My first 11 months in Singapore was one exciting roller coaster of emotions, mostly filled with sadness and depression being away from home and my family and having left behind so many responsibilities and missing opportunities in the local scene, and also joy and excitement from learning so many things from new experiences and from people who I know I would never have met or learned from if I did not come to ITI.
It's difficult to wrap up my entire Year 1 experience in just one blog entry, but I will try my best. My idea now is to search on Facebook and on instagram all my #BuhayITI and #BuhayTheaterStudent and other related hashtags to look back on the different highlights of my stay here. I will also try to recall the contexts of all these statuses and photos. So sit back, relax, and join me in remembering the highs and lows of my life in SG.
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#IntenseMovementExercises
Posted January 11
"Went home last night from school around 8pm. Higa sana "saglit" sa sobrang pagud.This is when my body was still adjusting to the rigid training. It wasn't easy, promise!
Zzzz. Ngayon na nagising. 4AM."
Here are some photos of what we did in Movement Class.
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#BodyMindAndSoulWorkingTogether
#SaNgalanNgKultura
#SchoolAndField
posted February 22
"Praxis, indeed, leads to better understanding and finding new knowledge."I can't fully remember, but I'm quite certain it's a reflection after Humanities class. Looks like a post-discussion thought.
posted March 2
"Subject: HumanitiesThe best thing about school is being pushed to read, study, and analyze. When not in school we tend to base things all on experience. But when practice and theories meet, more magic can happen. You allow yourself to be more open to things that have already been explored by experts and those who have studied the field even before you get acquainted with it. It definitely answers a lot of your questions or even help you formulate more questions to answer in order to understand things better.
Assignment: Write a 500-800 word essay answering the question, “How can I recreate in performance a gesture, expression or movement (an action) which has a long history or tradition of practice?”
Status of assignment: Submitted 1 and a half hours before deadline.
Status of student: brain strained but still hot. Way mupalag kay stress naming tanan aning term-end requirements. Support nalang."
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#MeAsAPotato
posted March 27
"It's the start of term 2. And this would best describe my current state: Fresh, growing, surviving. But be aware that I planted 5. Two survived at the end of term 1, then we had a week break and this is the only one left."Eventually, these potatos died because they were planted on unhealthy soil. What's the metaphor? I don't know. haha! Maybe to remind me to just forget simply surviving but just living in the moment, stop counting the days, and fight.
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#LoveSchoolFeels
#LearningWhileCreating
posted April 10
"When a school project is too exciting it gives you goosebumps."posted Nov. 6
"What i I learned today from our post modular laboratory research performance: Some creative choices you make can be polarizing. People may really like or dislike it. However, as long as you've conveyed the message clearly and as long as you know the decisions were well thought of and not just random, then you can say it's successful. Eyes always on the main objective."Our PML (post modular laboratory) research is done after we finish learning a traditional form (for year 1 we had Noh and Wayang Wong). We are asked to do our own research on how our experience in learning the form can be useful when applied in contemporary work. It also allows us to study further and try to answer our questions about the form, the process, and the experience as a whole.
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Posted July 3
"Just read all the Evaluation Reports from my teachers. Whewww! I'm happy with the feedback, both the good ones and the points for improvement. Now, I know what to focus on next semester, which starts TOMORROW.-----------------------------------------
LEZ DO DIZ!
Anyway, matulog na ko kay one of the comments kay "Eat well and rest properly... you looked tired sometimes during term 2."
WAHAHA! Sinabeh!"
#Floating
#WayangWong
Posted August 9
"Still recovering. Can't say anything yet bout my body pilgrimage experience. It deserves a blog entry."
Well, I guess this is the right time to share about my Wayang Wong body pilgrimage experience. Sorry it took months to do this.
