Life begins anew as CCP turns 40

By NICKIE WANG/ Manila Standard Today

Along Roxas Boulevard lies one of the country’s greatest treasures. It has been the symbol of Filipino ingenuity, a venue that showcases incomparable local talents, a catalyst for a major leap in cultural development and preservation, and the world’s window to the Philippines as the Asia’s Mecca of culture and the arts.

The Cultural Center of the Philippines, or just CCP to many, marks its 40th anniversary with a year-round celebration that will feature special performances and events. Some of the most talented and well-known artists and performing arts groups will gather together for the celebration.

“The CCP has been the home of the most outstanding performing arts groups in the country. For the last four decades it has helped discover, nurture and support Filipino artists. I think that’s one of the major achievements of the CCP,” president and artistic director Nestor Jardin said during a press conference that unveiled the roster of events prepared by his staff.

The calendar of activities starts with the grand public launch of the 40th Anniversary Celebration tomorrow, Feb. 1, during the annual CCP Pasinaya Open House Festival that coincides with National Arts Month.

Opening salvo

Highlighting the anniversary is the first chunk of activities that will revolve around the fact that the CCP for the last four decades has helped discover, nurture, and support Filipino artists.

“The whole celebration is built around activities that will not only be celebratory but activities that will help the Filipino public recall what is CCP’s role now in the society, and what was its work in the past,” Jardin enthused.

For initial offering, Tanghalang Aurelio Tolentino restages the comedy musical Zsa Zsa Zaturna (Ze MuZikal) from Feb. 3 to 8. On the same week (Feb. 6 to 8), a showcase of the country’s dance groups in folk, ballet, contemporary, and street dance will entertain the public with series of motion and steps in a dance gala entitled Turning… Turning 40 at the Main Theater.

Just outside the main theater, a projection bombing light and sound spectacle at the façade of the CCP building will show the latest outstanding works in animation and graphic arts. This display dubbed Skin will take place on the night of Feb. 7.

On Feb. 13, as the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra marks its sixth season concert, a grand musical extravaganza called Gabi ng Musikang Pilipino: A Rendezvous with National Artists at the Main Theater will be staged featuring the works of Filipino National Artists like Felipe de Leon, Antonino Buenaventura, Lucrecia Kasilag, and Lucio San Pedro.

From Feb. 19 till the end of March, the different venues at the CCP will witness an array of different performances, musical, concerts, drama and exhibits that celebrate the excellence and accomplishments of Filipino artists in different fields.

Tribute to Imelda

Formally inaugurated on Sep. 8, 1969, the CCP was the brainchild of then First Lady Imelda Marcos, and as the institution celebrates 40 years of fruitful years, an Imeldific tribute will be dedicated especially to honor the visionary woman who created it.

“You cannot ignore the fact that this was her vision, this was her idea. We’re looking at it from an institutional point of view. For this year we’re not only inviting her, we’re paying her a tribute,” Jardin told the press during an open forum held inside the Main Theater.

Jardin announced that the special tribute is slated on Sept. 8. It will be a whole day event capped by an eight o’ clock gala at the Main Theater. On Sept. 11, the special tribute will continue featuring the artists whom Mrs. Marcos supported in the past.

New logo

With a new logo that still symbolizes katotohanan (truth), kagandahan (beauty) and kabutihan (goodness), a new representation has been introduced that depicts CPP’s transformation from small stones to strong boulders that anchor and support excellence in arts and music in the country within the past four decades. The logo bares the new slogan, “Life Begins Anew.”

“When we were having, I think Christmas mass or another anniversary mass, our parish priest congratulated us on our 40th anniversary and said that when we celebrate milestone anniversaries we should always recall, rejoice, and then renew,” the artistic director recalled.

Jardin said that based on those three Rs (recall, rejoice, and renew), the people in the CCP have built around the next six months a program that would allow them to not only reminisce but also show to the public the accomplishments of the CCP.

