‘Joy and Daloy’ Twin Bill Contemporary Dance Production to Run this January

‘Joy and Daloy’ Twin Bill Contemporary Dance Production to Run this January

Joy and Daloy, a twin bill production by Daloy Dance Company and choreographer-dancer Joy Alpuerto Ritter, features both ItikLandia and BABAE. These choreographies aim to re-develop and nurture an appreciation for contemporary dance, fusing traditional Filipino elements with contemporary expressions.

Created by Daloy Dance Company during their residency at the British School Manila in 2023, ItikLandia is inspired by the traditional Filipino folk dance Itik-Itik, but with a unique twist. The piece pays physical homage to the natural environment shared, lived in, and relied upon by everyone.

Meanwhile, Ritter’s BABAE is a 30-minute solo performance piece where the choreographer-dancer reimagines the mystical rituals and power-summoning traditions often associated with women as witches.

Taking inspiration from Mary Wigman’s Witch Dance, Ritter combines her training in hip hop, voguing, classical and contemporary styles, and Philippine folk dance to create an interplay between the sensual and animalistic aspects of ritual and power.

On January 25 at the CCP Black Box Theater, Ritter will hold a Shapeshifting Dynamics workshop where she will share her dance practice, drawing from several movement approaches she has learned and trained in over her 30 years as a dancer. Her workshop focuses on the subtleties of articulating and isolating body parts in relation to musicality and rhythmical patterns, as well as grounded, dynamic physicality and grooves that strengthen the presence and virtuosity in space.

Founded in 2014 by its Artistic Director Ea Torrado, Daloy Dance Company has been creating productions that combine dance, theater, and improvisation with a dynamic cast of actors, dancers, and other artists. Past productions include Pieces of Me, The Sky Changed, Inter/Act that aimed to push the boundaries of contemporary dance; Dysmorphilia, Canton, and Himalaya that aimed to encourage audiences to both celebrate and critically examine societal culture. The company has partnered with notable visual artists in several Philippine museums and galleries.

Ritter enrolled in her first ballet courses at the Ballettstudio Krain, which marked the beginning of her dancing career at four. She took ballet and jazz training for ten years, and participated in dance competitions, ballet performances, and presentations with her mother’s group, the Philippine and Polynesian Culture Dance Group. She received a diploma from the Palucca Dancing School in Dresden, Germany, where she was accepted at the age of 17. Following that, she began working as a freelance contemporary dancer in and around Berlin, collaborating with choreographers such as Heike Hennig, Anja Kozik, Constanza Macras, Wangramirez, and Christoph Winkler. She expanded her repertoire in breakdancing, voguing, hip-hop/new style, and participated in several dance battles.

Joy and Daloy will be staged for one night only on January 27, 7pm at the CCP Black Box Theater. Tickets are available through Ticketworld.