MANILA, Philippines - Audience seats remained cold at the third Wifi Body Independent Contemporary Dance Festival. Even the catchiest of titles for some parts of the event (IndepenDance, Uncensored Bodies, Black-box Initiative) failed to draw enough interest and ensure an audience bigger than the number of dance participants.

The festival is supposed to be a venue for performing artists who prefer to do modern forms rather than the more forbidding classical ballet forms (which usually require the “correct body type”). But the low audience turnout might indicate that the general audience still is more at home with traditional and classic dances, since, perhaps, the average Joe still sees contemporary dance difficult to interpret.

Yet the four-day affair at the Cultural Center of the Philippines still blazed with the fervor especially of young artists from various local and foreign dance organizations. New festival members this year included companies from as far as Koronadal City in South Cotabato.

Budding choreographers

A highlight of the festival was 23-year-old Julius Lagare’s “Manoy,” the winning piece in the new choreographer’s competition. He and Deejay de Vera, 19, both athletic dancers of Teatro Ambahanon in General Santos City, adeptly illustrated the relationship of two basketball-loving street teens. The strong stunts contrasted with their inexplicable desire for each other, the dilemma of protagonists in Ang Lee’s film, “Brokeback Mountain.”

The highly-charged “Which Way” won second place. It was choreographed and performed by Airdance’s Rhosam Prudenciado, also 23.

Lagare and Prudenciano won P20,000 and P10,000, respectively. Both were endorsed to the Yokohama competition, an international dance contest, where they will be subsidized by the Japan Foundation Manila.

Gala darlings

Another favorite was the quirky piece, “Stealing Music to Find Answers for Questions Unknown,” which was funny and sad at the same time. Using “stolen” music from the film “Amelie,” Jay Cruz of the Transitopia Dance Commune emphasized the stark beauty of a professional dancer performing side by side with a “cripple” (complete with crutches!).

Tokyo-based freelance artist Shigemi Kitamura seemed to enjoy hurting herself in “Song for Life.” With a flower in her mouth, she contorted into various indeterminate positions to express a profusion of emotions in a gruelling and fast-paced 20-minute solo that even had her jumping off the stage and stroking a member of the audience.

Kitamura’s piece was part of the IndepenDance series, which also included Airdance’s patriotic “Indios Bravos” (choreography by Dwight Rodrigazo) and the very intimate “The Sky in My Pocket” by the Madrid dance group Provisional Danza. The Spanish piece was intensely interpreted by artistic director Carmen Werner and Alejandro Morata, who also choreographed the piece.

Renowned and seasoned performers Christine Crame, Georgette Sanchez, and the festival’s director, Myra Beltran got the most resounding applause during the world premiere of their generally emotive pieces at the last night of the festival.

Crame and Sanchez performed “Roots,” while Beltran, festival artistic director of Dance Forum, performed her latest work, “Unsaid,” with Jun Saagundo of Chameleon Dance Theatre.

Other high-caliber pieces included the almost classical “Abstract,” by the Quezon City Ballet; the quaint “Excerpt from Karga-tapas,” by the Bacolod-based Dance=Pull; and the self-describing “Elektrified,” by Team Dance Studio from Las Piñas.

Also presented were short pieces in unusual performing areas such as the Main Theater’s loading dock, CCP gift shop, and Little Theater lobby.

Dance journalism

Added value this year was Rosita Boisseau, dance critic for Le Monde and Telerama in France, who held a workshop on dance journalism.

The author of “Panorama of French Contemporary Dance” mainly talked about her experiences in reviewing contemporary dance performances in her country and simulated the participants in actual critiquing work.

Wifi Body Festival, a “wireless connection” of independent dance companies, is a progeny of the Contemporary Dance Map series, a performance-tour of alternative spaces.

The festival was held in collaboration with the World Dance Alliance-Philippines, CCP, NCCA, and the Manila-based cultural embassies of France, Japan, and Spain.

E-mail: elkarequinta@gmail.com