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3 UP Dance Company members to compete in S. Korea
Three students of the Dance program of the University of the Philippines' College of Music have been chosen to compete in the 2016 Korea International Modern Dance Competition. The yearly competition began in 2010 and has been steadily growing ever since.
The competitors, AL Frederick Abraham, Deborah Lynn Afuang, and Minette Caryl Maza, are all members of the UP Dance Company, and are coached by Elena Laniog-Alvarez and Sarah Maria Samaniego.
The five of them will be flying to Seoul, South Korea, this week for the competition proper on July 17-19.
Maza and Abraham both competed in the 2015 CCP National Ballet Competition, both getting into finals round and Abraham winning the Special Award for a Male Dancer.
A graduate of the prestigious Philippine High School for the Arts, Abraham has also competed in the Dance category of the National Music Competition for Young Artists.
Afuang, also an alumna of the PHSA, has just graduated cum laude from the Dance program and is a first-time competitor.
Afuang and Maza have also recently qualified for the local Wifibody.ph Choreographer’s Competition, scheduled for August 20 at the Cultural Center of the Philippines.
Last year, Daloy Dance Company’s Buboy Raquitico won the Korea Dance Association Award at the KIMDC and was the only Philippine representative to the competition.
The dancers are performing fresh contemporary pieces composed especially for the competition, each of which shows off the dancers’ strengths. Afuang will be performing a self-titled piece that choreographer Laniog-Alvarez made especially for her, using her balletic background to form unique contemporary movements.
Maza’s “Day 21”, choreographed by Sarah Maria Samaniego, draws inspiration from the hatching of a baby chick and plays off her natural aggressive energy as a dancer.
Abraham’s competition piece, “Trespassing Through” is choreographed by UP Dance Company alumnus Michael Barry Que and uses the theme of transferred energy through various parts of the body.
Choreographer and coach Elena Laniog-Alvarez believes that encouraging the students to join such competitions will not only open more doors for the young dancers and challenge them, but that it is also a way for Filipino artists to explore and find their space in the international dance world.
The UP Dance Company delegation has received a generous donation from UP Diliman Chancellor Michael Tan. However, most of their expenses remain self-funded. — BM, GMA News
For more information about the UP Dance Company’s dancers competing at the KIMDC, email updancecompany@gmail.com or contact Sarah at 0915-3883572 or Aisha at 0927-5456169.
