Ballet Philippines’ Crisostomo Ibarra: A Dance of Characters (An IndioHistorian Review)

The lights dimmed at the theater. The live music began playing and then a black figure emerges from the bare stage with just a few seats lined up at the center. The figure is a man in black coat and hat. He sits, removes the cap on his head. He moves his arms in a wave-like motion together with the playing cello, violin, bassoon and piano. And then he dances as he tells the story. This was after all Ballet Philippines’ Crisostomo Ibarra. I have to tell you a historian’s secret. I watched it twice.

The last salvo of Ballet Philippines’ Crisostomo Ibarra last Sunday at the Cultural Center of the Philippines was finally over. A fresh take on the novel Noli Me Tangere, the show was perhaps greater than what it was given credit for. Noli Me Tangere, together with El Filibusterismo, the two seminal novels of the Filipino thinker and national hero Jose Rizal, were catalysts of a grassroot revolution in the Philippines in 1896—what was to be the first national-in-scale revolutionary movement in Asia against a colonial power. Such novels that change the terrain of history and pave the way for a nation to be born are definitely in the same league as that of Victor Hugo, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Dante. There have been many renditions of the Noli, from films to musicals to pay tribute to the hero and to his lasting legacy. But what Ballet Philippines did was daring, reinterpreting Noli’s narrative with fresh new eyes through ballet.

I watched together with my family, as the first homecoming performance of Candice Adea and JM Cordero, highly-acclaimed ballet dancers since their winning performance at Helsinki, performed their roles as Maria Clara and Crisostomo Ibarra. (In case you don’t know, Candice Adea won 1st place at the Senior’s Women Division at the recently conducted Helsinki International Ballet Competition 2012, the olympics of ballet as many call it. Lisa Macuja just achieved silver during her time.). What a fitting end to the year-long celebration of Rizal’s Sesquicentennial!

Accompanied by musicians from the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra, the show was spectacular from beginning to end.

The whole ballet performance was divided into 8 scenes. Before each scene was a flash on the screen of a single Filipino word, and a short description of the story. When Paul Morales, Libretto and Choreographer of the show, said that they were going to tell the story through dance, I thought I knew what that was all about. When I saw it myself, I was speechless. There were scenes that really welled my eyes with tears… facial expressions, the graceful moves of Maria Clara, the confused expression and dance that depict the psychological turmoil of Crisostomo Ibarra. What made it tinge the heart was scene 7, entitled “Halik” (The Kiss), when Ibarra, on the run from the guardia sibil visits Maria Clara at night for the last time, where Maria Clara tells him of her real father and her betrayal of her love. The forgiveness of Ibarra, the kiss, and their forced parting, the music and the dance, were just so full. After that scene, you could hear sniffs and see tears from the audience. My mom, who never attended a ballet show until that Sunday, was also in tears.

There is something about the story through dance and the emotion it brings that transcends, despite having no dialogues in the said performance. Perhaps that’s what’s so special about this rendition of Noli. We have become so used to loads of words from some inaccurate translations of Noli and Fili textbooks that we forget that these characters, in their very predicament and reaction in the story, are closer to us than we think. I was filled with pity for Sisa… for Crisostomo, and for Maria Clara. I realized that these raw human experiences of Filipinos in the late 19th century was what sparked the Revolution that began the birth pains of the Philippines. The performance was indeed a masterpiece. 

However, unknown to everyone, these dancers would hav put their financial lifeline on the line if need be, even without government support, just so that they could compete in the international arena and give honor to our country. Yes, that’s the real story behind our ballet dancers in a country of novelty noon-time TV shows. That is why watching our Filipino ballet dancers dance on stage is such a great privilege.

Jed Balsamo, the man behind the wonderful music of the show, told us that the show may never be repeated again. I bought a soundtrack just in case. 

I give the whole performance 5 out of 5 stars for a great show. Praying for a sequel. Simoun perhaps?

*Photo above: BP’s Earl John Arisola as Crisostomo and Katherine Trofeo as Maria Clara.