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Dance as life & passion
By Eden E. Estopace
Sunday, September 14, 2008
If feet could fly, and arms could reach all the way to the stars, what can dancers do on stage that couldn’t uplift the soul?
Dancing is the poetry of the foot, writes John Dryden. A narrative unfolding on pointed toes and pirouettes is all at once dramatic, expressive, symbolic, erotic; in the olden times even ceremonial, spiritual.
If you haven’t seen a world-class dance performance in a while, it is the season of new beginnings at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) as its resident dance company, Ballet Philippines, welcomes two new artistic directors straight from the world stage.
Gracing the 39th season of the country’s oldest dance company are world-renowned dance masters Max Luna III and Alan Hineline, both coming to Manila from celebrated careers that span over three decades in six continents.
Before joining Ballet Philippines, the dance duo spent 11 years with the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet (CPYD) in various capacities as artistic director, resident choreographer, dance faculty. Both had danced for the most prestigious dance companies in the United States; their body of works firmly engraved in the world of dance.
“We’ve had the opportunity to dance all over the world, to teach, choreograph. I just really like to dance. At this point in my life I also feel like I’ve gained enough experience for us to have something of our own, make an imprint in the dance world,” says Hineline of the mutual decision to come to the Philippines.
Hineline, who sits on the national advisory board of Regional Dance America and whose works can be seen in the repertoires of American Ballet Theater Studio Company, Atlanta Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet, Ballet Concierto de Cuba and The Julliard Dance Ensemble, among others, sees in his new home a different life to embrace, and a new career path rich with possibilities.
“Today, I got up at 6 a.m., answered e-mails until about 8 a.m., went to Makati at 9 a.m. for a business meeting, came back (to CCP) for a staff meeting, to rehearse with the company, which lasts until around 10 p.m.,” he says on the day of the interview in their humble office at the CCP.
“If we are not doing this interview with you, we will be meeting the dancers or rehearsing with the company – there’s simply a lot of work to do,” adds Luna, who after the interview has yet to bring some dancers to Makati for a performance and go back to the rehearsal studio for more dancing and practice and paper work.
Outside the building, the rain was pouring in torrents and traffic was at a standstill for many hours; Metro Manilans were once again braving the floods and the onslaught of wind and rain that usually come at this time of the year. But the show must go on. Down at the rehearsal studio at the CCP basement, company rehearsals were in full swing.
“As an artist, one of my big reasons for coming over is the culture of the Philippines, there’s dance everyday,” Hineline continues. “This cements our idea of bringing the Filipino identity, an Eastern culture, in a Western art form, which is ballet.”
Perhaps there’s no better partnership to see through the blossoming of this east-west concept than Hineline, an American, and Luna, a Filipino. In their dance partnership, this concept will always come to fusion and fruition.
Luna says that their experience abroad will hopefully bring Filipino artists to the world and at the same time bring in international works to the country never before seen by the local audience.
“The nice thing about it is that because of our background and experience and what our name implies, we can bring in a lot of things,” says Hineline. “The overarching goal that Max and I have here is to relaunch the company as a cultural ambassador for the Philippines. There is such a rich cultural heritage in the country and as we strengthen the company, we make our imprint in the world.”
“There’s a lot of talent and a lot of heart here. The dancers are tireless in their effort and their desire to work to make this company great,” observes Luna. “I’ve always dreamed of coming back and sharing what I have learned and achieved in the dance world. I always feel strongly about the Philippines.”
The glowing reviews of Luna’s dance performances and choreography in past issues
of The New York Times and major publications abroad is testament to his love for his country. “Mr. Luna, a former Alvin Ailey dancer… works in a modern-dance idiom colored by the traditional dancing of his native Philippines, represented in ‘Tinig Ng Lupa,’ the evening’s closing dance,” writes Jennifer Dunning of The New York Times for an article in September 2006 entitled “Inspired by the Miracle and the Vagaries of Love.”
“Mr. Braganza and Mr. Luna are from the Philippines and several dances reflected that country’s tumultuous history,” wrote Dunning again for another review in The New York Times for the first appearance of Ballet Asia in New York, whose dances were choreographed by both Filipinos.
