The Making of "The Mountain"

I have been asked by CityDance Ensemble to create a piece for our annual take on Global Warming. This year's theme is Carbon. I proposed in 2007 but the timing was a bit off and the repertoire has been decided but my director was kind enough to have it considered for the following year. I honestly thought the theme "Global Warming" is a challenge, but having the entire year to work on the concept I found that I do have several ideas.

The Mountain

It was just supposed to be a story about a volcano eruption caused a cataclysm, but then I asked myself... "How can I make this ballet more powerful and compelling to people?" instead of creating a story, i chose to tell my own.

When I was a teenager, I volunteered to conduct a dance workshop for children who resides in the landfill called "Smoky Mountain" (it got its infamous nickname from the flammable methane mist coming out from the dump site), the majority of these children could not afford to go to school and dedicated their lives earning money as garbage picketers. My family is part of the lower class community in the Philippines but when I learned about the livelihood of these children I felt fortunate compare to them

June 1991, I woke up early in the morning found my neighborhood covered in thick white ash. I did not understand what it was until my mom told me about Mt. Pinatubo eruption. This strato-volcano is only 55 miles away from where we live. I was only ten but I remember vividly the feeling of ashes in my hands and I couldn't help thinking of the families who lost their loved ones and the entire village.

These two different mountains urged me to create The Mountain.

We don't realize how we trash our environment. Simple life does not exist anymore, it is human nature to just take as much as we can and never mind the consequences. From never ending production of new computers, cellphones, plastics, toys, cutting more trees to produce furnitures and other things, we forget what happens to them when we do not want them anymore. Common alternatives are Incinerators and Landfill. From what I know none of them are safe for the humanity and the environment. Smoky Mountain was shut down in 1995, but the huge amount of methane trapped in the former Smoky Mountain could explode if triggered and will destroy many lives.

These inspired me to create "The Mountain." I hope that my dance will engender awareness and urge people to educate themselves about proper waste disposal and recycling.