Tales from Mindanao is the highly-acclaimed international touring repertoire of dance-music stories about Mindanao and its people. Tales has been performed in extensive road shows representing the Philippines in countless world festivals since its premiere at the Cultural Center of the Philippines.
A series of dance-music vignettes pooled from the rich indigenous and folk cultural resources of the Philippines’ southernmost island, this suite is perhaps the Philippines’ most-traveled repertory production. It premiered as Life, Love and Death: Tales From Mindanao in the 1992 1st CCP National Theatre Festival. Since its first appearance and its subsequent international premiere in the 1994 Singapore Festival of the Arts, Tales has enthralled thousands worldwide.
SINULOG SUITE in TALES FROM MINDANAO
The Iligan Fiesta Rituals and Mindanao stories transcreated to the stage
“Transcreation” describes a process whereby a subject (its content and context) expressed in one media is re-shaped in another. In this instance, the Iligan San Miguel rituals are migrated to the stage to adapt a different context yet keeping as close as possible the forms in the original. The staged performances are further transcreated to film, hence twice removed from the original.
Dance-music expressions staged mean differently from their original sources. Indigenous expressions from the Higaunun (binanog, saut, kinukok, dugso), M’ranao (k’pmalong, k’zaduratan) and communal performances (sinulog, diandi, pagkanaug) present meanings in these performed narratives that fulfill religious functions (“panaad”). These expressions are transfigured into a space where an audience engages with the performance but with a different intent from that of the original.
Here is a video sample of our transcreation entitled “Sinulog Suite” (Top, Right) using the principles imbibed in our practice. There are details to dissect and understand, however, a lecture would be a better venue to explain all these.
(Video excerpted from the documentary “Tales From Mindanao”. The lumad, Islamized, and lowland Christian settlers celebrate life, assure life’s vitality, and assert their identity. The ‘Sinulog’ opens with invocations to the San Miguel Archangel. Scenario and Music by Steven P.C. Fernandez, from the traditional Sinulog. Choreography by IPAG Creative Collective.)
reviews
“… grab(s) me fully from their opening seconds: dark stage, figures in shadow, kulintang music (which resembles Indonesian gamelan) beaten out on rows of gongs. The lights come up, dancers in native costume appear, the kulintang drives their movements—balletic, athletic, poetic—and I feel like I’m looking at images sprung from vestiges of a Jungian collective imagination, not theatrical performance. The experience is visceral and exhilarating. Fernandez and his troupe revitalize folk traditions; they show that the traditional is the contemporary, and that inspired live performance continues to ace all the apps on iPhones. ” Tim Tomlinson, President, New York Writers Workshop, New York City
“…skillful storytelling via dance…fascinating… not for an instant did audience attention falter…” Leonor Orosa Goquingco, National Artist for Dance
“…heir(s) of … [the] pioneers [of Southern culture]…. versatility … in conception, direction, and musical writing and leadership.” Basilio Esteban S. Villaruz, The Manila Chronicle
“… I watched with pleasure… eloquent inspite of the minimal use of dialogue …” Doreen G. Fernandez, Ph.D, Theater historian and critic
“How exquisitely delightful to watch IPAG steadily increase in stature thru the years! Thoroughly professional, the group exudes an easy confidence and seamless mastery – a natural charm and agility, especially in its vivid storytelling, that mesmerizes and thrills a captivated audience, like me. Tibo has found that perfect synthesis of styles in Philippine dance theater (gone is the contrivance, the frills) and whatever it is, it has made me glad to be Filipino…” Julie Lluch, PHILIPPINE ARTIST
Mise-en-Scene. Steven P.C. Fernandez Choreography.NOLLY CEBALLOS and the IPAG CREATIVE COLLECTIVE (Associates.MELVIN PASCUBILLO LEILANI MONTEROLA) Music.STEVEN P.C. FERNANDEZ (also adapted from indigenous and folk sources) Designs.VICMAR PALOMA, HERMI DICO Production Management and Marketing. ARLEM ABANES Technical Director. ANDREW SALAZAR