Still One

Still shot from 'Still One'

'Still One' is a screendance about touching base with the subtle inner landscapes of the self, and how it constellates to corporeal memory, culture and history.

It is part of my doctoral research on meditative movement through a creative process called 'galaw-nilay,' an iteration of meditative movement through Philippine language. In my native language, Filipino/Tagalog, galaw means 'movement' and nilay is the root of 'pagninilay' which means 'to meditate or contemplate.' I created a somatic practice around this which forms part of my dissertation.

Shot in a beach in Matuod, Batangas, Philippines, and a few parts in Yarra river, Melbourne, the creative process allowed me to conjure images that were a result of an ongoing reflection of what meditative movement could mean, imaginatively, bodily, spatially and culturally, taking inspiration from Philippine baybayin writing, sacred sculptures, the imagery of water, and personal story. It was also a dialogue with the dance language that I personally learned from Filipina-American choreographer Kristin Jackson’s works, and how I responded with my own body memory and story.

Tracing letters with the baybayin.

The work was partly inspired by a poem I wrote, similarly titled, which was about my experience of meditating in the early hours of morning. Interestingly, the Matuod beach house itself where we mainly filmed this, has been frequented by raja yogis for silent and meditation retreats. While there, I tuned into those energies of calm and inner quiet planted by those yogis whom I have known and have been part of my own spiritual path. But I also tuned in to the silence of my own self, of the divine, of nature, and of the dance which was both choreographed and improvised in the course of my research.

Direction: Rina Angela Corpus, Antonne Santiago

Performance: Rina Angela Corpus, Tina Diaz

Original Score: Isha Abubakar

Cinematography: Ron Mosot

Production Design: Zara Loayon

Editing: Glenn Barrit, Antonne Santiago

Additional Footage: Takeshi Kondo

Producer: Abby Madriaga

Part of my creative portfolio for her Phd in Dance at Victoria College of Arts, University of Melbourne, 2020.