, Jay Cruz’s Gestures of the Flesh and my solo were the first Philippine entries in this festival. Thanks to the unending support and encouragement of Japan Foundation Manila Office, Mr. Ben Suzuki and local artist community we held through and brought Philippine contemporary dance, otherwise unknown of in the rest of Asia, to Japan. It was not until after the competition, hearing the reception and reaction to our works did I have a greater sense of awareness of significance of coming from the Philippines.

Beneath Polka-dotted Skies is solo dance-video installation that delves into the idea of journeying and isolation. It begins with a video projection of myself packing clothes, intermittent with knives, in a suitcase, in the act of preparing for a journey then interspersed with a solo dance evoking the same situation. The rest of the video shows myself carrying a suitcase in a monotonous rhythm towards an unknown destination, which ends with me rolling on the ground I walked upon. Conceptualized during a prior residency, I sought to capture the anxiety and anticipation of going on a journey and the acceptance of being mobile yet bound to a particular place-maybe a concept of home. An acceptance that results to deeper self-reflection and withdrawal into the comfort zone one has created for oneself.

Admittedly, the work was very personal reflection of my individual situation. So I was quite surprised when some members of the jury and audience associated this with the global condition of migration and mobility of people in different parts of the world. Particular interest though has been placed in the phenomena of Filipino migrant workers seeking better opportunities and lives in developed countries, like Japan, Europe and US. Traveling induces excitement but along with it comes displacement and anxiety, the idea of confronting the unknown, thus bringing forth a desire to reach out and communicate. In the end, we regress and return to our ‘little’ skies–those spaces of comfort we have created for ourselves–the suitcase, symbol of our physical, psychological and emotional baggage.

While recognizing that social realities do inextricably feed into a work of art, I am one who does not purposely intend to be political. An esteemed Filipino artist-mentor once said, “breathing is political.” Taking this to heart, I have learned that even if mainstream Philippine cultural politics may label contemporary dance as too personal, at times apolitical, in each expression lie a statement about the human condition. To speak about something through the truth and imperfection of our bodies, being vulnerable to the audience and history, is a political act. These words never meant to me as much until the Yokohama experience.

After the performance dance critic Mr. Masashi Miura said that a young choreographer/artist should be mindful of the play of meaningful and meaningless symbols together, a balance must be sought in order to consistently convey the original intention of the dance. He was keen on the image of a Filipina with a suitcase in my performance, as it confronted some current global situation of migration and displacement. His words caught me on various levels. On a personal level, his advice inspired me to become more mature and responsible artist. As dancers we sometimes become too involved in “showing the dance” but fail to recognize that in the end, it is what you want to communicate that matters even if the piece is performed in a competition.

From our conversation, I gather that what makes a dynamic dance community, is the healthy and consistent exchange and dialogue between artists and its public–audience, critics and scholars. What makes the Yokohama Dance Collection-R unique among other competition is its holistic approach to ‘presenting dance’ in all its varied aspects. While the Solo X Duo Competition was indeed the key event, the organizers did not fail to address the other important aspects that will not only generate greater interest in dance but also ensure its further development. Thus, the talks, workshops, exhibition, showcases and most importantly making possible the dialogue between finalists, audience and juror during the festival ensure that contemporary dance is not only ‘presented’ via the stage but also through equally important avenues.

Back here at home in Manila, the sun blasting thirty degrees, amidst humidity, humming tricycles, smog, smoke, unbelievable long MRT queues and seeming chaos, I sit with the Jury Prize Award 2007 off my cap. What happens now? I grapple with my next step, slowly calculating one small step to another, to the next journey. And while, winning indeed induces indescribable high, lifting up the heart, I can only manage to find where my feet stands. Tilling new ground, underneath this part of the sky.