Itim Asu

I have had the chance to witness two (2) dance performances lately; Myra Beltran’s re-adaptation of Virginia Moreno’s’ ITIM ASU (February 24, RCBC Plaza) and Ballet Philippines’ NEO-FILIPINO.

ITIM ASU or the Onyx Wolf has been staged several times; it inaugurated the CCP Little Theater in 1970 with National Artist Rolando Tinio directing fellow National Artist Daisy Avellana in the lead; Anton Juan also staged his own interpretation of the this Virgie Moreno classic with Lolita Rodriguez and Vic Silayan (who also played the role of Gen. Bustamante in the Tinio version) and of course the very memorable modern dance interpretation of Alice Reyes for her dance company that is now known as Ballet Philippines.

So, why restage, or as Myra Beltran would say it, “reconstruct” this masterpiece? She did write a lengthy director’s notes explaining why. As always, there’s the usual “trying-to-be-deep-and-profound-but-really-just-a-load-of-crap” explanation. I always thought that dance pieces no matter how long or short it is, should be able to speak for itself. You may have the most profound intention but the piece has to be judged by the actual dancing, not the blurb, not the synopsis.

What do I think about Myra Beltran’s latest opus? Well, the performance to begin with was not very impressive. I understand the dancers were mostly from the UP Dance Company; therefore they were still very young and raw talents. But that is no excuse, I have seen young dancers do so much better. The choreography was very Myra Beltran, there was nothing I haven’t seen before (from Myra or any other choreographer/dancers). Of course she had to take the “multi-media” route with video projections and recorded narrations embedded or intertwined with canned music by various artists. The video projections at the very least were a distraction to the core of the performance, the dance. It didn’t realy contribute anything meaningful to the piece as it was merely a montage of images and what-nots. Absolutely unnecessary. I suppose if you are confident enough with your dancing and choreography, you wouldn’t really feel the need to “collaborate” with other artists and insert pointless creations into your masterpiece. Another thing that really bothered me was the narration. In between some dance pieces were letters of Rizal to reformers and some radio broadcasts, which were conceptually fine by me; I just hope they asked someone with better diction to do the recording.

The clincher for me was Myra’s own performance. You are the choreographer and director. This whole thing was your idea, your concept performed through the young dancers of UP Dance Company. Why do a solo in the middle of the action? If you really wanted to showcase yourself, you should have casted yourself to play the lead! Otherwise, leave the dancing to your dancers. Let them tell your story. Let them deliver your message.

Franc Lee speaking, Myra Beltran’s “reconstruction” of Virginia Moreno’s ITIM ASU was… well… self indulgent on her part, a lackluster performance and was overall, a big bore. Good thing the performance was free of charge.