Ang Sayaw ng Dalawang Kaliwang Paa (2011): Multiple Mediums in One
The film portrays Filipino feminism and queer politics through intramediality, where a text from one medium is adapted within another medium.
Filipino filmmakers are more talented than what the public collectively thinks, but they are inadequately supported, especially when compared to creators of foreign and mainstream cinema. Even so, films like that of Alvin Yapan would then become a momentous development in Philippine cinema, particularly in the recontextualization of local and national literature. It remarkably portrays Filipino feminism and queer politics through intramediality — an underrated approach in cinematic adaptations where a text from one medium is adapted within another medium.
Ang Sayaw ng Dalawang Kaliwang Paa (2011) adapts the works of select Filipina poets through a kinetic rendition of their lyricism. It also renders the epic Hinilawod from Panay Bukidnon that chronicles Humadapnon’s journey of finding a maiden named Nagmalitong Yawa. Much to his observation, Yapan notes that film adaptations in the Philippines are usually based on fiction like novels and short stories. Prior to his film’s release, he claimed that there has yet to be a Filipino film that is adapted from poetry. He thus utilizes the genre through performing arts within his decade-year-old film, discussing the plight of marginalized artists.
The film follows Marlon (Paulo Avelino), who does poorly in his literature class with his teacher Karen (Jean Garcia). When he finds out that Karen moonlights as a choreographer and a dance teacher, he secretly hires Dennis (Rocco Nacino), her assistant at a dance studio and Marlon’s classmate in her class to teach him to dance in the hopes of impressing Karen. As he learns how his body should move, Marlon begins to understand the intersections between poetry and dance. The movie culminates with Marlon and Dennis starring in Karen’s dance adaptation of Hinilawod.
Apart from the Ilonggo epic, the film features the poems from which it implicitly declares to be based: Kinukumutan Ka ng Aking Titig by Ruth Elynia Mabanglo, Kontrapunto by Ophelia Dimalanta (translated by Rebecca Anonuevo), Ang Sabi Ko sa Iyo by Belinda S. Santos, and Nais Kong Madarang by Rebecca Anonuevo. It also features two poems that are sung as ballads in the film: Merlinda Bobis’ Litanya and Joi Barrios’ Paglisan. All those poems are intertwined with the dances performed by the actors in the film. Hence, the film follows the procedural logic of intramediality.
Poetic and mimetic
The film opens with Karen’s narration of the first poem, Kinukumutan Ka ng Aking Titig, while she performs for a dance lesson. It cuts to Marlon driving and arriving at school during the lines, “Isang siyudad ng pag-ibig:/Dilim na binabagtas ng mga hipo,” and back to Karen, who reads the line “Liwanag na kaakibat ng mga pangako” in her literature class. The next lines are used to cross-cut between these three series of shots.
The rest that follows, however, are sung while Karen is dancing — making the music both diegetic and non-diegetic. The opening scene implies that literature directs the dance; these art forms equally perform within the film as an art form itself. It ends with a high-angle shot of Karen reaching out upward, cutting to her reading the last line in class: “Mahal, ako’y napapapikit.” As it cuts back to her pose, she also closes her eyes.
The next appropriated poem takes place in a montage where Marlon and Dennis practice tango. Before this, they agree on who takes on the role of the woman and the man because the latter naturally takes the lead. Marlon asks if it is truly necessary that the dance has both the male and the female when assigned as his partner’s male counterpart, so Dennis suggests they switch roles instead. Marlon insists that they partner up as men during the session with Karen — a dialogue reminiscent of the film’s title.
Later, Marlon reads Kontrapunto in a voice-over while the scene plays. There is no sound, save for the beat of a folk drum, their footsteps, and their heavy breathing while Marlon recites the poem. The silence begins in the first line, “Sabi mo: walang tinig ang pag-ibig,” and the scene also frequently cuts to a close-up shot of Marlon reading the poem to Dennis in his car. Dennis stares at him while he reads, and right after, he relents that Marlon finally gets it. The “it” here may refer to Dennis’ heart, which can be assumed given the look of resignation as he looks down. The poem, then, is interpreted through their dance practice and their conversation in the car, while the film captures all these simultaneously.
