Of Showtime and Kasibulan

CEBU, Philippines - Kasibulan block light hand mime performers, of the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Muntinlupa Theatrical Ensemble, broke its tie with Tribu Maharlika, the only “repeater” in ABS-CBN’s “Showtime” who, despite failure to merit acceptance in the earlier screenings, had gracefully made their way to the monthly finals.

However, Kasibulan with its spiritual touch which gave hurado (judge) Dimples Romana the goosebumps made it as the first grand finalist in the six-week-old “Showtime” which replaced brain-teaser “Pilipinas, Game Ka Na Ba?”

The Kasibulan feat is the triumph of 20th-century mime great Marcel Marceau who said that it is at the “most important points of our lives that we run out of words.”

Kasibulan used their hands and arms, as well as artists without faces, to tell a story and describe effectively the emotion of the downtrodden who relied on the promise that there will always be tomorrow for sinners with the promise of mercy and compassion.

To the tune of Rico J. Puno’s “May Bukas Pa”, Kasibulan began their performance with gestures and movements of the hands and arms to form letters that evolve into words, which eventually translate into more meaningful thoughts. The mime sequences depict the sun, the moon, the flame, the sinner, the Crucified Christ.

This was achieved with the use of hand gloves that become visible against a block light. The hands in red gloves assembled to mimic a flame which symbolizes light and hope, and faith that’s alive and burning.

Afterwhich, two dancers in body stockings that intently hid their facial features spoke to the spectators, on the subject of salvation, in body language.

The performance, though not a Kasibulan original piece (as reported), reaped oohhs and aahhs as it wowed the crowd, with the “madlang people” scoring a high 10 and a low 8 with 1 being the lowest on the scale.

Aside from Dimples, TV and radio personality Amy Perez who has never been evicted since Day 1 (October 24 was pilot episode) was one with the crowd in saying that “Kasibulan is the best thing that ever happened to then four-week-old Showtime.”       

Even standup comedian Vice Ganda failed to score a nasty spiel after he got blown away by the A-1 performance. “Kaloka! Kahit hindi ganon kabongga ang entertainment value compared sa mga past performances, eh kinabog nyo naman ang ispiritwal (side) namin,” he said. “Kaya wala talaga akong masabing masama against you. Kaya eto ang score ko,” pushing a digit on the electronic scoreboard which revealed a perfect 10.

The rest of the judges of a five-member panel scored the same, giving Kasibulan its first ala Nadia Comaneci haul, thereby opening doors for the grand plum next year with more talented individuals expected to chant “this is your show, your time. It’s Shoowwtime”.

It’s easy to fall for the hook of this late morning show because aside from finding extraordinariness in the most ordinary (street) people, I also applaud the “Hurado o Burado” portion. This gives dance aficionados like me the chance to boot out a judge in the wrong shoes. I do feel the need to vote against judges who are less of a talent and who find it hard to come up with a sound judgment even for once. (Sowee! They just have to face the truth that being “Hurado” of dance showdowns would require them to be terpsichorean themselves. Now, that would give justice to being eligible.)

The only drawback to dance/stage productions is the repetitive use of dance sequences which allow “sawa factor” to be magnified. Employing tots, too, for “kiddie-cutie factor” has become overused, as well as macho dancing wherein even very young boys are prodded to do such. “Leave it up to the big boys na lang kasi mas bagay,” a conscientious Vice Ganda lashed at the male adults. “Dinamay nyo pa ang bulinggit. Hayaan nyo muna siyang maging bata,” he added.

Another is the presence of women who obviously cannot dance but try to win the approval of the crowd by presenting themselves in scantily clad outfits. “Sobrang cheesy talaga!” I would want to raise a placard: Show more sense over skin!

Further, walking Wikipedia Kim Atienza should share more trivia on dances, songs and festivities, relative to concepts of presentations and less of those animals unless these are part of the concept itself. Some pieces of animal trivia are uncalled for. And with the manner that he presents the information in such a hurry - doing it in the “yakity-yak” manner makes the portion irritating. Also, could somebody from Toastmasters Club please coach Anne Curtis to improve hosting style because most of the time she drops Vhong Navarro’s punchlines (or those of the judges’) somewhere instead of spicing up the humor.

Vhong lives up to the “suave” image, it would be a whole lot of fun if the show would also feature him giving tips on how to improve choreography instead of having bands perform who are no better compared to the show’s participants.

I salute the tandem of Jugs Juguete (Itchyworms) and Teddy Corpus (Rocksteddy); they still have a long long way to go in the hosting field and would sometimes come to the point of being overacting, but they prove to be a duo of whackos and can put up sorts of equalizer to points wherein their impact on television comes to a flatline.

As for this week, I appreciate the concept of IBM (Internal Bleeding Masters) from Isabela province. They have presented a concept wherein a dancer is made a skipping rope which I find fresh and entertaining.

“Sabagay, hindi naman talaga kailangan perpekto. Ang importante may bago sa paningin at na-entertain naman tayo lahat,” as Amy Perez puts it.