‘Body wave’ is dance, says ‘Batibot’ producer

FENY DE LOS Angeles-Bautista, founder and executive producer of the children’s educational show “Batibot,” sees nothing wrong with the so-called “body wave” dance.

“It is a legitimate dance,” Bautista said of the number performed by a 6-year-old on the TV5 game show “Willing Willie,” which created a controversy. “Children in public schools and day-care centers dance it all the time. Whether adults see it as striptease is a whole different matter.”

Bautista was among a group of consultants tapped by the network to help set guidelines on protecting minors in shows that it produces.

Critics of “Willing Willie” tagged the boy’s performance in the March 12 episode as a “macho dance.” Wire reports described it as “simulated striptease.”

TV5 called it “body wave,” a dance that creates the illusion of a wave traveling through the body, from the head to the toes and back.

Part of Bautista’s work for “Batibot,” a Philippine Children’s Television Foundation Inc. (PCTVF) production, is to visit schools, parks, even hospitals to reach more people.

Nothing wrong?

“Body wave is the dance [step] of the moment,” she said. “I see nothing wrong with it. Children on the streets and in all public schoosl that I’ve visited include it in their [programs] because it’s what they see on television,” Bautista told Inquirer during a media gathering in Pasig City.

“Batibot” began airing its second season on TV5 last Saturday, 8:30 a.m.

“This season,” Bautista said, “every episode will be thematic. A show about vehicles, for example, will explain how important transportation is. We will also help kids cope with life’s challenges, like natural disasters, illness and death. There will be an entire episode devoted to cooking, and then one on music and musical instruments.”

Bautista added: “These are all based on what is appealing and comprehensible to children of a specific age group—3 to 6. Kids 7 to 8 are also watching. Most importantly, parents are watching with their kids. ‘Batibot’ is a shared experience now.”

New generation

After an eight-year absence, “Batibot” resumed broadcast on March 26, 2010. “We were excited about returning. However, we didn’t want to rest on the old show’s laurels. We had to invest in, build and nurture a new audience. We are raising a new generation of ‘Batibot’ kids.”

New characters, like Ate Maya (Kaki Teodoro) and Kuya Fidel (Abner Delina), were introduced last season. They replaced Kuya Bodgie (Bodgie Pascua) and Ate Sienna (Sienna Olaso), who endeared themselves to “Batibot” kid viewers in the 1980s. Pascua and Olaso sometimes appear as guest performers.

Missing Pong, Kiko

But the show’s most popular muppets, Pong Pagong and Kiko Matsing, ceased appearing on the show due to licensing issues between PCTVF and Sesame Workshop, which co-produced “Batibot” until 1989.

“Today’s kids hardly know about Kapitan Basa, Manang Bola and Koko Kwik Kwak. We want to give them more time to know these characters before we start introducing new ones,” said Bautista. Viewers would be thrilled, she added, with a new muppet named Happy.

How different is “Batibot” from other locally produced kiddie shows? “It’s all about content and how we communicate with children,” Bautista stressed. “We deal with kids as the intelligent human beings that they are. We talk to them in a language that we are confident they will understand.”