Cameleon Association Inc. partners with SM Cares and the Zonta Club of Makati Ayala to stage Metamorphosis, a unique circus show at the SM Mall of Asia Music Hall happening on Monday, May 29.
The show, open to the public and a celebration of the association’s 20th anniversary, features nine foreign circus artists coming from France and Canada. They will perform different acts like aerial ring, aerial silk, Chinese pole, hand-to-hand, acrobatics, tight wire, and hula-hoop.
The show may look like an ordinary production based on the acts that the artists will perform, but what separates Metamorphosis from all other circus shows that we have witnessed is its mission not just to entertain audience but to also send a special and specific message to all.
Joining the foreign circus artists on the performance venue are Cameleon girls, they will present their talent in contortion, diabolo and unicycle.
“Performing in circus has been a tool for therapy for Cameleon girls,” says Laurence Ligier, a French National, who founded Cameleon, a shelter that protects and rehabilitate sexually abused girls in the Philippines.
According to Ligier, circus is a professional integration tool for some of the Cameleon’s beneficiaries. Since they started the unique program, 15 girls have become circus trainers and now give circus-training sessions weekends in the center in Passi (Iloilo) for 60 girls. One of them even became the official circus teacher.
“Over the past years, circus has helped the girls rebuild themselves. It promotes physical wellness and improved emotional health and mental stability. This unique program has already shown its positive impact on these girls,” she adds.
Ligier decided to leave her family and friends in France and put up the non-governmental organization in Iloilo back in 1997. The association, which envisions a society in which children can grow up with dignity with their rights respected; and in which adults are independent, caring and responsible towards them.
“When I first came here, I was just a young girl who wanted to make a difference. When I saw the situation of women who were abused and raped, and young children subjected to incest, I thought that something must be done,” Ligier shares.
Cameleon currently has two centers in Passi City in Iloilo and will soon have another center in Negros. It aims to be a model institution that promotes the empowerment and development of children and their families through education, health, psychosocial interventions, legal assistance and livelihood. Part of its mission is to raise civil society’s awareness of children’s rights by informing and mobilizing the media, public authorities, institutions and public opinion.
Today, Cameleon has offices in France, Switzerland and Luxembourg, while establishing partnerships in Belgium, Andorra and the United States.
“The association has staged the same production of few years ago, but it was a fund-raising event. This time, the show is all about creating awareness. Hence, it’s for free,” shares Rita Dy of Zonta Club of Makati Ayala.
Hosted by celebrity-advocate KC Concepcion, Metamorphosis will also feature France Got Talent 2016 Third Placer Alienette Coldfire And Renowned French Actress Sabrina Ouazani.