05.17.07 kulturnatib

Lesson for teachers

Almost a month after I was in Davao City to participate in the opening of an exhibit there – 'Miting de Abanse' -- with a performance art piece, I was, once again, back there. I had promised I would be back and I was, last weekend, to keep my promise.

The commitment was simply not to be back but, more importantly, to conduct a performance art workshop. The idea for a workshop and the impetus for it came from, one, I was going to be in Davao City anyway during those dates and, two, those I had broached the initial idea to were very enthusiastic and encouraging.

So, upon my return, I sent a formal proposal for the workshop, detailing the requirements and how the workshop would be conducted. The reply was positive. The requirements present no insurmountable problem, came the reply, except for a minor one: fees.

My idea of a token, was, for them, too keen. Could it be lowered, they asked. Expected participants are mostly students. No problem, I answered. So, it was a go. I made final preparations for the workshop which, involving editing video presentations, took me up until the early hours of the morning of my departure.

Arriving at the airport, a flurry of text messages welcomed me. Good news, bad news; 100 more people were interested in joining the workshop. They were from a multinational youth group of Christian missionaries, Y-WAM, on a 3-month outreach program in Davao.

That is simply too big a crowd to handle, I answered. I will adjust and do two sessions, but that number will still have to be cut. Before I arrived at the hotel, we had agreed on 50 as being the cut-off number.

Fortunately, I had one more day to fine-tune preparations. The first session will simply be an introduction to performance art, I decided. The second, in the afternoon and lengthier, will have the workshop component consisting of video and live performance art presentations and subsequent critiquing.

A little past 3 pm the following day, the workshop started. Late. The morning sessions, to my relief, had, after all, been scrapped. Back to the original plan.

For the most part, I explained, the method for the workshop will be show and tell. This will be preceded by a short discussion on the historical background of performance art, followed by its philosophical and art-practice underpinnings.

The show and tell part will consist of showing performance art videos and live performances followed by discussion and critiquing.

The live performances, it turned out, were the best part of the activity. The prepared performances of the participants – that was part of the requirements -- were quite good. The impromptu performances -- also a surprise -- had some rough edges, as expected.

The performance piece that most impressed me was that of three very young girls, aged 12, 14 and 15. Mitzi Jules, Dhyris Cajes and Sheera Mae Peñaranda, respectively. They are peer facilitators of a group called Anak OFW. Their parents, one of them, are either out of the country or are preparing to leave.

Their performance consisted of them sitting on the floor, in a triangle about 3 meters from each other. They brought with them sheets of white paper that they then made into paper airplanes. These they made carefully, deliberately, slowly. Just as the first planes were finished, the audience knew – or thought so -- what was next. Still, they continued making the planes, building up the impatience of and the tension in the audience. This was released only when they flew the planes towards each other, then towards the audience.

It was a short, simple performance art piece. Yet, within that short span of time and that simple set of actions was distilled the emotional experience of children of OFWs. The waiting, the seemingly meaningless activities, the tension, then the flight either towards or away from them. We know it, right? No, we don't.

Experiencing those performances, I experienced what can happen best to teachers: In teaching, to be taught.