“Our projects within the past 40 years have helped create an outstanding body of original Filipino works that speak of us as a nation and has helped define our national identity,” Jardin related.

Through various programs that are not only limited in Metro Manila, the people behind the institution believe that the CCP has contributed a lot in promoting cultural empowerment in the country.

Defining the future

“The CCP has been a catalyst in the creation of original, cutting- edge, innovative work by young Filipino artists.”

In May, a major forum will be conducted to help CCP define its future direction. As it continuously involves and encourages more young artists to promote their works, a series of events is dedicated to acknowledge contemporary talents and art.

For the months of June and July, the theme will be Brave New Works: Original Filipino Creations. New works in literature will be presented in a literary performance series entitled Word Jam: Spoken Word Festival on June 10 to 24 and July 1 to 8. A concert of classical artists in tandem with artists from Philippine cultural communities will be featured in Cultures in Harmony on June 21. Playwrights collaborate with directors, actors and designers in staging their untried, untested, and unpublished works in Virgin Labfest 5 on June 24 to July 5 back-to-back with WI-FI Body: Independent Dance Festival with cutting-edge works by the country’s most exciting choreographers today. New symphonic works will be premiered in Music Underkunstruktion on July 15 in a co-production with the Metro Manila Community Orchestra. Also in July are the Thirteen Artists Awards and Exhibit and the much-awaited Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival and Competition.

All venues of the CCP Complex will be part of the grand event including Star City and the Manila Bay.

One-man show retells engaging story

By NICKIE WANG/ Manila Standard Today

The story itself is an engaging tale of a personal struggle and a quest for identity. It chronicles a journey that covers the time when the character was just a kid seeing a hula dance for the very first time until it became a permanent part of his life. Dance, music, humor, and cultural values are integrated to essay the fascinating life of Keo Woolford in a stage production entitled I Land.

Fresh from his off-Broadway outing, Keo is here in Manila to stage his semi-autobiographical journey in a one-man show set to run at the Cultural Center of the Philippines’ Tanghalang Aurelio Tolentino starting Jan. 22, 8 p.m.

Accentuated by Keo’s exceptional talent, I Land is a moving search for the meaning of heritage in a post-modern world weaving together traditional Hawaiian hula, hip-hop, Hawaiian talk story, and spoken word.

“The story starts when I first saw hula which I was a kid until I would be in my early to mid- twenties,” acclaimed actor and hula dancer Keo Woolford shared during an interview with Standard Today.

His story

The show chronicles Keo’s first exposure to hula and how he came under the instruction of his idol, whom he dubs the “Hula god.” In the production, he also describes his fleeting brush with fame as a member of a boy band that almost hits the big time; his subsequent descent into a world of drugs and partying; and his rediscovery of the dance that connects him to both his culture and to himself.

“It’s a one hour and twenty minutes of performance,” Keo, who is fit to be an undergarment model with his chiseled physique, said and continued: “So it’s more of the adrenaline rush that keeps me going. I can’t see them [audience] and I’d rather not because it makes me nervous, but I feel the audience. It’s actually the audience that keeps me going. Audience is the key to my every performance.”

I Land as a one-man show also features original songs and choreography done in the ancient or traditional style known in Hawaii as kahiko. The one- hour-and-twenty-minute production will give the audience an experience seeing an engaging actor, who was born and raised in Hawaii to a Filipina mother and to a Hawaiian father, morph into a dozen characters.

The actor’s passion in music, dancing and acting began at a very young age that being a multi-disciplinary artist is no longer surprising.

“Acting is my passion. It’s so funny because when I was younger, right before I got into acting, I never thought that I was going to be an actor. When I was sort of figuring out what I was going to do with my life in music, I wanted to be a pop star,” Keo laughed as he sipped his coffee.

Aside from being an actor, dancer, and a musician, Keo is also a prolific writer. In 1995 in Los Angeles, he penned the one-man show He Hawai‘i Au. The show earned him praises that opened new windows of opportunities.

