Musicians' Perspective: Week 3, Day 7

Today was another busy day in Manila. We started the day at the Ayala Museum, where the dancers would later perform. The museum is gorgeous, and had a lot of great exhibits. The first one we saw was "Gold of Ancestors: Pre-Colonial Treasures in the Philippines" We had never seen so much gold in one place, from early pieces hammered out of gold, to some beautifully ornate crowns and necklaces. Next was an exhibit displaying 18th- and 19th-Century embroidered Philippine clothing. We finished our short time there by looking at the Diorama Experience, a floor containing over sixty dioramas depicting the history of the Philippines from 50,000 B.C. to the present. We were struck by what a violent history the Philippines has had, continuously being occupied by China, Spain, the British, the Japanese, and the United States. The dioramas were incredible, painted and carved with great detail.

After getting to see the exhibits, the dancers gave a performance in the lobby of the museum. Several families that were visiting the museum had wandered over to check it out. Chelsea and Kendra spoke about Project Philippines and each of us introduced ourselves as members of the team. Then, we showed an excerpt of the film about Project Philippines 2008. The members were very attentive as the dancers performed and had questions about the project at the end. We later found out that the man who helped record the music for the 2008 documentary was in the audience to show his continued support for the team!

We had just enough time to go across the street to The Landmark, another shopping mall that had very reasonably-priced clothes. We had left our dress clothes at PHSA and needed something to wear to the PPO concerts. We each got some shoes, and Brian got a "barong," a traditional dress shirt often worn by Filipino men. Perhaps he was inspired by their visit to the museum.

The ballet that Ballet Philippines did was "Crisostomo Ibarra," based on the novel Noli Me Tángere by Jose Rizal. It was a little hard to understand, since all of the text they projected was in Tagalog, but Midori and I really loved the dancing and the music was wonderful, haunting yet beautiful. The music was written by a living Filipino composer, and it happened to be a chamber piece for clarinet, bassoon, violin, cello and piano! After that, we caught Madame Butterfly, which was quite a production with very talented singers.

Outside of CCP at night.

Musicians' Perspective: Week 3, Day 6

We returned to Manila today alongside the students at PHSA on their buses. Fridays are the days they go home, or to host family houses for the weekend, and also take private lessons. We had a good time talking to some of the students, specifically a violinist (and composer, as we would later discover), Art. The dancers went straight to the Cultural Center of the Philippines to teach more classes, and Midori and Brian took advantage of the time off to visit the Greenbelt Mall, a large mall that basically consisted of five interconnected sections, some outdoor. Each section seemed to have its own theme, one was for appliances, one was more international stores, one was for high-end boutiques, etc. The mall also houses the Ayala Museum where we will be going tomorrow.

Cultural Center of the Philippines

After spending a little over an hour there, we took a taxi back to the CCP to wait for the dancers to finish their class. In the meantime, we wandered into the office marked "Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra." We explained who we were and said that we would love to sit in on a rehearsal or meet any orchestra musicians, if possible. The woman introduced us to the man who was in the office with her, Adolfo "Pong" Mendoza, the principal bassoonist with the orchestra. He was happy to meet us and walked us around backstage introducing us to the principal and second clarinetists (Ariel and Victorino), the concertmaster, and the conductor of the PPO. They were all so nice and generous, and even gave us a free bag of the chicharon they had backstage. Pong had some time before their concert that evening, and so he asked if we wanted to grab a cup of coffee with him. We went to a nearby Starbucks (yes, they have Starbucks in the Philippines), and talked about music, Project Philippines, and what our plans were while we were there, while watching the sun set over the water of Manila Bay. We even discussed the possibility of us visiting the University of the Philippines in St. Thomas where many of the PPO members teach, and giving a masterclass. Unfortunately, this ended up not working out, but we definitely have something to plan on for our next trip!

Brian and Midori with members of the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra

Bassoon and Chicharon. What more can you ask for?

When we got back to CCP, Pong had had a little bit of free time, so he and Midori got to "geek out" a little, playing each others' instruments. Pong makes and sells his own custom bassoon (and clarinet) reeds, and so Midori got to try some of these reeds, and he let her keep one! Before leaving for his performance, he asked if we wanted to hear them play tomorrow, and we said absolutely yes! He said he could get us comp tickets to the Ballet Philippines performance, as well as the opera's performance of Madame Butterfly.

It was around this time that the dancers got out, and we went out to dinner at a nearby restaurant with the director of Ballet Philippines. We had a really good time, and ate some great food. Afterwards, Brian won Midori a stuffed pig from a small carnival game set up nearby. What a productive day!

Individual Expression and Empowerment

by Kendra Samson

My broad goal was to empower individuals and to feel empowered by the end of this trip, and it was a goal we absolutely accomplished. In Samar, I had an opportunity to assist in creative movement classes and teach a Limon class. The creative movement class is inspired from, and would progress from humane values such as exploration, trust and respect. It would play between investigating movements as a group, then with partners and finally into the individual. It was incredible to observe their experiences as they deviated from their comfort zone of being part of a group or having a partner to discovering creativity for themselves. It was a proud moment for me. In the Limon class, I intended to teach the sectioned exercises as part of one long phrase which I would teach in detail. With the technique being quite far from their usual doses of popular forms like hip hop, it took them a while to understand the philosophy of harmonizing breath, of embracing weight and of utilizing less muscular effort in movement, however it was precious to see when they eventually did. I treasured our experiences in Samar – even the random ones of judging for the pageants and talent shows!

In the city of Manila, I taught improvisation and the Taylor technique collaboratively with Chelsea. Since our students at the Philippine High School for the Arts (PHSA) and the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) had more training in art and dance, we challenged them more with exploring past the boundaries of technique and in discovering their core identities through the art of dance. They were still very self-conscious during our first classes and would hardly communicate any questions or thoughts. When they started seeing us more as their contemporaries, I found that they opened up more, however they were still generally reserved. Their dancing also became more uninhibited as our classes progressed, and as we also got to know them better, which made us so happy. Our teaching days would often begin with either a game, or a circle warm-up, followed by either a technique class or an improvisation class and the remaining time would be spent in rehearsing for our culminating performance ending with journal-writing.

While teaching at PHSA, we were invited to do a workshop for one day at the University of the Philippines in Los Baños. Our experience at UPLB was one among many experiences that stood out for me since we were able to speak and relate with influential teachers and artists. 

 

Our culminating performances in both Samar and at PHSA were some of my most memorable experiences from this trip. It surprised me how the act of performing really brings out the most in a person in the truest moments of their lives. What other kind of experience can replicate this? I was particularly proud of our last-minute planning to make an improvisatory dance score with our PHSA dance students in collaboration with the music students. As a PHSA student, I never performed to live music or was challenged to improvise to a piece that was made within a day! It was so thrilling to offer them such an experience.

As a former student of both PHSA and CCP years ago, I really wanted to share the broadness and joys of moving and exploring identities that I learned during my experiences in New York. I wanted them to fall in love with dance and I hope that I was able to influence and encourage them because they in turn have made me feel inspired to re-discover my love for dance during this process. Their pure motivations for learning and in pursuing what either interests them or what they love, without complications of income or status – things that I find usually hinder a contemporary artist – are truly inspiring. Teaching such limitless young minds and bodies also taught me the potential and unique individuality of the self in creating something of beauty and good. Outreach programs such as this are truly relative acts of giving and receiving. I love our team and what we were able to make in 4 weeks. There were definitely challenges, but how it all unfolded was something beautiful and profound…Let’s keep on doing this!