Two Sides of a Koine

THE KOINE Theater Foundation (KTF) seeks to do what is not often done by theater groups: Encourage and enhance freedom of expression by training scholars who cannot afford lessons in dance, theater or music.

Conceptualized, set up and run by 2001 Palanca Awards first prize winner Niel (pronounced Nee-el) de Mesa, KTF offers theater, ballet, hip-hop dance and voice lessons to poor scholars, for whom such classes are often just fantasies to break the gray of their lives.

In an e-mail that preceded Starweek’s interview with him, Niel said KTF’s dream "is to help as many people as we can for as long as we live".

Jaunty, young and very intense, Niel, 24, exudes the determination of a person driven and displays the idealism usually associated with those unsullied by life’s realities.

At 22, he won the top Palanca prize for his play Subtext which, presented at the awards ceremony, showed a sensitivity, humor, preciseness and innovative use of language one would expect from an artist much older.

Niel trained with Powerdance. He graduated from Ateneo de Manila University in 2000 after completing interdisciplinary studies in theater and communication arts.

KTF’s aim, he said, is to "make poor, common people shine by giving them the chance and permission to shine".

Many of the KTF scholars, he says, "would skip classes because they did not have enough transportation money to go to our studio."

After two years, however, this problem was remedied by Niel finding part-time work for KTF scholars. "Now our scholars are increasing in number. Even our faculty improves every year."

"I was told by a lot of people: ‘Niel magpayaman ka muna, saka ka tumulong sa iba (get rich first, then help others).’ But this is what I really want to do, this is what I live for. People say that it’s a very noble thing to do, but for me, it’s something that I want to do."

KTF began, he relates, as "an endeavor that I would put money into, my personal money... I work my ass off outside the foundation like doing rackets and stuff like that... then my money would go to the foundation, so it’ll just pass though my hands."

Despite the sacrifice and the difficulty of funding KTF, Niel says, "I know that my soul feels better that way."

Aptly named, Koine is a Greek term that means "shared by the common people", derived from koinonia or communion. It is the same root word from which the word "coin" comes, a coin being something that is "passed from hand to hand".

Koine started out as a group of friends who asked me: ‘Niel, can you train us in dance, can you train us in acting?’ I was already directing in college and I was into professional dancing and I was also doing choreography and composing my own music for different people and full-length musicals," he says. "They asked me if we could do projects and things like that, and so I was really regaled and I felt appreciated and so I started out on this endeavor. Then my mom suggested that we have a social thrust, which is totally wonderful, because... I’ve always wanted to help the poor."

His mother, Yvonne, a chemist, retired businesswoman and real estate broker, is the foundation’s finance officer. His girlfriend, Debbie Rivera, is KTF’s ballet teacher.

Displaying a penchant for deep philosophical contemplation, Niel tells Starweek about his concept of poverty. "The poverty I see is the poverty of always having possessions–it is the greatest of poverties. It is the concept of possessing people, possessing things, possessing positions in the government, of possessing anything that you will have the fear of losing. And because you fear losing something, you won’t give it to others. Eventually you will lose love."

And how, by helping the poor, does he intend to fight this poverty? "Primarily, the strength of Koine is to see everybody poor and rich at the same time," he states. That is, rich in their freedom and ability to express themselves and communicate effectively through theater, dance and with their voices raised in song, and poor only in terms of the coin.

Besides scholarships and training street children and other KTF students who suffer the burden of material poverty, the foundation also stages productions for various audiences.

Many of the plays KTF stages are written by Niel, including Pilandok, a play that showcases the acting ability of Downs Syndrome children that also targets an audience of children who suffer from Downs Syndrome.

They have also successfully staged the Broadway dance classic, Fame, merging elements of classical jazz, tap dance, street dancing, latino dance and a musical revue at its home in Quickstep Studio in Quezon City, OnStage Theater in Makati City’s Greenbelt Mall, St. Scholastica’s College, Manila’s St. Cecilia’s Hall and the Rizal Mini-Theater.

KTF has also jointly produced shows with the Ayala Foundation Inc., Holy Spirit School, the University of Asia and the Pacific and ABS-CBN.

KTF now charges its scholars a nominal fee of P500 for its lessons to "encourage our scholars to value what we teach them". This fee is inclusive of class materials and is paid per course, rather than monthly.

Niel decided to charge this fee "to cover the cost of class materials, like attendance cards and such, materials that give KTF students a sense of accomplishment and help them value their lessons".

When KTF still offered free lessons, their attrition rate, both for teachers and students, was rather high. "Before, people left the foundation very early because it was a very, very hard endeavor. Helping people never came easy," he notes.

Running KTF is, in his words, "very, very meticulous. There is a need for policies, for organizational structure, for balancing."

He also runs the foundation on the tenets of responsibility, discipline, accountability and positive feedback.

Though KTF shares the same root word as coin, "we have this mentality in Koine that money is never for accumulation, it is only for movement," he opines.

Company members, he says, "are given the priority and opportunity to further develop whatever talents and skills they have–whether in choreography, direction or design–in our productions. To constantly develop our company members, we have invited professional dance, voice and acting instructors to give master classes, workshops and seminars.

"The foundation is wonderful, it’s stupendous, because everyone in the foundation is positive. You won’t find anyone who I call ‘nega’, as if there’s a nimbus cloud hovering over their heads."

Niel is not looking at settling down to raise a family yet, he tells Starweek. "Of course there are plans," he admits, casting a glance at Debbie, who sits beside him, "but now, the foundation is like a business as well, because there’s financial trafficking involved. We need to be clever about our cash flows."

He has "no qualms" about all the work he has put into KTF. "In fact, it’s a triumph already to survive that." Looking at Debbie with affection, he adds, "With the help of my parents, my friends, the specialest of my friends, I managed to survive emotionally. That’s a great thing, a great achievement."

As for his fearless forecast: "I think I’m being prepared for something bigger because the emotional challenge has been...whoa!"

"At the age of 24, I’m supposed to be going to Malate, skirting my way into different grooves," he says, but KTF is where his heart rests and beats.

The future is, he assesses, shaping up well for KTF, especially now, "because I strive to be positive. With the help of my experiences in relationships, I have found out that the most important things in my life are relationships."

"I’ve come to make it a point to see things positively... Because I see things positively, people are attracted to that."

He reckons that "if I give people something they don’t find in other places, they will keep on coming back, or stay and, even if they don’t stay, I realize it’s all right if they leave. What’s most important is when they leave my nest, they can fly."