Keo’s remarkable performances include a plum role in a production entitled In My Father’s House that earned him a Virgo Award for Best Actor. In New York, he has been seen in Karaoke Stories, The Greeks, References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot, Sonnets for an Old Century, and The Remarkable Journey of Prince Jen. His film and TV appearances include East Broadway, Hawaii, True Vengeance, and Happy Texas.

Turning point

In 2007, before the off-Broadway staging of I Land, Keo’s mother passed away. It was one of the defining moments for the actor because he had to stage the show a day after the funeral.

“The off-Broadway run is ironically the toughest run I have ever did. The thing that was really really tough, I don’t know if I should talk about this, is when my mom passed away right before opening night. The funeral was a day before the performance so from my mom’s funeral I went straight to the theater,” the actor narrated.

Despite the loss, his mother’s death pushed and inspired him to pursue his performance and thus his career. He found his self-salvation through music and claimed: “Dancing is therapeutic. Dancing with music is a way of self-salvation because it’s so raw and natural that people celebrate with it. You could be by your self; listen and dance around and it’s like you’re connected to the universe.”

He lands

I Land was created by Keo in collaboration with director Roberta Uno. Uno encouraged him to write something again as to follow up his first self-penned show more than a decade ago.

“I’m really grateful that I have gone through what I have gone through because it enabled me to share my experiences. I actually turned her [Uno] down at first because I said, ‘What am I going to say and who will care to hear about it,’” he affirmed.

The production will highlight the hula dance that has been famed for its unique style. According to Keo, hula is like a bunch of different things because it involves history, language, and values. A hula dancer also needs to learn a language and a history that are essential in telling a story.

“Hula is more about expressing the story you are telling more than the actual body movements and that it’s the key or the correlation between hula and acting. Before you even learn anything else, you need to learn the basic steps and that took me a long long time. Some people don’t have the patience, skill, and the attitude,” Keo concluded, disclosing that hula doesn’t work for everyone.

I Land’s limited run from Jan. 22 to 25 at the Tanghalang Aurelio Tolentino is a fundraising activity spearheaded by the Asian Cultural Council Philippines for the benefit of the ACC Philippine Fellowship Program and the Makiling Academic and Research Institute for the Arts (MARIA) Scholarship.

Call the CCP Box Office at 832-3704 or 832-1125 loc. 1409 or call Ticketworld at 891-9999 for more information.

Another milestone for Philippine Everest team

By Nickie Wang/ Manila Standard Today

“Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together.”—Vincent Van Gogh

They succeeded in a great attempt to scale the world’s highest mountain and showed the entire world that Filipinos can achieve such difficult feat. Now, they want to sail across the Pacific onward to the Atlantic, all the way around the world using a replica of a pre-colonial boat.

Art Valdez, who led the first Philippine team in reaching the summit of Mt. Everest in 2006 and another all-female team in 2007, has announced another groundbreaking venture of sailing through silk routes starting next year.

The team composed of Everest climbers Leo Oracion, Erwin Emata, Noelle Wenceslao, Carina Dayondon, and Janet Belarmino-Sardena will embark on a five-year voyage that will initially travel on every port in the Philippines starting 2009.Ted Esguerra, Fred Jamili, and Voltaire Velasco complete the voyage’s core crew.

On its second year, the crew plans to traverse the silk routes of Southeast Asia, and then to Madagascar before heading to Polynesia onward to the Atlantic. The crew aims to be back home to the Philippines in 2013.

The crew will ride a balangay, the boat used by ancient Filipinos for trading and traveling, which will be crafted by master boat builders from the Island of Sibutu and Sitangkay in Tawi-Tawi starting this December. Materials to be used will come from established traditional sources in southern Philippines. The construction of the boat will take place at the back of SSS Building in Manila Bay. A viewing deck will also be constructed for the public to see the progress of the construction before its launching in April.

