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Friday, August 29, 2008

Did you know that ... Gerald & Katrina Mercado revived the E-Dance Theater?



They are such a cute couple.

I first met Gerald in the 90’s when I was about to hang my feet (not shoes since I was barefoot in modern dance) and say, Goodbye Dance World.

He was just saying hello to it.

Denisa Reyes, then artistic director of Ballet Philippines, was putting up a show that had choreographer Agnes Locsin and myself doing sumo-wrestling. So there I was wrestling with Agnes and this young dancer catches my eye. Gerald. He was watching us with intensity and, true enough, he was to become one of the more intense dancers of BP. I eyed his career with gusto shortly after.

Gerald got the lead role in Agnes’ Elias alright, plus her other neo-ethnic pieces and bagged awards with her at the Japan International Choreography Competition. He also joined Denisa’s Realizing Rama, an all Asian production that toured Europe and Asia.

The shy young man – no less inspired by our sumo wrestling – broke out of his shell and made a mark in the dance world.


It wasn’t surprising that when he hung his shoes many years after, he founded the E-Dance Theater with co-dancers Dwight Rodrigazo, Orland de Leon and Katrina Santos. Paul Morales later joined them as choreographer. It was a fascinating group that did contemporary work with a fresh oomph. They were captivating the elusive young audiences too, the hi-tech youth we had a hard time pinning down. Go guys!


But, as in all pioneering endeavors, things went awry and they separated ways. Okay lang, that happens all the time to artists who are young and full of dynamism. What was sad though was they were already getting attention and funding from established organizations. E-Dance thus went into a coma.


Katrina (Kets) Santos is one beautiful ballerina. I worked with her in a piece I did for the Philippine Ballet Theater. She is musical. Intelligent. Sensitive. No doubt she gave her distinct luster in major ballerina roles. I was pretty shocked when she romped off to Ballet Philippines that was doing ground-breaking contemporary pieces. Daring.


It was in BP where she met Gerald. Uhmmm … a sexy male dancer enchanting an exquisite ballerina … or say it was the other way around. There was a marriage. In church, on stage and in the malls. Romantic. Way to go! They now have a handsome 9 year old Elijah who will hip hop his way to stardom. Sorry BP.


One day I get a call from Kets. Would we mind being interviewed for their coming project? Not at all! … not until Nonoy and I found out we will be shown on screen during the performance. My face on screen annoys me – but okay … for dance education.





It turns out their idea is gallant. The concert titled, Platforms, A Performance Insight on Classical and Modern Dance aimed to present dance and educate audiences. People never really know the roots of ballet and how it evolved. What in the 1400’s opened the door to dance as it is now? And who really are the dancers clad in those shimmering tutus and unitards? Are they even human???


BP’s Noordin Jumalon, Tita Radaic (the grand dame and mentor of ballerinas), Nonoy and I were tasked to describe the journey of dance. What better way to rouse minds to theater than with an understanding of mime, court dances, ballet variations and contemporary movement? It’s pretty clever way to stir up curiosity in what people think is nothing but glitter and glamour. Really, not everything is beautiful at the ballet.


The present crop of E-Dancers, particularly Gilliane Gequinto, Jerrica Marasigan and Veronica Ylagan have a special sparkle, a gullible kind of dancing that’s nice to watch. Gullible meaning a blend of inhibition and composure. Trusting the muses. It was nice to watch these young girls overcome fear with a feisty I’m-just-gonna-do-it transparency. It roused stirrings of the past in me when, as a young dancer, I cared a lot but didn’t care to death. When push comes to shove, just dance. It will always be beautiful anyway. And they were.


In Gerald’s A Woman’s Soliloquiy, Kets mesmerized with her own gullibility, fluffing up vulnerability and assurance in a whisk.

With her it was I’m-just-gonna-do-it-because-I’m-good. A finely chiseled face on top of an articulate body is powerful. She was breath-taking. And Gerald, as choreographer, is inching his way to a new dance lingo, one veering away from his French/ethnic background in BP. He is saying hello to a new horizon and I find myself eyeing his creative career with gusto all over again.



Although the program needs more tightening and research, I hand it to the two for their heroism. The path is still murky and narrow and, fueled by nothing but purpose, they are on a mission that deserves backing in every respect.



Seated beside me during the show at the UP Aldaba Hall, Tita Radaic voiced out motherly concern for Gerald and Kets; funding, salaries, marketing, training hitches and glitches; the long and arduous path the couple has just begun to tread. I laughed it off with, “Never mind, Tita. They’re still young and full of dreams. Tayo, gising na gising na …”


And so another door opens to the future. What in 2008 will boost the evolution of Philippine dance? Young Gerald and Kets are still dreaming it up the way Leonor Goquingco, Rosalia Merino-Santos, Alice Reyes, Julie Borromeo, Tita Radaic, Steve Villaruz, Eddie Elejar did in the past. Tony Fabella, Agnes Locsin and Denisa Reyes are still doing it. Alden Lugnasin, Osias Barroso, Dwight Rodrigazo, Paul Morales and dozens others have joined the dream. And Gerald and Kets. Buti na lang they don’t know what’s coming but honestly? They do know. They’re just brave and this is the reason why art progresses.


Way to go, Gerald and Kets. Keep talking ‘experiment, unconventional dance spaces, dialogue, approaches and explorations’. This is the vocabulary of evolution. Keep dreaming. E-Dance is roused from its coma and when it is gising na gising na (wide awake) you can heave a sigh of relief.


That means you’ve done it, you can rest on your laurels and it would be your turn to worry about the next generation.