choreography (part one)

"I'm teaching a choreography class this term," I half-joke to my mom. "I, who have no choreography to speak of."

"Yes, isn't that strange?" she agreed. I didn't quite expect her to agree so wholeheartedly so I wasn't able to reply and continue our conversation.

--

I'm qualified to teach the class, rest assured. I took enough choreography classes and seminars for me to know what I'm doing and what other people should be doing as well. And I have some choreography that I've done, probably buried in the memories of those that came across it. I still remember them, some of them quite clearly actually.

My earliest stabs at choreography of course were making dances for the kids in our school for recitals, and then in high school, I was sometimes asked to do an intermission number. Those were improv, even before I had training in improv. I just played music I knew by heart and let go. Once, it was Linggo ng Wika (Language Week) and I danced a short nationalistic thing with lots of chest-clutching, arabesques, whirls and leaps. By then, I had already figured out that these intermission numbers were going to need structure so that I just didn't do the same thing over and over again. There you go, choreography.

In college, we had a similar choreography class but it wasn't handled quite the way I'm handling the one I'm teaching now. The teacher was given a venue grant at the CCP and was preparing a group of her own works for a solo concert. Since she was so busy and focused on her concert, our class turned into helping her prepare for her show and we did no choreographing of our own. During that time, I didn't mind so much, being a freshman and all, but later I did feel that I missed out.

I was very good in improv though, starting with my high school escapades, then later when I formally learned about it and trained in it in the CCP summer workshops. Well, I wasn't spectacular or brilliant, but competent enough, I guess. It was a progressive thing.

I would do some solo improv numbers, quite like I used to in high school, but with the added pretense that what I was doing was "art". Most of it were forgettable, though I was proud of some of them. Some others, though not particularly brilliant, were memorable because of the situation in which I had danced them.

Like that one time, when I was a councilor in the college council, we had all these activities for Christmas, one of them being a harana sa dorms (dorm serenade), where different musician volunteers were to play at the different dorms in the campus. Of course, all the boys wanted to play at the all-girls dorm (I think Sampaguita? Am I right?) or at Kalayaan, the freshman dorm. I remember that Joey Dizon, a guitar major friend of mine, and I played in Kalayaan while Miguel, who was at one time the love of my life, played at the girls dorm. He drove me and Joey to Kalayaan and watched the first two pieces - Joey would play random pieces he knew and I would do a bit of interpretative dancing, using the emotional tone of the piece as my benchmark for the kind of dancing I would do. I remember the first pieces felt like happy-in-love pieces and that's what I danced. Or, possibly, I was happy in love because Miguel was watching.

Fast forward a few years later, still in college, in love with another boy. I was applying for a literary org named UP Quill and fell in love with one of their genius poets, Mayo. He liked me back. The org has a poetry reading that is a big deal every semester and members and applicants can volunteer to read. My friend and co-app, Ella (I don't remember her last name), and I did a performance piece entitled From a Poet to a Dancer, or something similar. The whole org was in on it because Mayo were in our first blissfull weeks of togetherness, and here I was, dancing to a poem that basically explained why the Poet (in this case, Mayo) was so in love with the Dancer (me). Reports say that Mayo was rendered speechless by my performance. Our romantic relationship lasted only a month or so, but it still is a nice memory. I think it was the only time Mayo had ever seen me dance.

I interpreted another poem for another genius poet friend, Allan Popa, when he launched his book, Morpo. He wrote a poem about Nijinsky and I danced it out, as Nijinsky. I structured out my dance according to the poem, and spoke bits of it while dancing to mostly silence, and imagined what Nijinsky would have done in my place. I was very proud of that and I think Allan really liked it, too. That was perhaps my last solo improv.

My most brilliant solo improv was back in college, for my 20th Century music class. I don't know if they still do this today, but my music literature teacher, Pat Brillantes, would require performances for each period of history we were enrolled in, under her. Same thing went for our 20th Century music class, which I was taking in lieu of Music for Dance, which was not being offered for another two or three semesters, but I needed the credit that year as I wanted to finally graduate. Since I was the only dance major taking 20th Century Music, I organized it so that the younger dance majors taking History 2 with Ma'm Pat and I were to show our dances in one performance in the studio, so two classes were in attendance of our mini-recital. After the younger kids did their Classical music presentation, I performed an improv to one of my favorite pieces of music ever, the first movement of Leonard Bernstein's Symphony for Violin, Strings and Percussion.

After the show, Nina asked me if I pre-choreographed any of it or was it all just pure improv because it looked well thought out and quite synched to the music - and well, it's not really easy to synch improv to Bernstein. I told her I just knew the music really well. She said we should have documented my solo so that I could do it again, because it was really good. Miguel saw it, too, and said it was one of the best things I had ever done. Not that I did much, but that was very nice to hear.