Balangay or the Butuan boat is the first wooden watercraft ever excavated in Southeast Asia and the first excavated relic of the boat was dated AD 320.

“This is meant to generate national awareness. We estimate the construction of the first boat to be around 90 days,” Art Valdez said during the launch of his book Live the Dream at the Captain’s Bar of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Makati City.

Live the Dream is a coffee table book that chronicles the first Philippine successful attempt to reach the summit of Mt. Everest in texts and photographs.

“We asked ourselves: What’s next? As a team, we are still keen in pioneering outdoor adventure, specifically adventure with a national significance. While the Philippines is a mountainous country, it is also an archipelago. Thus, it was natural for us to look to our seas,” Valdez furthered.

The Voyage of Balangay, will travel along the shorelines and to the open sea without the use of any modern equipment like GPS (Global Positioning System). It will sail using the celestial navigation method used by earliest mariners—steering by the sun, the stars, the wind, cloud formations, wave patterns and bird migrations.

“Aside from outdoor adventure, we will use the balangay trips to assist in community-building, particularly for coastal communities. We will travel along shorelines and stop at communities and key human settlements to hold seminars. We intend to heighten awareness of global warming,” the expedition leader enthused.

While ascending Mt. Everest, the team led by Valdez witnessed the ill effects of global warming. From their first visit, the Mt. Everest base camp was covered with snow. On the second year, they noticed some patches of snow around the area, and on the last year, they were saddened by the deleterious effects of global warming because snow was no where to be traced on the area that was used to be blanketed it.

“In our travels, we will share our self-image and self-assertion that the Filipinos can do the impossible. If the team can succeed on Mt. Everest without ever having seen snow or high mountain, then more so in the Voyage of the Balangay,” Valdez concluded.

Baler wins most of filmfest awards

By NICKIE WANG/ Manila Standard Today

What can a moving tale of forbidden love in the middle of a war do to change the landscape of Philippine Cinema? The awards and the accolades are just frosting on the cake, what is more important is for a film to highlight social issues and promote cinematic excellence by raising the benchmark in filmmaking.

Baler, the historical love epic produced by Viva Films, walked home with not one but 10 awards including Best Picture in the recently concluded 34th Metro Manila Film Festival Awards Night on Dec. 27 at the Harbor Garden Tent of the Sofitel Philippine Plaza in Pasay City.

The film that depicts the Siege of Baler in 1898 won Best Director for Mark Meily, Best Supporting Actor for Philip Salvador, Best Screenplay for Roy Iglesias, Best Cinematography for Lee Meily, Best Production Design for Aped Santos, and Best Editing for Danny Anonuevo.

“I’m so excited. This is the second time I joined the festival. I’m so happy that there are people who made aggressive move to produce this film,” Mark Meily, director of the runaway winning movie Baler, told Standard Today.

Meily first joined the filmfest in 2003 with the entry Crying Ladies starring Sharon Cuneta. The film received multiple awards including Best Picture. When asked about his feeling outshining other veteran directors this time, the humble filmmaker said: “ Hindi ako 100 percent sure na mananalo kasi there are film directors na magagaling talaga like Joey Reyes, we are just blessed and lucky lang talaga.”

On the other hand, it’s a sweet victory for Anne Curtis who portrayed a convincing role of a young Filipina who professes her forbidden love to a mestizo soldier played by Jericho Rosales. Curtis received her very first acting award after being declared Best Actress.

“The feeling is unexplainable. I’m speechless, ’di ko alam ang sasabihin ko but I’m just so happy. I can’t fathom the happiness that I feel. This is my first acting award,” Anne, who wore a striking red Filipiniana dress, told us on her way out of the hall.

Anne dedicated the award to the members of her family who have been very supportive to her career. The Dyosa star bested other actresses like Dawn Zulueta, Maricel Laxa, Jean Garcia, Marian Rivera, and Ai Ai de las Alas.

