Filtered By: Lifestyle
Lifestyle

'Dalawang Kaliwang Paa' sets poetry in motion


It was a cloudy Saturday, and the scattered rain showers could still be called delightful. But as I entered the campus of the Far Eastern University (FEU), the rain poured angrily, instantly forming large puddles. Despite the bleak weather, the campus was surprisingly beautiful and serene. It was my first time inside, and although I couldn't see much beyond my umbrella, the campus was starkly different from the grimy streets outside. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, FEU has five art deco buildings designed by National Artist Architect Pablo Antonio as well as works by Vicente Manansala, Antonio Dumlao, Botong Francisco, Felipe Mendoza and Francesco Monti. This uncanny nest of Filipino art serves as the perfect location for Ang Sayaw ng Dalawang Kaliwang Paa, the third Cinemalaya offering from Alvin Yapan and Alem Ang, both literature teachers.

Dennis (Rocco Nacino) and Marlon (Paulo Avelino) discuss poetry on the FEU campus.
The story is simple enough: Wanting to impress their teacher, Marlon hires Dennis to teach him to dance before he enrolls in the formal class. Karen is a dancer past her prime who teaches literature at the university and moonlights as a choreographer and dance teacher. It is a story of contrast - Marlon is rich and can afford to pay Dennis, who is poor but talented. As Marlon learns the intersections between poetry and dance, the film also explores common issues of the feminist and LGBT communities. Who leads, and who follows? Who instructs, and who obeys?
After the much-acclaimed Ang Panggagahasa kay Fe and the Gawad Urian-nominated Gayuma, the two filmmakers present a film that incorporates poetry, an epic, classical and contemporary dance, and ethnic and modern music, all set in the architectural legacy that is FEU. If it sounds a bit highbrow, the fact that Wong Kar Wai and Pedro Almodovar influence these filmmakers will confirm suspicions that no, this is no Hollywood hit. After all, this is Cinemalaya we're talking about, a festival whose aim is to provide an alternative to mainstream cinema. But breaking the "indie stereotype" is one of the film's objectives. "Masyado daw polished, masyadong maganda sa mata. Kapag indie kasi, iniisip medyo washed out yung colors... gumamit kami ng tripod, ng dolly, ng shoulder mount. Para hindi mahilo ang aming manonood," said Yapan at the preview. He clarified misconceptions about indie as a genre, which it is not, but rather a way to create movies outside the commercial circuit. The film's other objective is to somehow make literature popular. "I want this film to be very accessible, but it is about poetry," he said.
Jean Garcia plays the role of Karen, a literature and dance teacher.
The film tells the story of two students and their dance teacher through poems from Filipino poets Rebecca Anonuevo, Benilda Santos, Merlinda Bobis, Joi Barrios, Ruth Elynia Mabanglo, and Ophelia Dimalanta. The poems are sometimes read, sometimes sung to music written by Dr. Christine Muyco, head of the Department of Musical Composition and Theory at the University of the Philippines College of Music, and Dr. Jema Pamintuan, Filipino teacher at the Ateneo de Manila University. The dances, all choreographed by international choreographer and dance teacher Eli Jacinto, bring the poems to life. The story ends with the staging of the Panay Bukidnon epic Humadapnon, particularly the episode where Nagmalitong Yawa disguised as Buyung Sunmasakay saves Datu Humadapnon from getting trapped in the caves of the women of Tarangban.
Dennis (Rocco Nacino) and Marlon (Paulo Avelino) rehearse their audition piece for the epic Humadapnon.
Although poetry is rarely found in a full-length film, Ang Sayaw ng Dalawang Kaliwang Paa chooses to risk losing the audience by using not only excerpts but poems in their entirety - and not just one poem but seven. Of course, the roles gracefully portrayed by Jean Garcia, Paulo Avelino, and Rocco Nacino interpret the poems' meaning, and how they fit together to form the story. Like its title, Ang Sayaw ng Dalawang Kaliwang Paa is not your usual film. It is set on campus, but the usual campus scenes (endless hanging out, rebellion, teenage angst) aren't in this movie. There's a pretty teacher and an adoring student, but there's no predictable scandalous affair. There is a love story, but there are no kilig scenes. For a story about poetry interpreted through dance, which is poetry in motion, Ang Sayaw ng Dalawang Kaliwang Paa has plenty of stillness. At times, the stillness seems to drag on, but for the most part it is the sort of stillness that allows things to sink in. There's the tension between the persistence of flight and the gravity of emotions, the glance that turns into a gaze. Ang Sayaw ng Dalawang Kaliwang Paa is no fairytale, with no cookie-cutter villains nor heroes. Even if you can't dance to save your life, or if you've never read a line of poetry, the characters are people who could be you, and this keeps the film real. It's a story about dreams and reality, and how art can grow beauty even in the middle of sadness. - YA, GMA News
LOADING CONTENT