Which is probably why you can't get me too excited about the current wave of solo performances in gallery or studio venues, or why you can't get me to join in. I've done my share of solo improv and it's not really something I'm all that interested in. I do applaud the group works that are not improv at all, those I've seen in studio venues anyway, especially Nina Hayuma Habulan's pieces. I'd rather do those than solo improv. But I'm not really inclined to choreograph either.

--

(to be continued)

Still not back on track but a little progress

Had first consultation with my thesis adviser after the proposal defense. Basically, we’re working out the kinks in my proposal revision. I have to remember that this is just the introduction and not talk about heavy points right away.

I don’t know why it is, but my thesis used to be my entire life. Or was I just using it as an emotional crutch because I had just then stopped dancing for that company I used to dance for? Now, it’s not my entire life anymore, just one of the things that I have to schedule.

I haven’t shown my adviser yet my paper that I delivered to China. I guess I don’t want her tsk-ing and saying, “But there’s a lot of holes here…” Sigh.

On the other end of the coin, my editor of the newspaper I used to write dance reviews for is urging me to write more reviews for her.

This is why I love blogging. In blogging, you don’t have to worry about the holes in your writing, or what your adviser/editor will say. Blogging is more relaxed. Blogging rules!

See more progress on: finish my masters thesis

i passed my defense

Not entirely happy with some people on my panel but I should be happy that I’m now on to the next step and the work involved looks like a lot of fun. I rewrite my introduction now. relaxing

See more progress on: finish my masters thesis

hey there, how ya doin'

I haven't blogged here lately, and since most of my friends have been blogging on their blogs, I got a bit inggit and here I am.

Today is a hectic day. Starting from late last night, when Lucas finally installed his software for editing videos into Lucy (Lucas' desktop PC) and we spent the next six hours editing the video that is required to accompany the paper I'm delivering in China next week. It's not perfect, but it will do. There's so much hassle that was involved in the making of this video, starting from requesting the clips from the CCP, but I don't want to worry about it anymore, so there. It's a bit long, I guess, especially the clips of my dad's choreographies. Lucas said, "Isn't it a bit too long?" I said, "Okay lang. Anong magagawa ng mga Intsik?" To which he said, "Nanunura ang mga Intsik no!" Haha. Apologies to all Beloved Intsiks in the audience.

Now I'm tweaking and fine tuning my paper so that it will be perfect and sync with the video, but when I tested it a short while ago, I was over by four minutes (it should be 30 only). I'll have to practice again, and figure out when to come in so that I don't pause for the videos too long.

I was a bit harassed also because Charlie Brown (the main family desktop) is being wishy-washy again, hanging all the time, etc. This sucks because the printer and scanner are connected to it. So I can't really print stuff out. Mom says to just print the paper out in China. I feel like I'm going to war without my chain mail and broadsword.

I'm bringing Linus (my laptop) and Dad's bringing Snoopy (his laptop). But it just doesn't feel the same as having the paper on paper, in hard copy, and having several copies for the other delegates. And I was so anal about the lay-out of my paper too.

I have to pack and I have to shower. So many concerns!

Generally though, I feel like my life is going exactly where it's supposed to. Despite the heat and the hassles and the near-migraine that's threatening me, I'm quite happy.

pre-proposal defense

I contacted the members of my proposal defense panel already. One of them emailed back and said she was “honored” to be on my panel (I think it’s her first time on a proposal defense panel, I’m not too sure). The other one I went to visit today and he stirred up a lot of things – my topic is too broad, doing all these histories is just a waste of time, am I looking at this artistically or sociologically (and he won’t accept that I’m trying to do both), what then is my definition of ballet to tie these three companies together, yadda yadda yadda.

I remember writing my undergrad thesis; he was my adviser. Before I was finished, he demanded I show him what I’ve done so far and he said it was all cluttered and pointless. I was so depressed that I nearly threw in the towel and my brother said I would be so cool if I just stuck him with an unfinished thesis and no degree (which was a big deal because I was supposed to be the 2nd to graduate from that degree and the second to write a Bachelor’s thesis for that course. And I am.) but my mother made me finish the darn thing, never mind if he flunks me, at least I had finished it. He ended up giving me a really good grade.

I tell this story to remind myself that he really just loves to give me a hard time and not to buckle under.

I went to my thesis adviser after discussing with him and she was optimistic about it, despite chiding me for confering with him already – that’s what the proposal defense is for. She acknowledges that he’s probably still in the old school formalist mode and to convince him that I can do the artistic and the sociological as my topic demands a multi-dimensional approach (gawd, I love my thesis adviser). She also agreed that we should collapse my histories so that it’s not too broad. It’s not the overhauling I thought I would have to do.

I should make a to-do item in 43 things entitled “stop freaking out when people criticize your thesis…” Yep, I’ll do that right away.

See more progress on: finish my masters thesis