Mia CABALFIN & Rhosam PRUDENCIADO JR.

• TOP >
• Archives >
• Residency Program >
• Mia CABALFIN & Rhosam PRUDENCIADO JR.

Mia CABALFIN & Rhosam PRUDENCIADO JR.

Participating Project	Research Residency Program
Activity Based	Philippines
City	Tokyo
Period	2020.1- 2020.3

Purpose of the residency

Our purpose here is to continue work on the third phase of a multi-disciplinary performance piece entitled “Pahayag” (Expression) - which was initiated at the Youkobo Art Space Artist-in-Residence Program in June 2019.
The initial jump-off point is the theme of population; with a distinct difference between Japan’s dwindling population versus the over-population of the Philippines and the correlation with other cultural aspects, such as expressiveness, interaction, and communication translated into the performing body. The plan is to do further research on this performance piece, ascribing to our practice of exploration of non-traditional dance spaces.

Plan during the residency

・interviews / video shoots
・movement exploration
・possible collaboration with other artists
・cultural research

Activities during the residency

During our time in TOKAS, we developed our piece “Pahayag” (Expression) which we started in Youkobo Art Space last 2019. This explores the relationship of population statistics and the culture of expressiveness – more specifically, comparing the Philippines and Japan. We researched on relationships, popular culture, and even family rental services. Our pieces usually delve into cultural traits and socio-psychological themes, and we then attempt to translate these elements into multimedia performance pieces. In "Pahayag (Expression)", the bulk of our research consists of recorded interviews with Tokyo citizens, online videos, our own image shoots (site-specific dance shot in Asakusa, Kiba, and Chitose), combined with movement exploration. This was then presented in an invitational Open Studio event. Aside from doing research on our piece, we were also able to faciilitate dance classes/workshops during this time.

Overview of the residency

The interesting part of this residence was that we did not necessarily have a performance as a goal—so we were able to really dive deep into our research and focus on the process of creating, and not just making dance steps/movements. This was crucial for the development of the piece – we think we were successful in gathering material during this time. Moving forward, the challenge for us now is how to mount this as a proper performance, given all the material that we have gathered. Another challenge also is the Covid-19 situation, as it has changed the culture of expressiveness of the whole world (no touching, social distancing, etc) – so our piece will definitely evolve from this.

Creator Information