Co.ERASGA marks Asian Heritage Month with Passages of Rhythms
The dance work’s remount features a cross-pollination of flamenco, bharatanatyam, and “voices for the body”
Sujit Viadya (far left), Alvin Erasga Tolentino, Gabriel Dharmoo, and Kasandra “La China” Lea. Photo by Yasuhiro Okada.
Co.ERASGA presents Passages of Rhythms at PAL Studio Theatre (300–501 Cardero Street) May 19 and 20 at 8pm
LOCAL DANCER AND choreographer Alvin Erasga Tolentino’s Passages of Rhythms is on one hand a merging of three duets created for three diverse artists that showcase three different genres: flamenco, bharatanatyam, and “voices for the body” (more on that later). But the work’s remount is much more than that, its timing deliberate and celebratory as it comes to the stage after two long COVID years during the month of May.
“I wanted to remount Passages of Rhythms at this time to bring the artists together again as we had planned for the spring of 2020 with presentations here in Vancouver and touring engagements that were postponed and cancelled due to the pandemic,” Tolentino, the Manila-born founder of Co.ERASGA, tells Stir. “The remount is part of our continued return-to-the-arts engagement and bringing of live arts back to audiences. It is also a piece that is worth being seen again by many diverse audiences with its unique creative team and hybrid performance dance. It is a fitting work to present and celebrate for the month of May, which is Asian Heritage Month across the country.”
With live percussion by Jonathan Bernard and Ronald Stelting, the full-length production features duets that Tolentino shares with Indo-Canadian dancer Sujit Viadya (bharatanatyam), Chinese-Canadian artist Kasandra “La China” (flamenco), and Montreal-based voice artist Gabriel Dharmoo (voices for the body). In the piece with Dharmoo, the two literally use vocals, in structured and improvised ways, as a soundscape to “dance the body”.
Each work has its own unique flavour. Viadya and Kasandra “La China” are willing to break the status quo and reinvent their respective genres, while the manipulation of the voice to generate choreography yields tremendous creative freedom. Combined, Tolentino says, the forms cross-pollinate into a contemporary fusion of dance, rhythms, and sounds. And although the genres are very different from one to the next, the works share a common theme.
“In each duet, there is an encounter of breaking the rules—questioning the representation of the body, dance, and movements from a classical perspective into a contemporary practice,” Tolentino says. “Each duet represents an attempt to hybridize dance—the sensation, feeling, shape, spaces, and, of course, how rhythms can be explored and juxtaposed to create a performance language for the body.”
Alvin Erasga Tolentino (left) and Sujit Viadya. Photo by Yasuhiro Okada.
The return to live performance has been healing for the artists, a chance to honour and savour things such as touch, song, and dance. Being able to present Passages of Rhythms during Asian Heritage Month is especially meaningful for the creative team. Mounting the production at PAL came as a result of the company’s desire to connect with seniors in the community; elders are invited to attend a May 18 preview for free. “Their isolation during COVID has been traumatizing and what better ways to uplift their spirits but through arts/dance?” Tolentino says. The company is also donating its time by providing an evening show for ExplorASIAN Vancouver’s May 21 Community Awards Celebration, which recognizes the cultural diversity that Pan-Asian Canadian communities bring to Canadian society.
“Asian Heritage Month is when we can be visible and can celebrate and share our Asian identities, our culture, languages, and ways of life here in Canada and in the diaspora,” Tolentino says. “At a precarious time in the community with racism on the rise since the pandemic, Asian arts and culture can be a vehicle to bring our arts practices to the forefront, voice our concerns, and showcase the pulse of the Asian diaspora that is constantly changing, developing, and moving. Co.ERASGA has been at the heart of this rigour for quite some time, and it is probably even more necessary now than ever.”
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