The third poem is performed as a song while alternate cuts of Marlon dancing with Karen and with another female partner occur. The whole class dances but at a key moment, Marlon and Dennis look at each other while holding their respective partners down. Karen then instructs the class that only she and Marlon remain so that they can observe. The stanza is sung again while they dance until Dennis’ voice-over of the final stanza overlaps the scene. It cuts to him reading the poem to Karen in a classroom. They talk about parting as an imagery of death; this interpretation leads to Karen confronting and comforting Dennis. Eventually, he stumbles into the dance studio dejected and performs an interpretative dance of Paglisan.
The continuous analyses of poetry through dance are reworked in the film. It blends the genres, forms, and mediums it presents, which makes it hybrid, all the while making them stand on their own. Most importantly, it proves that film can accommodate multiple mediums at once.
Embedded mediums
Like any other adaptation, the film taps into the reserves of experience-based, image-based, and text-based knowledge already present inside the viewer’s mind. In its interpretation of Ang Sabi Ko Sa Iyo, Marlon and Dennis analyze the poem so that they may assign themselves the lead for their audition. First looking into the persona and the subject’s sexes, they dissect the lines and end up concluding that they have the same orientations. It cuts to them practicing in the lobby while the poem is sung in the background with ethnic musical instruments. Each line guides the dancer to their interpretation, while the film captures their facial expressions and subtle body language.
For example, during the lines “Namuo sa talim/ng kutsilyo ang ilang patak” the dance becomes more sensual because of their powerful eye contact and stares. In “Diyan ako naiwan, mahal,/at hindi sa laman,” their bodies get closer to each other. It then cuts to their actual audition, where the camera faces Karen, judging the dance with the dance studio mirror at her back. The stanza is sung again, and the camera technique works effectively because the dancers can be seen performing emotively, while it zooms in on Karen who tears up while watching them dance. The film makes use of its privileges and resources to showcase the in-depth interpretation of the poem through dance.
As the film comes to an end, we see Marlon and Dennis finally performing their respective roles for Karen’s dance adaptation of Hinilawod. It features an episode in the epic where Nagmalitong Yawa disguised as Buyung Sunmasakay (Dennis) saves the datu, Humadapnon (Marlon), trapped in the caves of the women of Tarangban. In this scene, the lighting is dim to make the viewers feel like they are, indeed, watching a folk dance in a theater. The last poem, Nais Kong Madarang, is sung during the dance; two simultaneous adaptations take place within the scene. The choreography explores what Karen had previously discussed during their rehearsal; that the difference between Western and Oriental dance is that the former aims toward the sky and the other is oriented toward the earth.
After the song ends, Marlon and Dennis are the only dancers left on stage, and, eventually, the indigenous music stops, and the viewers — like the audience — can only hear their props clashing and their footsteps. However, the advantage of the silence befalls the viewers since we can hear their heavy breathing. Marlon holds Dennis down slowly while the latter kneels as the intimate dance ends. As their faces get closer, a tear falls from Marlon’s eye, and the scene cuts to black.
Intramedial fluency
The simultaneous interpretation of texts through intramediality is exemplified in Ang Sayaw ng Dalawang Kaliwang Paa. The adapted texts shaped the intramedial phenomenon of the film, providing the reader with a series of familiar references and expectations. Yapan’s film actively, then, creates a new cultural and aesthetic product, one that stands alongside the texts that have inspired, and, in the process, enriches rather than robs them of their value. Indeed, the vast collection of independent films and the remarkable talent of Filipino filmmakers exist to challenge, defy, and re-work the norms that surround cinema. As Francis Sollano hopes, they will continue making films, for creativity is not because of the material conditions at hand, but is even intensified because of — and despite of — the lack of them.