“I know that the people I was up against were veteran and amazing actresses, nakasama ko pa sila backstage. I was just surprised and forever thankful. All the hard work of the whole team of Baler got recognized here on the awards night. We couldn’t ask for more except for the people to keep on watching sana,” Anne remarked.

Baler also won the Award for Gender Sensitive Film of 2008 and the coveted trophy for the Gatpuno Antonio J. Villegas Cultural Award. The jurors for the Gender Sensitive Film Award cited Baler as a film that highlighted gender-sensitive issues of love, parenting, and war translated by the intuitive direction of Mark Meily under a well-written script by Roy Iglesias.

Receiving the single award for the Rudy Fernandez tribute film Magkaibigan was Christopher de Leon. He made another history for being the most decorated actor of the festival. De Leon holds the record of most wins of the Best Actor Award in the 34-year history of the MMFF. He now has eight Best Actor trophies courtesy of the MMFF alone.

While Boyet marked another cinematic feat, the country’s first all-digital full-length animated feature film Dayo: Sa Mundo ng Elementalia under Cutting Edge Productions won four awards (mostly in the technical category) including Best Visual Effects for Robert Quilao, Best Musical Score for Jessie Lasaten, Best Theme Song for “Lipad” composed by Jessie Lasaten and Artemio Abad Jr. and performed by Lea Salonga, and Best Sound for Albert Idioma and Wally Dellosa.

Sexy comedy flick One Night Only won two awards courtesy of Jose Javier Reyes (Best Original Story) and Manilyn Reynes (Best Supporting Actress).

According to Metro Manila Development Authority Chairman Bayani Fernando, the two-day gross of this year’s festival exceeded the last year’s gross over the same period by 37 percent.

Top grosser Ang Tanging Ina Ninyong Lahat (Star Cinema) that won Second Best Picture has accumulated ticket sales amounting to more than P41 million on its second day while the festival’s Third Best Picture Iskul Bukol: 20 Years After (OctoArts Films and APT Entertainment) has grossed P37 million at the box office.

Meanwhile, the sequel of Desperadas that stars Ruffa Gutierrez, Rufa Mae Quinto, Iza Calzado, Marian Rivera, and includes Ogie Alcasid got the Best Make-Up plum for Noli Villalobos. Regal Films’ Shake Rattle ‘n Roll X received its single trophy courtesy of Best Child Performer Robert “Buboy” Villar.

The awards night was hosted by Boy Abunda with Phoemela Barranda and Tim Yap as segment hosts. Tony Gonzaga was the trivia host while Sitti, Richard Poon, Karylle, Yeng Constantino, and Sheryn Regis were among the performers who added splendor to the event which had a taped telecast on C/S 9.

The last part of the award’s night, which was exclusive to the people who bought pricey tickets, was a nostalgic presentation of Katy the Musical with maestro Ryan Cayabyab on the piano, and Jericho Rosales and KC Concepcion in the lead roles. The musical featured other performers like Mitch Valdez, Dulce, Eugene Villaluz, Rachel Alejandro, Bituin Escalante, Jonalyn Viray, Ayen Munji-Laurel, Aicelle Santos, Maricris Garcia, Frenchie Dy, Gian Magdangal, Sitti, and Gab Valenciano.

Isang Lahi: A docu-drama that defines happiness

By NICKIE WANG/Manila Standard Today

As if the popularity and influence of the book The Secret by Rhonda Byrne is not enough to draw positive vive, a group of young documentarians made an effort to create a moving documentary-drama that would bring hope to the country and to its people who feel desperate to find the meaning of true happiness.

“What makes you happy?” was the last question directed to the cast and makers of the film Isang Lahi: Pearls from the Orient, during its recent press conference held at MyCinema, Greenbelt 3.

What the press got were generic answers like: love makes me happy; the balance of the four elements (love, success, health, and wealth) makes me happy; beautiful things make me happy; family makes me happy; and the oh-so-usual answer: “Knowing that people around me are happy and contended. That makes me happy.”

