We look upon every performance and make sure to give it our best shot — as if it was the last performance of our lives, the popular Filipino troupe tells Aney Mathew
Gone are the days when deft hands skilfully threw shadows on to a wall to entertain kids by forming simple shapes of animal heads or cute figures.
Today, shadow art has assumed a complete form with shows and competitions, where adroit performers move and shift-shape seamlessly manipulating their body contours. The resulting silhouettes they create seem to melt their bodies into shapes of monuments, animals, even vehicles and back into humans. Shadow dancers effectively tell stories and recount legends cutting across language barriers; they captivate audiences with their narratives — without uttering a word.
A noticeable emergence of the shadow show was about 40 years ago, when the opening sequence of the ever-popular James Bond movies, portrayed silhouettes of women as they seemed to gracefully manage acts ranging from simply walking on a hand to more unusual feats such as climbing onto a revolver.
Simply put, shadow dance is a dramatic display of black and white, where performers create pictures with shadows of their bodies, behind a screen. Nowadays with special-effect capabilities becoming more sophisticated, shadow plays have evolved considerably. The black and white colour palette has given way to the multihued screen, where coloured projections add richness to the background, while the use of props, adds to the impressive details.
It was during the entertainment segment of Qatargas’ Annual Gala Dinner for its employees recently, that I got to watch my first shadow play — live. Visiting shadow play troupe ‘El Gamma Penumbra’ from the Philippines, took the audience on a ‘phantastic’ journey of shifting shadows.
The audience watched in amazement as the nimble footed performers somersaulted their way behind the screen; the moving figures seemed to create shadowy metaphors that recounted the emergence of Qatar from a simple pearl-diving community to an oil-rich nation which is making its presence felt as an educational, cultural and important sports hub. This was followed by another rendition — this time in a lighter vein; this dramatic backlit performance included silhouettes of animals ranging from frogs in the pond and alligators in the swamp, to elephants in the forest and camels in the desert. The creatures trotted in style to the beat of the recently popular song Gangnam Style.
Talking to Community about their entry into the fascinating world of lights and shadows, Marvin Marfa the Team Captain of the popular troupe explained, “We began as a group of hip-hop dancers in 2008 taking part in municipal competitions in the Philippines. But in 2011, we got our big break when we got to compete for Philippines Got Talent.
“At that point, we realised we needed something unique, as the competition was very tough and the standards expected were very high. That’s when we decided on shadow play, as it had never been performed in the Philippines before. We were the first group to present such a show and still remain the only one in Philippines.
“Being the first had its challenges as there was no-one we could learn from. Initially, we had no idea how to go about it. We experimented with all kinds of things, we started with halogen light and a sheet of white cloth and, of course, we had to come up with the steps, the ideas for the props and all the other details. It was quite hard. Thankfully, the hard work paid off and today we are invited to perform overseas for special programmes.”
There’s nothing simple about shadow play. The back stage interview with the troupe offered a rare glimpse of the performance from behind the screen. It is interesting to watch the artists perform perfectly to cue. Since shadow dance is an art where you don’t see the actual artists, but only their shadows dancing across a screen, the back stage view of the performance was quite remarkable.
You cannot help but appreciate the well-orchestrated movements, the precise timing, the nuances of each action and the finely-tuned choreography, as the slightest movements get projected on to the screen. In other words, what you see isn’t what is really going on. At its core, a shadow dance is a complex and subtle set of manoeuvres that tell a story.
What started off as a fun idea among a group of friends, has today become the source of living for the members of El Gamma Penumbra.
“We are all able to make a decent living through this. Our troupe has made its presence felt at the international level. We were invited to perform at the upcoming World’s Got Talent show, but unfortunately due to our previous commitments, we’ve had to decline the offer. Normally, we would not have turned down such an offer, as it gives us the opportunity to represent our beautiful country and showcase the Filipino talent to the world. Our most prestigious performance so far was when we were invited to perform at the palace of the Philippines President when the Sultan of Brunei paid a visit to our country. It was a real honour.”
So what does it call for to be a shadow artist? “Dancing skills and plenty of patience to keep trying out various formations until you hit on the right shape. Shadow shows demand that the artists be very inventive and creative, to come up with innovative ideas to meet the client’s needs. As part of our troupe we have a dedicated shadow formationist and choreographer, a graphic artist, and a props-man and, of course, the performers. We practise almost every day. While eight hours of practice would be ideal, we end up practising anywhere from 12 to 14 hours. We really have no standard show, because each rendition is tailor-made to suit the client’s requirements. For instance, we were told the stage for the Qatargas stage would be very large compared to our usual stage set-up. So we practised in a basketball court”, Marvin explained.
“The members of El Gamma Penumbra are very flexible; they are open to the client’s needs and requirements and willing to make changes and adjustments. They totally enjoy what they do and are willing to practise all day, if given a stage. The troupe performs mall tours and have been invited to perform for corporate events in the Philippines and abroad,”adds Marcia Mae Abayan from 4 Freelancers, the booking agent who brought the troupe to Qatar for the performance.
Referring to their popularity in the Philippines and abroad, Marvin said, “Our most challenging music video was the one we have had to produce for the ‘I choose Philippines’ tourism campaign in 2011. It was a great hit as we depicted the various tourist spots and landscapes in our country, through shadows. It was aired regularly on TV in the Philippines for four months. It even went viral on social networks and was viewed by Filipinos abroad. We also won several awards and citations for that performance.”
So what is it they want to achieve through their shows? “Basically through our show, we hope to amaze our audience and make them happy. We look upon every performance and every event as a challenge and make sure to give it our best shot — as if it was the last performance of our lives. We value the satisfaction and applause of our audiences very highly.”
With their boundless enthusiasm and youthful exuberance, El Gamma Penumbra is achieving just that.