NeoFilipino 2023: In Transit, the third and final tier of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) Choreographers’ Series, showcases originals by Filipino choreographers Jose Jay Cruz, Al Garcia, and Christine Crame.
Their experiences in traversing different territories alert individuals to muse on the unfolding narratives and contemplate how being “in transit” forces one to look as circumstances around them continue to move.
Conceptualized by founders dance producer and director Denisa Reyes and independent dance pioneer Myra Beltran, it serves as a platform for established Filipino choreographers to collaborate with distinguished artists of other forms.
With the seamless incorporation of video, sound, and design, the performances are a reflective introspective that is relevant to the creative landscape and contemporary life. It explores the passage between Points A and B, which not only signifies a trajectory toward return but also a forging of new pathways.
Cruz, a recipient of the prestigious Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature, is a two-time awardee of the Prince Claus Fund Grant-Contemporary Corporeality and HyperCorporeality. The organization is a tribute to the royal of The Netherlands.
Cruz’ solo Contemporary Investigation Number One, constructed during the Bates Dance Festival, was invited to the 35th Les Hivernales/Winter Avignon in France.
He was also part of the Ervaar Daar Hier Theater project as an artist-in-residence at Korzo Theater in The Hague, which led him to the academic field with lectures at the University of Amsterdam and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.
For NeoFilipino, his structured work is a unique crowdsourcing pilgrimage through studios as “stations.” It culminates in his own version of Russian ballet dancer and choreographer Vaslav Nijinsky’s controversial Rite of Spring.
Garcia, a dance artist for the Timjur Dance Theater in Taiwan, was the Philippine delegate for the 2010 Taipei Dance Elite Academy. He developed his voice as an artist through the CCP Choreographer Series beginning in 2012 and represented the country at the 2015 Southeast Asia Choreolab Malaysia.
His recognitions include the Grand Prize at the Wifi Body Contemporary Dance Festival New Choreographers Competition Philippines and a feature at the Yokohama Dance EX Japan.
He is a member of the Contemporary Dance Network Manila. He was part of the faculty that established the dance programs for Guang Ming College and the Philippine High School for the Arts Senior High.
Amid his prolonged and continuous stay in the East Asian country, Garcia faces prevailing concerns career shifts and war. For NeoFilipino, he encapsulates his response to the promise of broader opportunities elsewhere and his hopes of establishing roots in new soil.
Crame rose to the ranks of Ballet Philippines from company scholar to member and soloist from 1994 to 2005, with major roles in Cinderella, Snow White, Peter Pan, and Darna. She relieved the titular superhero in Benilde’s 2018 adaptation Ding, Ang Bato.
Crame is currently a full-time educator at her alma mater, the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde Dance Program, where she likewise served as academic chairperson from 2010 to 2019.
She is also the Artistic Director of Benilde Experimental Dance, Artistic Director/Performer of Seven Contemporary Dance Company, Co-Director of Ground 1 Arts Retreat Space, and has been the Director of the CCP Choreographers Series since 2022.
Her NeoFilipino piece depicts her journey through regions as she becomes conscious of the need to reshape her perspectives in her transition from a Manila-based and erstwhile mainstream ballet dancer. This phase for someone who identifies as having “no province” emerges as a pivotal way to forge fresh viewpoints informed by places beyond the conventional center.
Directed by Crame, NeoFilipino 2023: In Transit exhibits set design by theater director, production designer, and Benilde Theater Arts Chairperson Tuxqs Rutaquio. Projection mapping was by multimedia artist Ces Valera.
Institutional supporters include Sining Banwa, Beltran’s DanceForum, Guang Ming College, and the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde.
It will run from Friday, October 20 to Sunday, October 22, 2023 with shows at 8 p.m. at the Tanghalang Ignacio Gimenez, CCP Complex.
Tickets are available at P500 at https://premier.ticketworld.com.ph/shows/show.aspx?sh=NEOFILI23.
For more information, visit https://www.facebook.com/ccpchoreoseries/.