Perhaps this sense of rootedness and pride of being Filipino are what will inspire dancers and the local artists to never lose sight of their identity amid the increasing morass of cultural confusion everywhere in the world.
What did he give up to come back to the Philippines? “Nothing,” Luna stresses.
“It was a decision and it was not a question of giving up something. New York will always be there. I will always be a dancer.”
The New Yorker in town is still very Filipino; he speaks fluent Tagalog for one, despite an absence of more than 30 years. It’s very different now, he says of the country. But he does remember Ballet Philippines in its heyday in the 70s, a time he says when dance, ballet and the arts in general had a lot of funding and there were many international performers coming in for artists to look up to.
“Ballet Philippines opened my eyes to dance,” Luna recounts.
To date, he is still the youngest dancer to ever become a member of the dance company. He started his training at the CCP Dance School and joined the company at 14. When his family migrated to the United States shortly after, his dance education continued in America to a parade of esteemed dance schools such as the American Ballet Theater School, the School of American Ballet and the Joffrey Ballet School.
His resume also shows he went on to train at Ballet International de Caracas, Ballet Hispanico, Joyce Trisler Dance Company, and Les Ballets Jazz de Montreal, among others, plus six highly acclaimed years with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.
With the return of the native son to his country of birth and at the helm of his old school at that, Ballet Philippines has also come full circle – from golden age to renaissance and hopefully back to another golden age.
Thus, the backbreaking schedule and the bold vision of the artistic partnership.
“We are just setting up those building blocks in place,” says Hineline. “People are anxious to see Ballet Philippines back in its glory days. That is where we are going; we are building a strong repertory and strengthening our teaching pool for classical ballet and modern dance training using our connections. We need all the help we can get.”
Both say they do not have a time frame for achieving their goals for the company.
“Dance is the same here as in all over the world,” explains Hineline. “We need to identify where we are relevant in Philippine society. It is not just enough to say, hey this is really exciting, come see us. We have to constantly re-identify our audience, and make ourselves relevant to them without sacrificing the artistic integrity of what we do. We are the national cultural house and the oldest company in the country – we have standards to uphold.”
“We are trying to identify the keys to that audience to make it successful to everyone,” Luna adds. Together they developed an inaugural season that aims to hit many groups of people and strengthen both its classical and Filipino repertoire.
The month of September opens with “La Revoluccion Filipina,” a sensitive telling of the struggle for Philippine independence, with music by Ryan Cayabyab and choreography by Agnes Locsin. “We aim to target the patriotic audience and their sense of nationalism, to make them understand more the fight for independence as an art through dance,” says Hineline.
In October, Ballet Philippines goes on stage with the “New Beginnings” gala to celebrate Hineline and Luna’s inaugural season with what was described as an “edgy, sexy and sophisticated line-up of company premieres” in “Night Creature” (Ellington/Ailey), “Mga Awit” (Dadap/Luna) and “Thresholds II” (Begin/Hineline).
Around Christmastime, they bring “Coppelia,” a comic ballet that tells the story of young love, to the audience, which they predict would become a BP classic. “It’s a great way to celebrate the holidays,” they say.
In March, the “Neo Filipino” program pays homage to “home-grown passion and the very heart of the Filipino soul” with Alice Reyes’ “Amada” (with music by the late National Artist Lucrecia Kasilag) and premieres by Luna and Alden Lugnasin.
Hineline admits that the board of trustees of Ballet Philippines is taking a big leap
of faith in entrusting the company to their artistic direction. “We both hope that they like us and getting things going works out well for everyone,” he says.
This early, they also have plans of launching a national tour to different parts of the Philippines and to hold dance workshops in universities in aid of the teaching of modern dance.
“Allan and me, we learned a lot as teachers and that the education side is very important in forming a good dance company. We can never have a great company without the right foundation. When a dancer joins the company at 18, it’s too late if he or she is not well trained,” says Luna, who has as much training in classical ballet as with modern dance technique.
Hineline adds that they’ve been methodically trained as teachers and that the mechanics of technique is key grounding in their classes. However, as they both work to strengthen technical dance training, they also strive for more artistic expression, more personality.
“Technique is only a means to an end, we don’t want to build cold, technical people. Our dancers have to be there in the dance. They have to love the world of dance, to live and love it with passion. The performance is only icing on the cake,” he ends.
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