2000 Gawad Alab ng Haraya Awardee

(Alab ng Haraya Awards)

Artistic Director/Choreographer for Dance Forum (for "Daughters of Necessity" & "choreographic.discourse.MOMENT IN DESIRE")

Each year finds Myra Beltran breaking new ground in choreography, performance, and collaborative artistic work, making her an important force in contemporary dance.

In her work "choreographic.discourse.MOMENT IN DESIRE," she attempts to dispute the common perception of dance as mere movement and proposes a new perspective: that while dance may be ephemeral, it is nonetheless capable of creating meaning.

She initiated collaborative undertakings not only with independent and company dancers but also, more significantly, with artists from other fields and disciplines. In "Daughters of Necessity," Beltran works with two other dancers with whom she shares common experiences: that of being trained in the rigors of classical ballet and modern dance by the celebrated Ballet Philippines; and of subsequently venturing on a different path as an independent dancer. All three dancers bring into the production their individual rereading of the solos of the first generation women choreographers who they claim have influenced their education as dancers. Indeed, the entire program looms as a grand celebration of women, of the beauty of their creative work and the liberating power of their dance.

Through her reconstruction of Denisa Reyes’ "One-Ton Pinay," Beltran presents a powerful image of the modern-day Filipina émigré. Possessed by cross-cultural identities and faced with conflicting expectations, she appears almost comical, as she dances in near schizophrenic frenzy.

Perhaps most significant about Beltran’s manifold performances is that they have created an appreciation of dance as discourse in itself. Further, women are returning to their bodies as points of reference, imitating her as she focuses always on the living, breathing body. For this, as she herself has explained, is the battlecry of the contemporary dancer, to go back to the body as home to fulfill a fundamental need for shelter and for grace.

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