Of course, Douglas, we shall dance

Like his good friend Zeneida "Bibot" Amador of Repertory Philippines, Douglas Nierras has always had a reputation for being tough and demanding. But he’s not tough just to be mean; he is passionate about what he does and wants to communicate that same passion to others.

Dance, he says, is not just a simple matter of getting onstage and moving one’s body in time to music. There is much more to it than that. An ex-medical student – he reached the first year of Medicine proper at the University of the Philippines before he quit to build a career as one of the most respected dancers and choreographers in the business – Douglas has always approached dance like a science.

"In the core of a dance education, there is a science," he explains, tapping the table to emphasize his point. "With dance, the body is honed and trained to communicate a certain feeling or idea. It’s like medicine. You begin by applying the laws of physics, anatomy and physiology. Dance is decisive, pointed, pre-meditated. Hindi komo nagagalaw mo ang katawan mo, puwede ka nang tawaging dancer."

People who don’t share his passion for dance may not understand why Douglas feels offended when he sees people taking dance lightly. He is not being mayabang; just honest and passionate about his craft. "God created me to perform dance in the proper way," he says. "I have a passion for dance, and my dance is dance as an art."

He also feels disappointed that the government does not show enough concern, not just for dance, but for arts in general. It’s sad, he says, that there is no active art or cultural education program in Philippine schools. He wishes that the Philippine government would show more concern for Philippine contemporary dance, because as far as audience support goes, he doesn’t see a problem.

"The problem is not the audience. There is an audience for dance," contends Douglas, whose Powerdance dance company has spent the last 19 years touring and performing in various towns and cities throughout the country. These performances have taken them as far as Davao, Iloilo, Cotabato, Cagayan de Oro and Zamboanga, where they have played to sold-out crowds. Even in small venues in obscure towns you’ve never even heard of, Powerdance always gets a warm reception, proving Douglas’ point that if there are good dance shows, people will always come and watch them. They’ve even gotten the same kind of response abroad, Europe, Canada, the US and practically wherever they perform. In Douglas’ words, "dinudumog kami."

For almost two decades, Douglas and the members of Powerdance have been trying, in their own little way, to raise awareness and appreciation for dance. Yes, it may be a lonely crusade, but Douglas says he’s not giving up, even if people say that what he’s doing is equivalent to shooting for the moon. "What’s wrong with shooting for the moon?" he asks in that familiar, but brutally frank manner of his. "Maybe that’s what it’s all about. I don’t consider it a waste of time, because like they say, life itself is a process, and that it’s not the destination that counts, it’s the journey. Even if we just do it one small show at a time, we just have to keep plugging away. Because if we stop, what will happen? All the more, there will be no awareness."

The phrase "one small show at a time" hardly seems applicable to the kind of shows that Douglas and Powerdance have been mounting through the years. Never one to be content with the ordinary, Douglas always comes up with shows built around bold, daring new concepts, like their forthcoming show Powerdancing in the Dark. This will be on April 30 and May 1, 8 p.m. at the Meralco Theater. (Tickets are priced at a very reasonable P700, P500 and P300 and are available at the Powerdance studio, tel. no. 995-8287, or at Ticketnet outlets).

Powerdancing in the Dark is a show that will shock and surprise, because it is the first-ever Black Theater dance concert. For those who are new to the genre, black light theater began in the Czech Republic in the early ’60s using UV, or ultraviolet or "black" lights on actors dressed in black with their costumes illuminated by a creative interplay of lights and colors, titillating the eye with characters that "glow in the dark." Hence, the title of the show.

According to Douglas, black lights look just like normal fluorescent lamps or incandescent light bulbs, but they do something completely different. Switch one on, and white clothes, teeth and various other elements you see onstage glow in the dark, while the bulb itself only emits a faint purple light. Black light theater has been in use in clubs, science museums, amusement parks and teenagers’ bedrooms, among other places, but to most people, they’re a total mystery. Douglas will be using black lighting during the show to illuminate the dancers’ costumes and create what he calls "magic" onstage.

"It’s magic in the sense that you’ll see dancers dancing on the walls, that sort of thing," says Douglas. "It’s boundless choreography, which we create with the help of the lighting."

Among the numbers to look forward to during the show are Requiem, which is about "time parallels in the life of Jesus Christ" and Latin Duo where the dancers look like two people, but are actually just one.

Douglas says that while this may be a first, it certainly will not be the last. "Like I said, you just have to keep plugging away. I’ve devoted more than 30 years of my life to this, and I’m certainly not going to stop now."

And you shouldn’t, Douglas.

Bravo to you and the Powerdance!