Choreographer's Birth

Choreographer's Birth
Featuring the best established and the best up-and-coming choreographers of the Philippines.
Event held at Ateneo De Manila's Irwin Theatre.

This is probably one of the most looked-forward events for me this year. A whole concert featuring nothing but dance! Every style, every corner of the Philippines, two world-champions, what else could I ask for? LOL. And I gotta say, it was mind-blowing.

A bummer during the concert:
NO CAMERAS ALLOWED.
*sigh*

Line was long! I came with Coyi at around 6.20pm at Ateneo, and it took almost an hour from the start of our queue to the gate. There were a lot of people! Probably most of the dance community who could make it, came.

Introduction was called I Dance, featuring each member of the Philippine All-Stars entering in a dark scene with a short choreography and a recorded audio of what inspires them to dance. Very heart-warming, to hear the humble beginnings of some of these now world-famous guys.

Here comes the dance shows!!
Each member of the All-Stars, as previously mentioned, led a team of dancers in choreography of varying styles. There were also some guest choreographers, including a fellow XFX brother, Eauj Corpuz. I miss you guys! :(

Kenjohns Serrano - All-Stars
"Be Aware" (New School)
This choreo was awesome! The choreography was tight, the story portrayed (waking up from a dream) was really well-executed. What more can one expect from the mercurial Kenjohns. :)

Thea Baraquio & UP-LB - UP-Los Banos
"Gray" (Laid Back)
This is one of my favorites. Very smooth LA New Style groove, and well-executed choreography. Plus a fellow blogger, Chris Belison performed. Well done Chris!

Chelo Aestrid - All-Stars
"The Age I Started" (Hip Hop)
Not one of my favorites at all. I felt that the other dances really flew past this one in terms of wow-factor and difficulty of choreography. Still, that doesn't mean it's not good, simply that it was overshadowed by much better performances.

Sheena Vera Cruz - All-Stars
"Rewind 90s" (Old School Hip Hop)
Pretty nice one. It's always nice to see old school 90s hip hop dances being brought back. The choreography for this one involved a lot of dancers. :P

Jhong Messina - All-Stars
Jhong happens to be a De La Salle University - Manila alumni, and ex-dancer of the La Salle Dance Company - Street, so he brought in dancers from the current crop of LSDC members. Benj Manalo, Mico Lumanlan, Japhet Reyes, JJ San Juan, Tano Aragones, and DX Resuello brought a strong La Salle dance team in Jhong's crazy/insane choreography that featured a very disturbing intro (backward hoodies/straight jackets). The choreography played to some heavy death metal, and featured nice stunts, but unfortunately, midway through the dance, the music cut. :(

Euaj Corpuz - XFX
"One Saturday Night" (House, Hip Hop)
My old brothers from XFX! From the team of nine, only Jeff Cordova, Cyrus Litonjua, and Vincent Mangubos performed with Eauj. Also dancing in this particular number was Mycs Villoso, the coach of LSDC - Street. They had to restart the dance three times, as there was some technical problems during the first two tries. It all ended pretty well, as is expected of Eauj shows. I miss dancing with XFX!

Michelle Salazar - All-Stars
"Feverette" (Junior Hip Hop)
Easily the crowd-favorite of the night. The dancers were kids, and boy, is hip hop going places! Not much to say other than they blew the house down. They had two kids with wicked headspins, and one had the sickest invert I've ever seen popped! A couple of them even got buck and Krumped! Damn!

Lema Diaz - All-Stars
"Rollercoaster" (Jazz)
Definitely the sexiest performance of the night. The four girls dancing wore the tiniest black shorts and over-sized white long-sleeved shirts, and with their bodies? Can you spell smoking hot? Lema looked gorgeous, and the choreography was brilliant. Loved the beating up of the cheating boyfriend at the end. LOL.

Prince Paltu-Ob - All-Stars, Funkstylers
"Bringing Back The Funk" (Funk)
The longest dance at 9 minutes, it was also the best told story. The story in the dance showed members of Funkstylers casually drinking and chatting at a disco scene and once in a while, the beat changes and members would pop lock. A Skittle friend, Dean Sachi, was phenomenal here. Crazy body control! After the Funkstylers leave, the two 'waiters' at the disco scene talk between themselves, and proceed to 'try' and copy the Funkstylers. The two waiters were Prince and Reagan of All-Stars, and suffice to say, they tore the house down too.

