Jean Garcia likes to dance

Actress Jean Garcia attended dance workshops before agreeing to work on the Alvin Yapan drama, “Ang Sayaw ng Dalawang Kaliwang Paa,” where she plays a literature professor who moonlights as a dance instructor.

The film, an entry in the New Breed Full-Length Category of the 7th Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival, is Jean’s first indie starrer.

Post-It marks

“She also insisted on meeting with Alvin and discussing the script with him before committing to the film,” producer Alemberg Ang told Inquirer. “When Alvin and Jean eventually sat down, we saw that she had made markings on her copy of the script with Post-Its. She is different from other mainstream actresses we’ve encountered.”

Jean, as well as co-stars Rocco Nacino and Paulo Avelino, trained with renowned choreographer Eli Jacinto.

Paulo plays Marlon, who is secretly in love with his teacher Karen (Jean). When Marlon learns that Karen also works as a choreographer, he asks help from his classmate Dennis (Rocco) to teach him to dance.

“We got Rocco for the role because he’s a really good dancer,” Ang explained. “His character’s solo spot is one of the highlights of the film. As for Paulo, before this project, he asked his GMA 7 bosses to take him off the cast of a noontime variety show. He said he couldn’t dance but that, for this film, he wanted to learn. Indeed, he would travel from Novaliches all the way to the dance studio in Las Piñas. And he did this while still busy with the soap ‘Alakdana.’”

Winning duo

Yapan and Ang first teamed up in the 2009 Cinemalaya entry “Ang Panggagahasa kay Fe,” which won the special jury prize from Cinemalaya and bagged the golden prize award for Best Digital Feature Film at the 33rd Cairo International Film Festival in Egypt.

For their second offering, Yapan said he thought of a film based on poetry. “Sayaw” features dance interpretations of the works of feminist poets Rebecca Añonuevo, Benilda Santos, Merlinda Bobis, Joi Barrios, Ruth Elynia Mabanglo and the late Ophelia Dimalanta.

“The success of the film rests on the effectivity of the choreography,” said the director. “I want to illustrate how movements, especially in dance, are easily sexualized to promote very specific gender relations. Movements are either feminized or masculinized. I want a choreography that could evaluate, assess and, if necessary, break these stereotyping of gender roles.”

Stereotype

Yapan said the camera focuses not on the dancers but “on their nimble feet, delicate arms, neck …”

A literature professor and an award-winning fiction writer, Yapan said the movie also aims to revive people’s interest in poetry. He explained: “For the longest time, poetry has been stereotyped as something deep, introspective, academic. There seems to be a disconnect between the popularity of music and the disinterest in poetry when in fact, music and poetry go hand in hand. The film tries to address this.”

Yapan added that the dance finale is an episode in the epic “Humadapnon,” where the goddess Nagmalitong Yawa disguises herself as the male Buyung Sunmasakay to save the hero Humadapnon, who is trapped in a cave full of women. “The choreography explores the difference between Western and Oriental dance,” Yapan explained.

Historic site

Ang said the finale was shot in the administration lobby of the Far Eastern University, a heritage awardee of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) for having the largest assembly of preserved art deco buildings in the country.

“The floor of the lobby is made of the same kind of marble that the Italian artist Michaelangelo used in making the ‘Pieta,’ ‘David’ and ‘Moses’—the sort that has long been extinct,” Ang said.

Campus shots

Ang added that the challenge for him and Yapan was to shoot the film with actors instead of professional dancers. “We wanted to see if they (cast) could pull it off.”

(Aside from producing “Ang Panggagahasa kay Fe,” which features Irma Adlawan, TJ Trinidad and Nonie Buencamino, Ang also worked on the Dennis Marasigan movie “Vox Populi,” starring Julio Diaz, Bobby Andrews and Adlawan.)

“It was tough filming inside the school campus,” he added. “We didn’t want to disrupt classes so we worked mostly at night. But on our last filming day, wala nang budget, so we had to work for 24 hours straight. Our actors were very supportive. They would be slapping their faces to keep from falling asleep. We were touched by that.”

Semi-retired

Ang said they’re also grateful to dance master Jacinto. “He has worked with almost all dance companies in the country. He teaches dance both here and abroad. We couldn’t believe he found time for this, especially now that he’s semi-retired. But he tackled it with the same excitement that we had.”

“Ang Sayaw ng Dalawang Kaliwang Paa” also features the FEU Dance Company, with the special participation of the Company of Dance Artists.

Cinemalaya runs from July 15 to 24 at the Cultural Center of the Philippines in Pasay City and Greenbelt 3 in Makati.

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