I have yet to come to terms with text in dance performance, despite my many years of watching dance and seeing the dancers speak while dancing, or hearing a recitation of some organized (sometimes disorganized) text over the sound system. I always ask myself, is it necessary? Given this, I must say that I do encounter instances where the text just seamlessly blends in, or helps contribute to the final effect of the overall work. The latter is the case in Myra Beltran's Itim Asu.
Beltran's Itim Asu premiered on November 27, 2009 at Dance Forum Space on West Ave., Quezon City with Marielle Alonzo as Itim Asu and Reagan Cornelio as Gov. Gen. Bustamante, backed by an ensemble from the UP Dance Company. I caught the one-night-only at RCBC's Carlos Romulo auditorium in Makati on February 24, featuring Melanie Motus as Itim Asu.
Itim Asu is a major project for Myra Beltran, and it shows. Far from being merely an interpretation of Virginia Moreno's drama, the performance is its own investigation into the Bustamante murder, its own embodiment of a part of our history, its own statement of how relevant this piece of our past is to our present. The work is rich with history and with compelling movement and, at times, with heavy emotion. A combination of all three elements at their most assertive can result in an evening too laborious and cumbersome, but Beltran somehow manages to avoid all the extra weight by mixing up the texts and media.
There is a lot of text in Itim Asu. In dance, the movement can be seen as the text; but this piece doesn't limit itself to just movement as text, which is only practical as there is a lot of text to deal with. Actually, for much of the group dancing, there is no text. As if text took a breather for the audience to rest their minds a bit and enjoy the dancing.
Not that anyone can get away from the texts in Itim Asu. There is a synopsis, choreographers' notes, and dramatist's notes in the souvenir programme, and a voice over during the performance. Aside from words, there is a "sound score" and a film of old Manila in sepia to help evoke the era. The historical material is analyzed on many levels, including how the validity of Burgos' account of the murder of Gov. Gen. Bustamante has been questioned, and even bringing in Jose Rizal's own texts inspired by Burgos' contributions to the fight for freedom. At the end of the show, Moreno even decides to contribute to the text, by posing who is the real hero of the story, is it Bustamante, or is it Itim Asu? It's kind of a lot to take in at a time.
Thankfully, the piece is organized into several sections to address these levels and layers of text. This sectioning and sequencing of events and the use of text in its various forms helps set the dance free of the responsibility of telling the story and allows the dancing to be as abstract as possible, when it can. At other moments, the dancing tells the story and there is no need for explanation.
The dancing is interesting and exhilirating. Beltran is such a powerful choreographer when she works with large ensembles counterpointing against each other, or when interpreting overwhelming emotion, as evidenced by Melanie Motus's near-combustion at the end of the first act, upon the discovery of her husband's murder, keeping us at the edge of our seats and walking into intermission with that tension still crackling in the air. Beltran's solo for herself in the middle of the story pales in comparison with the rest of the evening, although, perhaps it's also not necessary for Rizal to give commentary in the middle of the story of Itim Asu either.
Overall, Beltran's Itim Asu wins its bid for greatness, and succeeds not only as dance, or as text, but as a total work of art. - Joelle Jacinto
Dance Forum
Choreography by Myra Beltran
February 24, 2010
Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium, RCBC Plaza
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