A view into SIPA Festival 2016 by Maria Victoria Muñoz
“ The Other”; that unreachable territory that passes daily in front of me without mentioning a single word; that inhabits the same space as I do in foreign Land since over one year and a half.
I am a stranger in this space, even though my lifestyle makes me completely attached. My Personality wants to be close to “The Other “. This Other intrigues my soul, I want to understand it and respect it, I want to comprehend his daily form of acting and be part of it; Here and Now; to transcend the barriers of the identity that separates us. It is important to me to speak the language and to bridge the social status that divides and create boundaries and to transcend those artifical bubbles created to differentiate and shape our own reality and context.
This is how “NANDITO AKO” “AQUI ESTOY” “I AM HERE” is born, created for the SIPA Festival 2016, as an homage to the life of the people of the Philippines, the inhabitants the beautifull archipelago with more than 7400 islands that still offers the diverse living culture in each one of them.
A traditional dress, hand made by a tribe in Abra (Province of Luzon, Philippines) creating magic to awake our ancestors that have worked, respected and loved the land, that I wore as a second skin, was my tribute in every performance that I was privileged to be invited in Manila, Negros and Escalante to express my respect and to transcend in those protected spaces.
SIPA 2016 will stay in my memory for ever! The Happy faces, the sad looks, the bodies that move with no specific order, the foreign visitors, the students of PUP and La Salle in Lipa and Bacolod, the sugar cane families that we visited,the community of Escalante,the friendship, travels, talks, our Art and our Performance. It merged together like a silent untouchable clockwork, creating a perfect sphere of unspoken communication between the performers and the audience of SIPA 2016.
My profound thanks go to Boyet de Mesa and Prof. Bely SiningDiwa R. Davidson Oliveros Sipa Pinas who made this all possible. We have been able to give a little piece of ourselves as artists and more importantly as beings who are commited with a same cause; a space of creation towards Peace and Commemoration of the 31st anniversary of the Escalante Masacre.
Salamat Po, Mahal Kita.
Mv Munoz
Special thanks to Nicolas Aca Diwee Isidro, Rabu Barroco Metz Espinosa Crecee Dimayuga RoldanJuyong 박주영i Futoshi Moromizato Somantri Entri Willem Christiawan Lorina Manlapaz Javier Kaye Oyek Sam Penaso Roldan Michael De Guzman Edwin Quinsayas Herminigildo Pineda Martin Lorenzo De Mesa Patrick Chong Yuan Moro Ocampo Vim Nadera Regie Zamora Zara Alvarez Coco Mon Tsing Inti Naxhielii Barrios Hernández Merlinda Contiga Ma Theresa Pamaong Junette Cortez Hernandez Joash Roxas , ichi, Anne Rachelle Shaina Largado Celine Garcia Montenegro Jason Miñoza, Mark Eugene Florida, Carl Michael Ong Cabansag, Efren Ricalde
Patawad Po, Salamat Po, Mahal Kita
