My Pasinaya 2016 experience

After the exhausting experience last year, I told myself that I would skip Pasinaya this year since I am not a stranger to the Cultural Center of the Philippines and its resident performing companies. But the allure of immersing myself among the crowd, those who rarely set foot at the CCP, was too much that I decided to take the plunge again.

I arrived shortly before lunch time, securing my fast-pass baller, and lining up for Tanghalang Pilipino’s Mabining Mandirigma excerpts presentation at the Main Theater. It was my first glimpse of the new additions to the cast, Liesl Batucan as Mabini and David Ezra Cruz as Aguinaldo, performing together. Their number was followed by the all too familiar tunes from the musical which is going to be restaged in mid-Februay. TP was in full promotion gear after their presentation with some of the cast, still in full costume, meeting people at the lobby. Surprisingly, TP’s Artistic Director Tata Nanding was a huge hit with a lot of people taking photos with him.

Next for me was Ballet Philippines (again at the Main Theater) and they presented three distinctly different numbers, a quirky modern piece with the dancers donning diving gear complete with flippers, a lovely Pas de deux featuring Eugene Obille and Monica Gana, and an excerpt of their newest production Opera. The excerpt from Opera was exactly the same that was performed during the preview a week before. This gave me the chance to see more than before since the choreography had so many elements happening on stage at the same time. I was a bit annoyed by some hecklers at the balconies who think that is was fun to make animal noises when the house lights were dimmed. But they were ultimately silenced, possibly entranced, midway through BP’s presentation.

When I exited the Main Theater, the queue for the Philippine Madrigal Singers has already snaked around the lobby, a clear testament to the group’s popularity. This meant that I have to settle for Plan B, roaming around the CCP to see what else I could catch. I ended up at the Ballet/Modern Dance Zone at the Bulwagang Francisca Reyes Aquino and saw the Guang Ming Dance Project from the Fo Guang College-Manila. They presented a number that combined Buddhist precepts with contemporary dance. Unfamiliarity with both the tenets of Buddhism and the language of contemporary dance resulted in a very challenging experience for me.

Then it was back to the comfort of watching the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra at the Main Theater. The orchestra performed a handful of crowd pleasers that included music from the films Superman and Pink Panther, a couple of Rossini overtures and wrapped up with a fast romp by Khachaturian. Remarkably, the audience for the PPO was livelier and more enthusiastic than I could remember. I think that this must be the result of music director/principal conductor Olivier Ochanine’s recent acting stint on television.

The must see performance for me this year was Bianca Camille Lopez’ solo outing. Her entrance on Little Theater stage was met by a welcome befitting of a rock star. She was clearly overwhelmed by the audience’s sudden applause during her high note in Puccini’s Vissi d’arte that she lost concentration and had to recompose herself quick. But this is the Pasinaya and the audience didn’t mind such lapses. I am pretty sure that Bianca will be spot on during her solo concert later this year. She reunited briefly with the Philippine Madrigal Singers who were her special guests that afternoon. The Madz’ presence drove the audience further wild as expected.

One group that I wanted to see was the Boscorale but there was already a long line after Bianca’s presentation. After the Main Theater shows by the resident companies have wrapped up, people started flocking towards the other performance venues, so I just had to give up seeing Boscorale or anything else and I just started to prepare to see the People’s Gala at the Main Theater that wraps up Pasinaya 2016.

The People’s Gala started with Trixie Esteban singing Sulong, Pasinaya! Sulong! composed by Hermie Beltran and Vincent de Jesus. It’s safe to bet that this will be played all over the CCP in future editions of the Pasinaya. Each of the resident companies performed at the Gala giving the audience a show that’s definitely worth more than the P20 minimum suggested donation.

It was very amusing to be just one of the audience members in this year’s Pasinaya. I made it a point to eavesdrop and listen in to other people’s conversations while waiting in line and for the shows to start. I heard many interesting perspectives and reactions but there were some who spoke of things that they probably wouldn’t say had they known that I was within hearing range. Well that’s Pasinaya, the annual CCP Open House festival that attracts thousands of people from all walks of life. I really do hope that a huge percentage of these people do come back and catch the shows that are lined up for the rest of the year.