March 29, 2010

Live!

Friday, March 26, was the awarding of the 2009 Gawad Buhay!, the Philstage Awards for the Performing Arts, at the Tanghalang Aurelio Tolentino of the Cultural Center of the Philippines. This is only the second year of the award, which recognizes and pays tribute to Filipino artists in theater—plays, musicals and dance. Depending on how it's accented, the word buhay can mean life, live or alive; in this case, the name of the award refers to the fact that the award is for live performances.

the CCP Little Theater stage for the 2009 Gawad Buhay!


The awarding was broken up into several sets, with various groups performing excerpts from their 2009 season. The most electrifying performance for me was that of Ballet Philippines. Candice Adea, who won a Gawad Buhay! for Best Female Lead Performance in Dance, and Angel Gabriel danced an excerpt from Evacuation, choreographed by Bam Damian. (Please pardon the noise and fuzziness of this photo; the conditions were almost too much for my little camera and I was forced to maximize the ISO.)

Candice Adea and Angel Gabriel of Ballet Philippines performing at the 2009 Gawad Buhay!


To showcase the works of Filipino visual artists, and also as an added incentive for theater groups to strive to garner awards every year, the trophies of Gawad Buhay! will always be different. The 2009 trophy is created by Don Salubayba from Davao City. It portrays a dancing bulul, the rice god of the Northern Philippines' indigenous peoples. The three faces of the figure represent music, dance and theater.

trophy created by Don Salubayba for the 2009 Gawad Buhay!


A notable difference between this year's awarding ceremony and last year's is the number of artists who attended. Last year, it was easy to organize the small group onto the stage for their photo. This year…

winners of the 2009 Gawad Buhay!


Chaotic is a mild word to describe what happened during the photo opportunity, but I love it. Half a dozen performing arts groups on one stage, happy faces showing pride in their awards, and a gaggle of friends, relatives and colleagues trying to get photos. As a scriptwriter friend told my husband after the ceremony, the artists now own the awards. And that can only bode well for Gawad Buhay!, Philstage and Philippine performing arts.

For those interested, Gibbs Cadiz posted the complete list of 2009 Gawad Buhay! winners in his blog.

20 comments:

Lowell said...

This is so great! And I like the way everyone was involved. Your photos are just wonderful, really capturing the excitement and color of the event!

Clueless in Boston said...

It looks like it was a great event. The arts need all the publicity they can get

Ken Mac said...

love the lighting in shots one and two

Debbie Courson Smith said...

The stage set is artful in, and of, itself.

Mo said...

Love the dancers

Don and Krise said...

You really do go to so many wonderful events and you do such a great job of sharing them with us. Boy, they really packed them in on that stage. Congratulations to all recipients.

George said...

I really like the set in your first photo. This sounds as if the awards ceremony was a wonderful event for an award that is getting more competitive.

Leif Hagen said...

Looks like a fun and glamourous evening! Bravo! Encore!

Verna Luga said...

Love the first photo, so mysterious the effect ... congrats to everyone... Encore!

Have a nice day!

Chuck Pefley said...

Very nicely illustrated, Hilda! I'm in awe of the second photo of the ballerina suspended with arched back! Looks impossible, but you've obviously captured the peak moment in that choreography! Well Done!

Louis la Vache said...

No apologies needed for the images, Hilda - we've all been there! As Chuck wrote, you really got a nice capture of the ballerina. Altogether a great post!

Olivier said...

une belle prestation artistique et j'aime le jeux des couleurs sur la première photo

penny said...

All of the Arts are so important. Its nice to see that they are being rewarded for their effort and talents.
Nice post, Hilda.

Halcyon said...

It's hard to capture a performance with a photo. But you've done a nice job. I'm sure it was a fun evening!

Lois said...

What a fabulous event Hilda! Thanks for sharing.

Andreea said...

Looks like a great event and the photo capture it very nicely.

Unknown said...

The empty stage shot is just great! And I think it's also great to have more artists being rewarded.

Dina said...

Wonderful things going on.

I stared long in disbelief at the ballerina.

Kaori said...

Love the second photo of the two doing an amazing move! Sounds like you had fun ;D

VP said...

A great choice of pictures, all of them are beautiful, but my favorites are the first two.