Isang Lahi: Pearls from the Orient is a digital feature that espouses the principle of “law of attraction” or the theory that posits “like attracts like,” or just like what Byrne’s book says: “The law uses people, circumstances and events to magnetize what you want to you, and magnetize you to it.”

The docu-drama cum travelogue is about a group of five documentarists ((Ruel Ruiz, JP Tanchanco, Ayee Domingo, Zoilo Barrel and Naethan Lucero) backpacking all over the Philippines seeking the answer to happiness. Their journey is recapitulated into four different real stories they found from different regions. The four mini-movies are highlighted by the infectious acting flair of veteran actors Joel Torre, Mark Gil, Juan Rodrigo, and Aiza Seguerra.

The feature is divided into three parts. The first part is an upbeat MTV-style take on tourism showcasing Filipinos and the authentically beautiful places they live. The second part unravels inspiring stories Tanchanco, the video’s director and producer, and the team gathered through their six-moth journey throughout the country. Finally, the last part of the documentary features renowned Filipino experts who have empowered by their research, advocacy, embodiment, and endorsement in the fields of love, health, wealth, and success. These Filipino “icons” share their wisdom and insights attesting the power of the principles the film supports. The icons are as follows:

Olympic medalist Bea Lucero, chef and restaurateur Gene Gonzalez, sociologist Josephine Aguilar-Placido, motivational speakers Jhet Torcelino Van Ruyven, Lourdes Elardo-Gant, Severino Reyes and Alex Lacson, television personalities Cory Quirino and Boy Abunda, psychologist Margarita Holmes, parapsychologist Jaime Licauco, environmentalist and empowerment coach Josef Franklin Regis, homeopathic physician Corazon Ibarra, entrepreneurs Claire Villanueva, Edelwina Lema Beech and Elias delos Santos, prosperity guru George Sison, spiritual caregiver Mary Fidelis Estrada, and psychic and fortune teller Madam Rosa.

“We are students of empowerment principles; we decided to do the [sic] film as a way of practicing the principles and to know paano siya naisasabuhay ng mga Pilipino all around the Philippines,” budding video director Tanchanco explained.

The six-month jaunt of the team challenged their patience and passion as they travel in the most rural places in the Philippines just to find real stories from real people. Whether rich or impoverished, the team inquired and examined their conditions, concepts and mental attitudes on the four elements the movie promotes.

“The challenge there is that we only had two to three days to find at least four stories in each region. Apparently, that’s the only time we would ask tricycle drivers and other people from different walks of life. For the drama, we are talking four different places in the Philippines, from Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao,” Tanchanco furthered.

As to the originality of the feature, the promising director asserted that it’s completely different from the The Secret that became an overnight phenomenon in the US. Though undeniably that Isang Lahi is delivered just like the Hollywood produced film (most particularly the third part of the film where the team interviewed local ‘icon’ experts), Tanchanco assured that it (the movie) is original on its part.

“Are we ready to face criticism that it is not original? Yes,” raved Tanchanco. “It is original on its part but the law of attraction, the principle is as old as time. What we are doing here is seeing how it applies on the lives of the Filipinos. It is a different way of presenting it [the principle] and applying it most especially that we have really good icon experts. It is very different from the way it’s explained in The Secret; very simple and maiintindihan ng masang Pilipino. Ginawa namin ito para sa mga Pinoy.”

The video features contemporized ethnical Filipino ditties like Naglalakbay by Bayang Barrios. Also part of the soundtrack is Dodjie Simon classic Isang Dugo, Isang Lahi, Isang Musika, covered by balladeer Bimbo Cerudo.

Isang Lahi is supported by the National Commission for Culture and Arts and will be screened for various organizations and institutions in different parts of the country. It is set to go on international showing on Jan. 15, being an official entry to the 2009 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.