13june03
Friday night was a treat because of the Halo-Halo II: A Queer Pin@y Reveue show at Bindlestiff Studios. For those Pin@ys who are unaware, Bindlestiff is a collective of Pin@ys in the San Francisco / Bay Area whose goal is to provide a venue for Pin@y artists. Halo-Halo was produced by Maiana Minahal & Lolan Sevilla. Here is a quote from their liners from the program:

"Filipino American culture gets equated with straight and mainstream and not gay, not queer. As members of a marginalized community within a marginalized community, many queer Pin@ys believe they have to split their identities, that being Pin@y means giving up being queer, and that being queer means giving up being Pin@y. Part of doing this show is to say that you don't have to make that choice, to say very clearly that those two identities are not mutually exclusive."

For me the highlight of the show was the dance performance by Frances Gay Teves Sedayao entitled "they = you = i". Music to the performance was "Sacred Ground" by Sweet Honey in the Rock, and "World Without Rules" by Paul Haslinger. Frances' bio reads: Frances is a Pilipino native / lesbian / dancer / artist in all sorts of ways, Frances began training in dance and Taekwondo at CSU, Hayward. She has danced and peformed since throughout the Bay Area, and toured nationally with Joey Ayala, Pilipino composer / recording artist and Pearl Ubungen Dancers & Musicians. Frances' background includes works with Eveleyn Thomas' NUBA Dance Theatre, Robert Henry Johnson, Dandelion Dance Theatre, Veronica Combs' Liquid Fire Project, Laura Ellis, Anne Bluethenthal Dancers and Musicians, Nina Haft, Paufve Dance and Facing East Dance and Music. Frances premiered original new works in SF (Cultures Crossing), and Vancouver BC (Lotus Roots) in 2002, and is currently a core artist in Jill Togawa's Purple Moon Dance Project."

The dance performed can be defined as modern dance. I saw influences of the Japanese butoh form in that stylized slow movements opened and closed the dance. However, the middle parts are modern dance. As I sat watching, I realized or rather felt that this would be the way how people felt the first time they saw Martha Graham dance. There is no absolute flowing rhythm. Rather there are staccatos of pure joy interspersed with moments of contemplation. The fierce and sudden arm and leg movements punctuate the beauty of the human body exploding into the air like a bird. But, even the sudden leaps and bounds are unexpected and a total delight in its sudden appearance. The use of black clothing only accentuated the arms and legs in the black background of the theatre. It was as if there were only two hands and two feet suddenly performing in the middle of the air. I held my breath and savored each second of this performance.

The last show is tonight. Catch it if you can.