Moonlight
Moonlight is the second phase of an exploration begun by Daloy Dance Co. in 2018 for the Cultural Center of the Philippines' NeoFilipino Series with their piece entitled Howl. With Howl, the corps of dancers undertook the challenge of folding different lexicons of movement together: drawing vocabulary from the club kids, ravers and the voguing ball scene, and weaving it in with systems of motion and symmetry in animal species: flocks of birds, schools of fish, cicada swarms, cats howling at the moon.
Led by a steadily thrumming score of trance music, the dancers flow through compounded cycles of choreographed expressions. These expressions progress from a rigorous, almost military synchronicity into a series of schisms and a full structural breakdown. And the dance progresses out of unity and into chaos.
In that chaotic space of primal release, Daloy Dance Co. first encountered Moonlight. If Howl was a call into the void, Moonlight is who answered it. In Moonlight, Daloy Dance Co. takes the exploration further, posing the questions: Can chaos lead to bliss? Can trance transcend? Moonlight leads the ensemble of dancers through a sequence of movement investigations that aim to bring them into an ecstatic state. Structured as an homage to ancient shamanic rites of passage, as well as to the filipino legacy of the queer babaylan, Moonlight is a performed visitation.
A wounded healer visits the dancers - hard-worn and wise, beyond species, gender, or time - and endeavours to guide them through a journey toward emancipation. In this season plagued by fear and grief, Moonlight appears and dares us to shake ourselves free from all we know, shed all doubt, and reach for our bliss.
Direction and choreography: Ea Torrado
Performance: Daloy Dance Company and Ea Torrado, Buboy Raquitico, Jomarie Cruz, Joy Adrable, Julienne Depatillo, Jaime Monserrat, Jamie Paraiso, Jan Lloyd Celcecio, Jovin Lazaro, Arcelyn Lualhati, Kennard Insigne
Performance: PNoise Festival, Fringe MNL Festival X PNoise Nordlys Festival 2019
Photo Credit: Sipat Productions
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Daloy Dance Company realizes the creation of new choreographies by artist-healer and choreographer Ea Torrado, her collaborators and guest artists. Nominated as Most Outstanding Contemporary Dance Group by Philippine LEAF Awards in 2019, Aliw Awards as Best Dance Company in 2018 and Best Classical Dance Company in 2017, we continue to build and sustain Daloy Dance Company by working towards mounting community rituals through site-inspired and nature-reverent immersive dance theatre pieces. If you feel moved to support DALOY DANCE COMPANY, donations can be made through the link below.