We did a test run on the piece, Tao-maraw. Noted visual artist and sculptor, Agnes Arellano and her husband Billy has amazing ideas for a dance production, called Tao maraw. Using Agnes’ beautiful tamaraw heads. If time and money were not an issue, I would have loved to jump in and dive deep on this work, head on. By June, Daloy DC was in the middle of crazy-busy, rehearsals for big July shows, corporate events, commercial shows. But test runs are great, the first performance is the first work-in-progress showing, the first taste of that sweet new gear, that new environment, with a new crowd, with both internal calmness, centered-ness and alertness and quick-thinking being required of the performers in every moment. With various elements in the work happening simultaneously and for the first time. Us being challenged to drop certain things we know to be ‘right’ about how to perform well. Ooooff. Us being observant internally, somatically and externally, as everything is new and stimulating. In some ways, it is a better training ground than being in a dance studio learning dance technique. Learning in the comforts and safety of a private room. Ooooh, we did Tao-maraw WIP at 2020. It was crazy. It was wild. And the dancers were soo game. So present. So willing to learn with me as we all jumped. I look forward to the growth of this piece... ❤️
Thank you dancers! Thanks Agnes and Billy! Salamat ating mga tamaraws.
Words by Ea Torrado
Photos by Brianna Samson
Dancers (in photos) : Jovin Lazaro, Julienne Depatillo, Ea Torrado, Jomarie Cruz and Joy Christian Adorable
(#2019Highlights - June, 2019)
(Note: Our Tamaraws are on the verge of extinction because of cattle ranching, hunting diseases and and land conversion. I am with Agnes and Billy, that we should really do this piece.)
Below are more info about Agnes Arellano:
”Agnes Arellano
The sacred and the mythical, the physical and the erotic, the magical and the mundane, the religious and the profane, and music and song all permeate the art of Filipina artist Agnes Arellano. Drawing from rich personal experience and an extraordinary range of influences, she makes some of the most dramatic art in Asia.
Best known for surrealist and expressionist work in plaster (cast and directly modelled), bronze, and cold-cast marble, Arellano's work tends to stress the integration of individual elements into one totality or "inscape".
She has participated in international group exhibitions in Berlin, Fukuoka, Havana, Johannesburg, New York, Brisbane and Singapore. Her works are in the permanent collection of the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, the Singapore Art Museum, and the APEC Sculpture Park by the Naru River, Busan South Korea.”
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