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 (photo by V. Ursabia)
Monday, October 13, 2008
 
La Revolucion Filipina in
the post-People Power age
Viewing a historical dance play with the benefit of hindsight
By Rome Jorge, Lifestyle Editor
 
Dance is the most challenging of the theater arts; it is to tell your story though movement. But this challenge is ballet’s strength as well. A language rendered in dance, when crafted and executed well, is intuitive—able to transcend language and culture differences with a vocabulary that is visceral, timeless and sublime all at once. Hence, it ought to be instinctively self-explanatory even to audiences a decade later.
Agnes Locsin’s La Revolucion Filipina is an example of her Neo Ethnic contemporary dance. Contemporary dance, featuring a language crafted by the choreographer, differs from classical and neo classical ballet which use French pantomime to tell its tale. Now, 11 years after Locsin first premiered La Revolucion, we appreciate her work in a new light.
 La Revolucion involves quite a few speaking lines from the dancers—uncommon even in today’s contemporary dance works. In a recent press conference, Locsin noted that when she first staged it a decade ago, La Revolucion dancers were initially terrified of their lines. But today’s dancers, a few of whom have theater backgrounds, relish using vocal chords as well as their brawn and grace.
Locsin wisely anticipated the limitations of weaving speaking lines into dance. She avoids dialogue during movement—to avoid dancers being out of breath and the oscillation of their voice as they turn and twirl. Nonetheless, the inclusion of any speaking lines begs the question: if dance can offer audiences a dance language that it instinctively understands, would any speaking lines be superfluous?
Certain narratives fit certain genres. While most classical ballet tell fairytales and today’s contemporary dance narrate stories of inner conflict, La Revolucion attempts to tell a complex historical story. Locsin’s La Revolucion Filipina is as brave and daring as it was 11 years ago.
Just as with opera and other centuries-old theater arts with much cultural baggage, ballet demands that its audience learn the context of the dance before performance—at least read the synopsis and notes on the program. But La Revolucion is highly didactic. Many of the lines are seemingly monologues directed at the audience. La Revolucion has a lot to say. For today’s audiences too young to have watched its premier, La Revolucion is as necessary and as relevant as ever.
Young Bohemian audiences, nurtured on independent contemporary dance performances as well as rock ‘n roll, will not be attracted to La Revolucion by its lost novelty. Rather, they will simply enjoy it for its artistry and narrative. Ultimately, ballet dancers ought to be judged as actors and choreographers as storytellers. And if that be the criteria and today’s youths be the judge, La Revolucion Filipina rocks.

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