Gaway, Gaway and why I'm better off chopping wood

I have not seen folk dance this fast and lively.  I  thought the boys are doing an exhibition on Filipino martial arts because aside from the graceful flowing arm swipes and snake like fist movement, they are also shouting like karate-ninjitsu-sayonatsi masters.

The girls are not to be left behind. The demure hand twirling moves are replaced with swift moving hands and arms holding flower laden bilaos as if they are going to throw bladed Frisbee into the air. I am reminded of Michelle Yeoh in Crouching Tiger.

Not content with the fast and martial arts likemoves, the group run and merge into circular formation with their arms alternately raising up and going down fluidly in sync with their shouts, karate chops and flying kicks.

Na, no karate chops and flying kicks but it's the next development in the climax, I mean...

I am intrigued so I asked a co-teacher what is the folk dance and I am told it is Gaway-Gaway. This is the first time I saw this dance that's why I'm a bit surprised. I am used to see our pupils performing demure folk dances like Carinosa, Subli, etc.

I don't know if our folk dance is evolving or maybe it's because i don't know our folk dance except what I see on YouTube. 

But judging from the speed and the complexity of Gaway-Gaway, it seems the dance steps are moving towards modernity, which our PE coordinator also agrees with. He observed that the steps have become complex, faster, intense and powerful. He attended the district folkdance workshop, which, unfortunately I am too unfit to attend. He complained of body aches from the three day sessions.

I guess even folk dance needs an upgrade and so do the teachers.

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I am consolidating the 1st Quarter test results for MAPEH, and again, as usual, grade six is lagging behind performance wise. It's kind of frustrating because I and my co-teacher have been burning our fats trying to improve the MAPEH performance. 

Music is what the pupils find most difficult among the four components of MAPEH. I guess it's because learning music is like learning a new language. It's full of symbols. Add to the myriads of symbols that must be memorized, there's also the arithmetic involved. 

Another is that music theory is not something pupils use everyday, it's not relevant to their everyday life so, naturally, it does not interest them so they lose what they learn easily.

Filipinos are gifted when it comes to music. Proof of that is the world class talents our country has produced. Our musicians perform from the most prestigious stages, to cruise ships and in the streets. Many of them have no theoretical background in music except by learning and copying music by ear, or through ouido. 

Music is one those things anyone can do without any idea of the theories behind it. like I always say to those who ask me how to learn an instrument: its easy to learn but difficult to teach. In the end, the only teacher you'll need is interest.

Back to the test result, I don't know...but...I'm ...just read the second part of the title of this post (to avoid redundancy).

Where's the haunted house? Taytay's fast disappearing old houses.

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Motorcycling to the old Taytay market to buy stuffs for lunch, out of nowhere I was hit by nostalgia when I saw this ruins. Here once stood one of the beautiful houses in downtown Taytay. It used to have large trees and palms in the yard and the gargoyles standing guard on top of every column of the iron wrought fences gave it a Gothic aura, "Transylvanian" or "Dracula-ish".

The place is now abandoned and the old house torn down and what remains are some walls and the fence. Although I don't know who owned the place and I had never seen the people living in it, which added to its mystery, I felt a certain amount of affinity for the place.  As a child, I often pass by the house and was amazed and a bit scared by the gargoyles. The mosses growing on its adobe walls completed the appearance of a haunted house. I thought it was one.

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I don't know what happened but a few years back, the place was turned into a flea market and then when it did not make money, it was abandoned altogether. Maybe it was sold, or was taken over by the local government because of tax delinquency, etc.  I don't know if the house is historical but the fact that it is a unique house should have aroused people with artistic and cultural inclination in the municipality and local government to save the place because it would have done well if it was converted into the town museum or an art gallery or both. 

M any may not know this but  Taytay, Rizal is famous for its woodworkers skills hence it is known as the sash capital of the country. It's carpentry and sash works is  well known for its quality, but I don't know if this is still true today considering that many woodworking shops have died and few survived and i could only wonder if the manual skills have been passed on. Another things is, with the depletion of hardwood tree in the forests of Rizal and the resulting log ban made lumber scarce and expensive.

What is the best showcase for the woodworking skills of Taytayenos? It's in their old houses. Unfortunately, with age and no maintenance most of these houses are in disrepair while many are torn down to be replaced by concrete houses.

Some of these old houses should be saved for cultural reasons, to showcase the town's woodworking skills, i.e. if there are still houses to be saved. But I guess it all depends on the owners if they are willing to donate to the local government for heritage reasons. But the thing is, every town should have an old house, a haunted one if possible. 

Where is Taytay's?

Beauty...

Beautiful women are, well, beautiful to look at.

But who decides who is beautiful and who is not. Here is the problem with beauty. Beauty is a subjective thing.  Philosophers have explored beauty and some, or most, have even related beauty to truth. The relationship between beauty and truth this is evident in mathematics and in music. Of course, beauty in philosophy is, to an ordinary mortal like me, is too abstract to explore.

I am curious about female beauty.

Now, look at the classical nude paintings below, I noticed that most of the subjects are voluptuous and using today’s popular definition of beauty (i.e. thin, long legged, and tight with no bulges) these women would never be considered beautiful.

Imagine how soft and comforting to hug these ladies. Judging form today's beauty contests, women are becoming thinner and taller.

