Joey Ayala reunites with Ballet Philippines in Encantada

Joey Ayala joins Ballet Philippines at the Cultural Center of the Philippines main theater for its 42nd season opener, Encantada, on Aug. 12. Ayala and the premier professional ballet and contemporary dance company share a long history together, starting when he penned the music of the neo-ethnic ballet almost 20 years ago.

“It was an exciting time for me — a scary, challenging, perplexing, rewarding, victorious time,” says Ayala. He and his band, Bagong Lumad, just migrated to Manila and camped out at the home of his friends and manager, Butch and Betta Dans of Thirdline Inc. Today, he is a force to reckon with in the contemporary music industry, and his unique brand of music has earned him awards and high praise from the music, environmental, government and non-government sectors.

Born in Bukidnon and raised in Davao, Ayala successfully synergized the use of Filipino ethnic instruments (the Hegalong, a two-stringed instrument, and the Kulintang, for example) and modern instruments like the electric guitar and drums. He serves as an NCCA commissioner (as chairman of the national committee on music) and continues to give workshops demonstrating the use of the arts as a language for education. 

In 1992, his challenge was then creating music for the new full-length modern ballet his friend Agnes Locsin was choreographing for Ballet Philippines — Encantada. He and Locsin go way back: Ayala’s very first public performance was as the intermission number of Locsin’s dance recital at the Ateneo de Davao. A few years later, they collaborated on a rock opera — Sa Bundok ng Apo for a campus-based theater group in Davao — with Al Santos, who would eventually be Encantada librettist. Ballet Philippines’ Encantada was a sequel of sorts to that collaboration.

Encantada is a multi-layered modern ballet that tackles themes such as the environment, religion, politics and culture. Set in the Spanish colonial era, it centers around the Encantada, the sovereign spirit of the mountain. Conflict arises when an Indio rebel, Estranjero, flees to the mountain with the angry guardia civil pursuing him, destroying all that lay in their path. It is a masterpiece that solidified the neo-ethnic dance style that Locsin pioneered and Ballet Philippines became known for. The neo-ethnic dance style is very much like Ayala’s music: A fusion of ethnic, Filipino art and mainstream culture. 

In writing its music, Ayala gave himself a limit. “Use only the instruments that you have not yet used for recording,” he reveals. “I ended up playing some of the Dans’ home décor.”

Ayala also got to work with extraordinary vocals for the original score. “I got to work with unique voices such as Bayang Barrios, Onie Badiang, Cynthia Alexander, Cutie Paduano and Connie Lawigan-Chua. Not pretty, cultured, or pop voices — but character voices.” 

But creating the music wasn’t the only thing Ayala did for the ballet — he also performed the role of Estranjero, a memory he recalls with fondness: “The closest I’ve ever gotten to dance training was basketball and pretending to be Bruce Lee. The few secret kung fu moves I knew did not compensate for the mild apprehension I felt at the thought of appearing onstage with a platoon of tough, battle-hardened ballerinas. And their men had six-packs. Ako, family-size. But I got to wear tights, to float down a river of women, to watch dancers stretch and turn and eat lots of food and to smell 30 full heads of freshly shampooed hair… I highly recommend it to everyone,” says Ayala.

On Aug. 12 to 14 this year, Ballet Philippines will bring Encantada to the CCP Main Theater once more. Ayala, Bayang Barrios and Bagong Lumad will perform the music live on the evening shows (Friday, Aug. 12 and Saturday, Aug. 13).

He won’t be seen as the Estranjero anymore, but he will perform the music that creates the world of the Encantada. Is there anything he is looking forward to? “Spending time in Agnes’ world — full of movement and energy. Talking to Al — maybe something new will get written. Watching the new wave of dancers. Being inside the CCP as a value-contributor. Doing a creditable job.”

Tickets to Encantada are available at www.ticketworld.com.ph or call 891-9999 for details.