Wayang Wong in general felt so familiar maybe because of the nature of Indonesia and Philippines as countries in terms of culture, history, and geography. They have so many similarities. My experience was something that I could explore locally when I come back to PH, particularly the use of combined improvisation and form in telling epic stories. The concept of the body pilgrimage is also something that I could apply back home, perhaps with YATTA and other groups and individuals who want to experience it. Basically, in body pilgrimage we spent 12 hours (from 6PM to 6AM) doing everything in slow motion: eating, walking, taking a shower, etc., but no talking, no communicating with the others, no reading, no gadgets, and not allowed to leave the school premises. We were invited to open our awareness and observe ourselves and everything around us. The level of awakening of our senses is wonderful. I personally had very memorable moments of seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting, smelling, and thinking of things like I've never had/done before. For example, looking at how the vinegar's color changes as it slowly flows down my spoon, how the cloud formations provided so many images and reflections about my life while watching the sky and the moon move for more than half an hour, and how fast my mind can move from one thought to another as I was trying to follow it, and many others. Crazy, but a real life changer. It made me realize how fast-paced our lives are that we forget the importance and beauty of the details of things around us and how they could change in less than a second. Through body pilgrimage I saw how magical it can be if we just learn to stop and be aware of every movement of life.
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posted August 23
"But then, I'm reminded, "TIRED" is not in our vocabulary"Indeed, #BuhayITI.
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#EskwelaPaMore
Posted August 28
"Kana ganing hubag-hubagan kas kakulba, dayon di ka tulog, dayon ug makatulog kay uromon pa gud. Unya mumata ug sayo kay mahadlok ma late. Mag memorize pa sa lines. Pag-abot sa studio dagko ug bugnaw kaayo ang singot. Ingon ana ka ngilngig among maestro sa ACTING. hahaha! Last rehearsal ugma, performance tomorrow. So help me God."
Our Acting class with Guillermo Angelelli was perhaps one of the most intense classes we had so far, but it was also one of the best learning experiences I had in ITI. It gave me so many new techniques on the use of the body in improvisation and devising through psychophysical method. I miss the thrill of it, actually.
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Now Here's a few quotable quotes from our teachers
Posted March 30
Morning: Movement class
Teacher: keep your palms on the wall. Keep swinging your foot...
Classmate: my arms are in pain.
Teacher: Too bad. Life is not so easy.
Afternoon: Acting class
Everyone emotionally charged after intense activity
Teacher: It's not easy to achieve, it takes time.When the audience give you an applause they don't necessarily think of how you worked so hard to achieve it. Appreciation is good, but this is also why we deserve to be paid.
Posted March 31
"The experience can be very fascinating, but can also be very painful."
Voice/Speech teacher on being a theater student.
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I guess I have to stop here or else it will take you hours to read everything, plus it's already 2am. I guess this is enough to describe how tough yet colorful my first year in SG had been. I thank all my teachers for guiding me through. During my assessment they told me how they were able to follow my journey and they saw how I was able to achieve my goals. My Acting teacher, Beto Ruiz, even challenged me to "bring back the fire" that I tried to learn to control - the lion that I tried to tame - over the course my first year in ITI. He said it's about time to use it again, now that I have learned to manage it better. Bring back the fierceness but still with ease and discipline.
I also want to extend my deepest gratitude to every single individual who extended help in whatever ways in order to help me survive here in Singapore, especially to my mama Malou, my brother Kim, the rest of my family, my YATTA family especially to Nanay Dessa, Nikki, John, and Junsly, my MISPA and Pro-MISPA family especially to Baerbel and Bert, to Ate inday Melvin and tito Franz Klein-Koerkamp, Ma'am Esther Windler, sir Cidni Mapa, to the Gugma Gaia friends especially for my send off, and to those who want to remain anonymous but who generously extended a helping hand to me, GOD BLESS YOUR BEAUTIFUL HEARTS. I may not be able to name you all one by one, but all I can promise is that everything I am learning here in Singapore will be shared to the communities in the Philippines, and I will never forget how I was blessed by friends that I must never forget to pay forward.
to all my classmates, as our teachers have told us during assessment, "honeymoon is over" and "expectations will be higher." Looking forward to more roller coaster rides. Daghang Salamat.
(photo credits to ITI, Ted Tac-an, and other sources. Mostly not mine)