Patrick Caballa - All-Stars, Krumpinoy
"Get Buck" (Krump)
Krumpinoy has just taken Filipino Krumping to a whole new level. Featuring strong presence from Krumpinoy (and Skittlez boy Matt Padilla!), they got the crowd pretty hyped and buck. The kill-offs and tricks were amazing, and you could feel the energy radiate from the stage. Choreography was on point too, something hard to see in Krumping.

Xstatic
"Gugma" (Hip Hop)
The 2007 World Hip Hop Champions take the stage! They have insanely tight choreography, and literally everyone in the crew was strong. They performed their world-winning choreography (you can see it in YouTube) and seeing it first-hand was a jaw-dropper. Good job Xstatic!

James Gaddi & Bong Tan - Maneuvers
"Beyond" (Isolation)
Maneuvers is a dance group most often seen on local TV shows as dancers to celebrity performances, but I gotta say, what they do on TV is nothing compared to the show they put on. It was good to see an old XFX boy Kit dancing. It was pretty alright, but nothing I would die for to see.

Niko Bolante - All-Stars
"Stereotype" (Jazz Funk, Hip Hop)
I don't really remember much about this one, sorry readers. :(

Maya Carandang - All-Stars
"Pagsilang ng Bagong Mandirigma" (Bboying)
This one had a nice concept to it. 5 dancers in nothing but pants and body paint, acting out a dramatic 'warrior-esque' scene.. using bboying (or the non-existent-in-the-hip hop-world-media-term, breakdance). Some nice moves like 1990s, human flag, and a lot of nice freezes.

Madelle Enriquez - All-Stars
"Swathe" (Concept Hip Hop)
Featuring three mannequins, and a lot of female dancers, this was a new twist to hip hop dancing. A lot of angular and non-rhythmic movements. Actually, I didn't really get it, but full marks for the nice concept.

Reagan Cornelio - All-Stars
"Chacharzuvelex" (Flame-boy-ent)
One of the crowd favorites that night. The intro featured four dancers in prison uniforms doing prison-ish things like giving tattoos.. Until the music changed and the choreography turned out to be wacking! (Wacking is kinda like gay-dancing for guys. Very feminine. LOL.) The choreography was great, and it was horrifically believable, which meant that the dance number was that good. Definitely enjoyable, especially when the entire dance crew (a LOT of people) came out wacking.

Laurence Chua - All-Stars
"90s Child" (New School 90s Hip Hop)
This was a pretty good show too. The outfits (all black overalls) looked great, and the dance choreography was tight. Nice to see a Skittle (Matt Padilla) dancing there too. Laurence's bboying wasn't too bad either. :)

Vince Mendoza - Guest Choreographer
"Paliguan" (Revolutionary)
I don't remember much about this one either, probably because I didn't get it.

Charles Thompson - Hot Legs
"Let Me Think About It" (Funk Jazz)
A fun show to watch, with the bright skinny jeans and all. :P These guys are amazing jazz/modern dance dancers! A lot of technique, good delivery. Apparently, Hot Legs is one of the premier jazz crews in the Philippines, and I've got to say, they really delivered.

Kyxz Mendiola - All-Stars
"Hybrid" (Contemporary BBoying)
As the last individual choreographer + crew show, this one had to wow the audience, and it did. The concept of 'demons (led by Kyxz) coming into the world through a portal (which rips off their special effects costume "wings") was really something I've never seen before, so top marks for that. The bboying was tight, and air chairs, flares, and 1990s were flying about. Some good downrocking was also exhibited around the middle/end of the show. The ending was great: air flares, headspins, 2000s, and air chairs. Damn.

FINALE - All-Stars
A nice, kinda funny choreography. Loved the 'battle scene' of Kyxz vs Jhong, where they battled bboying style, until Jhong did a 'haduken'. LOL. Nice 'superhero' effects too, with Reagan flapping the tied t-shirt around Jhong's neck for a 'wind effect'. Crazy show. :P

All in all, it was a good concert, definitely worth the hassle of going to Ateneo. Good to note that San Miguel Beer also announced their sponsorship of the All-Stars and gave them P200,000 to start with. God bless All-Stars. :) Oh, and I got myself a shirt from the concert too.


Not bad ey? :D

Jay~