Art Appreciation-KULO CCP

                            
   (I took this picture of the Virgin Mary amidst the cocks, the cocks and the barrel men in Burnham, Baguio City a couple of years ago.)

I was looking at the pictures of the controversial exhibit on the internet and I felt nothing. I was not offended nor did I feel anger. Maybe it’s because I am not present in the actual exhibit or maybe it’s because I have read some of Nietzsche’s writings. When one has read Nietzsche, these exhibits are mere commas and period to his contempt and vitriolic criticism of organized religion and society in general.

Anyway, while watching the grade six section 4 check their test papers I did some doodling to pass the time and came up with 4 steps to appreciating weird, abstract and the offensive iconoclastic art (I don’t know if this is the appropriate term for this kind of art) exhibited at the CCP.  I am talking about the Kulo exhibit.

1.       Look at the exhibit. See it with your eyes and whatever emotions you feel, just keep quiet and let it play in your mind. This is normal; art is supposed to elicit emotions. Now if you feel angry, enraged and furious just let it burn in your mind but avoid talking about it with anyone. It is important to keep thiese emotions to yourself so that your experience will not be tainted by the opinion of others. The important thing, at this stage, is not to talk anyone lest these emotions specially anger be inflamed into violence by the goading of people with violent tendencies. Keep away from them.

2.       When you felt your emotions whether it be anger or frustration or disappointment  or all of them has ebbed, sit down and ponder and process your emotions. What do you want to do about it? Ask yourself these questions: 

• Should I form or join a mob and stage a rally in front of the exhibition hall?
• Should I flash cards and banners with the messages ANTI-CHRIST, IMMORAL, AMORAL, BLASPHEMERS, GO TO HELL etc?
•  Should I scare the hell out of the artists and the people responsible for the exhibition by calling on the wrath of GOD, the Holy Trinity, the Holy Family and the heavenly hosts of angels, cherubim and seraphim to fall upon them?
• Should I murder the artists and bomb the exhibition hall?

If you have thought about these things and have decided to do one of them or have done one of   them, stop reading this blog. If you have thought about these things and came to the conclusion that these things are inane and insane, proceed.
 

3.       Once you have processed your feelings and think you can control the emotions you have felt, go back to the exhibit to take a second look. This time relax and let your imagination work. Let it run wild; let it take you wherever it wants to go, allow it work on what you have seen, the exhibit. Understandably, at first you cannot make head or tails of this exhibit. I have seen the photos of the exhibit and it was overcrowded to the point of overwhelming, but let it not stop you. Be patient and just keep looking.

4.       You feel frustrated and angry because you feel you have been cheated because you are expecting something else. This is understandable. You have been inculcated by the educational system with a very limited vocabulary on art. You are brainwashed into thinking that Filipino art should depict the rural life: art should portray the beautiful, the innocent, the serene, the peaceful.

       Be patient.

Though your mind is rebelling because it cannot find the basic elements of art, it cannot find symmetry, it cannot find sanity in color, hues…you are assaulted and insulted because you cannot understand. 

Be patient.

In the absence of order, in the absence of form, your mind begins to look for other way to comprehend the art work before you. Then slowly you see something else, the seemingly little unrelated, unconnected pictures…somehow there is a recurring theme…there is something that connects them you just can't  figure it out.

                               (Jesus wearing a Mickey Mouse ears and nose.)

Then you realized, the exhibit is the portrait of your hypocrisy. Either you are humbled by the experience or you  feel deeper hatred than when you first came to see it.

Blasphemy and art

(Currently enjoying his Warholian 15 minutes is Mideo Cruz, seen here posing beside his controversial art installation, 'Politeismo' (REUTERS Photo) 

I am not surprised at the violent reaction generated by the Kulo exhibit at the CCP. According to the news, the exhibit, a collaboration of several artists, features the posters of Christ, Virgin Mary and other religious items that are combined with phallic objects.
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Modern Filipino visual arts had its beginning in religious symbols. It was the Spaniards who brought paintings and other visual representation art here in the country as a means of communicating basic Catholic teachings to the Filipino natives, the indios. The natives in turn adopted and accepted the artworks and in time showed their talents in reproducing these images. (60 Filipino Masterpieces, 1986)

These images soon began to evolve into more than symbols. The veneration and adoration of these images somehow made the early Filipinos believe that these artworks especially the representation of Christ, the Virgin Mary, the Holy Family and the cross as having divinity. The natives started to believe that these religious images have pieces of deity in them thus possessing powers to heal, to drive away spirits and even to confer absolution. This is not unthinkable since the doctrine of transubstantiation made the early Filipinos believe, especially the cannibals, that they are ingesting parts of God with them. 

So, religious artworks here in the Philippines are not mere artwork, there is divinity in them thus disfigurement or alteration to these images especially of Christ, the Virgin Mary and the Crucifix is direct blasphemy of the Deity. This is beside the fact that these images do not in any way look like the real Christ or God or Mary. We have many representation of Christ there’s the black, white, Asian and the faces of this Christ could vary from the shaved, bearded, smiling, and stern faced, wearing a crown, bareheaded etc. Yet any disrespect to any of these images is a considered blasphemy. So with Mary, she has varied images, faces, sizes and even race.

Acceptance and appreciation of iconoclastic art here in the country still has a long-long way to go. Filipinos are generally emotional people still incapable of processing processing the symbolic and abstract meaning of this kind of art.

CCP has no choice but to take down the exhibit lest the agency's official's be crucified.