From One Mother to Another
In the Montreal Philippine folk dance community, the name Cecille Hernandez is a familiar name. She has trained and choreographed for five of Montreal’s folk dance companies – Philippine Dance Theatre of Montreal, Filipiniana Dance Company, Kalinangan Dance Troupe, Salinggawi Philippine Arts Organization and PAMANA ng LuzViMinda Dance Company.
Tita Ces’ eldest daughter, Catherine, is no stranger to Philippine folk dance. Born and raised in Toronto and a graduate from the Ryerson Theatre Acting School, Catherine has endeavoured on a path of fusing Philippine folk dance with other modern art forms, a similar outlook that PAMANA ng LuzViMinda has already begun to explore.
Her play “Singkil,” which I had the pleasure to witness in January 2007, was nominated for 7 Dora Mavor More Awards (the Tony Awards of Canada) including “Outstanding New Play,” Independant Division.
It is more than obvious that Catherine’s productions are an outlet of inspiration of her mother’s reputation as a folk dancer. It was an honour to have met her for the first time in August for PAMANA’s 3rd stage production of “Tanaw ng Puso.” Familiar with her work, I was self-conscious of her presence, front row and center. She is a storyteller that has brought her visions to life, as have I.
What lead you to be become a writer?
I have always been a storyteller. That’s what we do in Filipino Folk Arts. When I was a kid I was extremely shy and often stayed away from others. I spent my time by myself writing stories. I went into acting only, but was not completely satisfied. I hated playing small roles in television series that meant nothing. I also needed to make a regular living. I wrote the first draft of Singkil and had inadvertently handed it to Nina Lee Aquino, who would later become the Artistic Director of fu-GEN Asian Canadian Theatre Company. I just happened to have an extra copy on me. I had no idea who she was. She just wanted to see a copy of the script. Cut to many years later. I was on mat leave and I got this phone call from Nina asking to see the latest draft of Singkil to be submitted for the CrossCurrents Festival at Factory Theatre. The jury unanimously agreed that the play had to be developed. Two years later it was part of Factory’s season, produced by fu-GEN. Six months later we swept the Dora nominations. Since then, I happily call myself a writer.
Why is storytelling so important?
Storytelling is a big part of who I am as a Filipino. It’s part of our culture to share stories. Storytelling keeps us together as a community, it shares our language, our traditions, our dreams. If we don’t have that, we’re lost.
How would you describe your relationship with your mom and how has she influenced you? How can you relate that to your daughter Arden?
There are two sounds I will never forget in my life: The sound of the Singkil and the sound of my daughter’s heartbeat in utero. My mother granted me the first, my daughter, the second. Learning the Singkil was a crucial part of my relationship with my mother. She knew I had what it takes to be a great princess and worked tirelessly until I had it in my bones. She was very hard on me. But it worked. Arden was also hard on me. 51 hours of labour at home, no drugs. But what was born was a miracle of a child who lights up a room every time she enters. The Singkil is like life: The beat is in your body, you have to trust in your strengths in order to overcome fear, and when you do not trust, you fall.
“Singkil” – Why dedicate this to mothers?
My play was for mothers because it was about a young girl who mourns the death of her mother by learning this ancient dance. Motherhood is a challenging role. So is the Singkil. The play bridges the two.
Your performance with the Santa Guerilla Band at Dundas Square, what is the significance of your dance with the malong?
Santa Guerilla, like a lot of the work at the Kapisanan, uses traditional instrumentation in a modern-day setting. It is the same with my dancing that I do with that band. I use traditional tools, such as my fans or malong and I dance with it in a modern way. In “Future Folk,” we use the malong in numerous ways. It transforms into a baby, into a bed, into man etc. But in the beginning of the play, we emerge from the fabric slowly. This challenges the audience to see Filipinas in a way that isn’t conventional. We have faces, we look different, we can be sexual but not sex objects. We are strong. I feel the same sense of strength when dancing for Santa Guerilla. Each song speaks of pride in our culture and I feel that in my body too.
Where do you think the future of Philippine folk dance is going?
We must remember that it is art. And art is a continuum. That means we have to remember that it will and must change with each person who performs it. That means it can’t be stagnant. We have to let it change. The operative word here is “folk”. Meaning, of the people. If the Filipino people change every day, we cannot expect our dance to stay the same. I do not mean that we do not respect our traditions. No. Tradition is imperative to moving into the future. Artists in Montreal should check out the work of artists at the Kapisanan Centre in Toronto. There is some amazing work being done trying to make sense of what our traditions mean in the present.
Catherine has many projects on her plate in the new year:
- “Future Folk” in February at Theatre Passe Muraille, Toronto – the vocabulary of Filipino folk arts to tell the story of Filipino folk
dance.
- “Eating with Lola” in May with fu-GEN Asian Canadian Theatre as part of their Potluck Festival – a one-woman puppet play about a
Lola’s search for food.
- Movement coaching for Carlos Bulosan Theatre’s “When The Elephants Dance” in May – tells the story of Japanese occupation of
the Philippines.
- Sulong Theatre’s production of “Kilt Pins”in May – written by Catherine about blossoming sexuality in a Catholic High School.
- Co-writing “Coyote” alongside Mexican Poet, Emma Ari Beltran – tells the story of five Mexicans who are crossing the border into
the US.
After all those projects, Catherine hopes to tour “Future Folk” in Manila, across Canada and around the world.
Catherine and Santa Guerilla, resident artists of Kapisanan Philippine Centre of the Arts, have applied for a touring grant to tour across Canada in 2010 in partnership with various Filipino associations across the nation to reach out to their youth and teach them instrumentation, song and dance and hybrid them with styles like hip hop or reggae, mainstream forms that are popular with today’s youth. They will be stopping in major cities including Vancouver, Winnipeg and Montreal.
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