Philippine Spanish Dance Connection Project

Late last year, I was told that several Embassies and cultural institutions would be bringing dancers and dance companies here to perform and conduct workshops. I expected that these would happen by the middle of this year. It turned out that things got to a quick start even before the first quarter wrapped up when Ballet David Campos kicked things off by performing new versions of two ballet classics. This ballet company based in Barcelona, Spain has strong connections to the Philippines. David Campos, founder and artistic director of the company is married to Filipina Irene Sabas-Campos, co-founder who is also the associate artistic director and ballet mistress as well. Four Filipino dancers are also members of the said company (Elline Damian, Aileen Gallinera, Eduardo Espejo, Karina Campos). Hence, this event organized by Ballet David Campos of Barcelona, the Spanish Embassy of the Philippines, Instituto Cervantes, Cultural Center of the Philippines and the Institut Ramon Llull was called the Philipine Spanish Dance Connection Project. The project was also held in cooperation with Centunion, Mapfre Insurance Corporation, Ayala Land, San Miguel, Mercedes Benz and Ollé Beltrán.

Sleeping Beauty

I’ve always liked the music from the ballet Sleeping Beauty. The ballet’s score that was composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was the main reason why I got interested in watching this performance in the first place. I’ve seen Ballet Philippines perform this ballet a few months back and when I heard that Ballet David Campos would be performing a new version of this piece, I decided to see it just to hear the Tchaikovsky music once again. I didn’t mind at all even if I knew that there wouldn’t be a live orchestra during the performance.

I was warned by some people to be prepared for a radical version of Sleeping Beauty since they know that I am somewhat a purist. But I assured them that I am ready for whatever surprises that the company had to offer. I added that I’ve already seen some very unusual contemporary dance performances before so there was no need to worry about me not getting the performance. I knew that as long as there was the familiar music by Tchaikovsky, I would be okay. But there were indeed many surprises in this version, the most notable was the clever use of technology through video screens in front and at the back of the stage. One thing that I never expected with a ballet performance was the use of special effects. And there were indeed neat effects like fairies flying and arrows firing that somehow felt like watching a movie in 3D because of the two screens. While the technology gave this production a literal modern twist, there were still nods to the classical aspect as the dancers still showed of their technical chops in some of the dances like the Pas de deux with Elline Damian as Princess Aurora and Vincent Gros as the Prince. The story also departed from the traditional as an entire section was devoted to what Princess Aurora could’ve dreamed of while she was asleep for a hundred years. And her century of sleep did take the story into the 21^st century with contamination suits, flat screen television and even a Sleeping Beauty ballet within the ballet itself. There was also humor in this staging with Puss in Boots having a rat in his mouth and also hinting that he ate the unfortunate blue bird as well. I was surprised also to see Vincent Gros, one of the guest dancers, since he doesn't have the typical physique of a danseur. And yet he managed to do leaps, pirouettes and partner work just like any principal danseur out there.

I was pretty pleased with this ballet with it's nice and interesting mix of the classic and the innovative. The smart use of technology left me at awe and the dancing sections (Pas de deux and the Blue Bird pas de deux) satisfied my desire to see some difficulty in the dancing. My only disappointment was that the Rose Adagio, my favorite piece of music from the entire ballet didn’t make it in David Campos’ version.

David Campos

Giselle

I went back the next evening when it was Giselle’s turn to be staged. If Sleeping Beauty was a fairy tale that ended in a happily ever after, Giselle ended in a sad and tragic note. This version is a modern take of the classic ballet and none could be more modern and contemporary than club music which was indeed used in here aside from the Adolphe Adam music. And Giselle, played by Ailleen Gallinera wasn’t the naïve peasant girl in here, but was an awkward woman who looks like Betty La Fea. Albrecht was played by the dashing Jesús Pastor, also one of the guest dancers, and he displayed tremendous turning ability with his numerous pirouettes.

Betty La Fea wasn’t the only reference to modern pop culture. The Wilis which were the vengeful spirits who are out to exact revenge on the men who had wronged them, looked and moved like Sadako from the Japanese horror film The Ring. One Sadako was scary enough but in here, there were a lot since all of the women in the company were dressed as such at one point. Again, this production used technology with the video screens just like in Sleeping Beauty. One memorable part was when the video that was shown made it look as if Giselle was running at a subway station although she was just running in place on stage. Since this version of Giselle was grounded in reality, the effects brought by the screens didn’t have the wow factor in them compared to Sleeping Beauty which had a fantasy setting.

The setting, the costumes and some of the music and dances may be modern but there were also throwbacks to the classic ballet like Giselle’s famous variation during the first act. I failed to recognize if there were other portions like this since I wasn’t really familiar with the entire Giselle ballet in its original form. There was more emotional depth in this ballet since the themes are more mature in nature like love, betrayal and revenge. I got a bit worried during the performance since there were kids among the audience and the ballet had some violent and scary moments especially the death scene. Overall, despite its shorter length compared to Sleeping Beauty, there was more emotional hook in here and the production catered to more adult sensibilities.

One thing that made me really glad during the two nights that I was able to watch was seeing a lot of children (some of them members of dance groups) at the shows. After watching Sleeping Beauty, these children along with a bunch of adults as well mobbed Lisa Macuja who was there to watch the entire run of this dance project. And she had a very good reason to be there since Elline Damian, Aileen Gallinera and Eduardo Espejo were founding members of Ballet Manila, the ballet company owned by Lisa Macuja herself. And after I watched Giselle, it was David Campos' turn to be mobbed by the people at the lobby who wanted to have their photos taken or their souvenir programmes signed. This was just the first of a handful of dance projects happening in here. I am not a dancer but I like to watch dance performances and after having a taste of what Spain had to offer, I can't wait to see what the others had in store.