The Holy Week is one of the most important holidays for Christian devotees, and this is commemorated in almost all parts of the country. This year, the Holy Week was observed utilizing traditional customs and in many instances, with a contemporary approach. In the Metro, different contemporary exhibitions and installations, even outside of the confines of the church. were mounted.
For instance, the Arts and Culture Cluster of De La Salle-College of St. Benilde’s School of Design and Arts celebrated with a two-hour performance of a contemporary interpretation of the Passion of Christ last March 21. Directed by Nonon Padilla, the school presented Ang Mga Misterio Ng Liwanag (The Mysteries of Christ’s Divinity), played and performed by the students of Theater and Dance of the Benilde School of Design and the Arts; faculty and member of PETA, Eric Villanueva; the school’s program chair of dance, Christine Crame; Associate Dean of SDA Culture and Arts, Sunita S. Mukhi; Coro San Benildo; Romancon Dance Company; SDEAS Silent Steps; and Dulaang Filipino.
The theatrical performance commenced at the entrance of the SDA Building followed by a street performance of the Senakulo on Arellano, Estrada and Leon Guinto streets. Within the building facilities, calligraphy is seen on every floor together with some paintings that depict the crown of Christ. Clad in masks, puppet costumes as well as white and red robes, the performers chanted, danced, and moved – displaying the juxtaposition of modern day challenges with religion and tradition.
The students and faculty members prepared for a month, and Associate Dean Mukhi’s performance as a dancing demon was the highlight of the show, representing a realistic view of the world wherein people have this belief that they are better than God.
“It was my first time to do this particular thing, but we have done other performances on the ramp,” shares Mukhi. “We did Dante’s Purgatorio last semester where we did a performance here, but most of the performance happened inside the building.” The Mysteries of Christ’s Divinity is something new for the faculty and the students because the performance extended to the streets of Arellano, Estrada and Leon Guinto. The performance of Mukhi was choreographed in playful dance including traditional Indian dance moves that is something native to her. “It’s the kind of artwork that I know how to do because I am of Indian origin so I know Indian classical dance,” she explains.
The traditional tropes of chanting the pasyon are interspersed with stories and testimonials of the performer’s personal experience about faith. After the performance by the SDA ramp, a version of the senakulo followed into a procession and the Stations of the Cross extended along the streets, ending with the Resurrection and a prayer for peace by Benilde president Brother Dennis Magbanua.
“There is no apathy to the Christian faith in Manila!” Mukhi expresses. As throughout the performance and even to the procession on the streets, the people including street children became fully engaged, going as close as they could to the performers.
“This performance was an affirmation of faith. My students responded by writing in their reaction papers that they were in fact moved by the performance which reiterated their faith,” shares Mukhi. During the performance, actors presented their own testimonials on their faith. Highlights were the moving story of each of the performers – a young woman diagnosed with Asperger’s and her plight to overcome this disability and eventually go to school and now take in the play. Another touching testimonial is from Palanca award winning playwright Frank Rivera who narrated the story on how he survived non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
Ang Mga Misterio ng Liwanag is the follow up breakthrough project that The Arts and Culture Cluster of the School of Design and the Arts put together after they staged last year’s five-and-a-half-hour performance of Dante’s Purgatory: Love Gone Wrong, Love Redeemed, in commemoration of the poet’s 750th birth anniversary. Parts of the performance involved a procession, choral singing, dance, immersive theater, animation, photo booths, cheerleading, a fashion display, and cosplay actors depicting the seven deadly sins.
According to Mukhi, they plan to have something grand every semester and they are looking to more performances by next year, with perhaps something special to commemorate William Shakespeare’s 450th birthday with an interpretation of Macbeth. “We are also conjuring a series of exhibitions, performances and symposia around the theme of the Filipino Mythic to bring attention to what Filipinos value as to the ideal, iconic, beatific, from the preternatural, to the divine, to the popular, to the exotic. So watch out, people!” she closes.
