From war dance to theater of war moro moro performances in the philippines 5

Behind the chairs, the four actresses each held an object symbolizing the Arakyo such as the performance text, the crown of Queen Elena, the crown of King Constantino, and the Moro prin

Chapter 5 The Choreographic Logic of Moro-Moro Plays

A central argument developed in this chapter is that choreography rather than

plot or theme serves as the organizing element in moro-moro plays The need to

perform certain choreographic sequences serves as a guide for the playwrights or

diktador in their ordering of scenes Conventionally, the manner in which scholars

analyze a moro-moro play concentrates on the subject matter, or on the story being

told, and this has led not a few to be frustrated with the confusing flow of the plot In contrast, my approach pays attention to the structuring of scenes, why are they ordered in their peculiar fashion?

In the previous chapter we discussed two village performances, the Arakyo of

Nueva Ecija, and the Komedya of San Dionisio, and we shall continue to ground our discussion on these two villages These two communities make for interesting comparisons because in Nueva Ecija, the same story is performed every year using the same script, while in San Dionisio, a new play is used for each fiesta Despite this

difference, in both performances, the structuring of scenes follow conventional

moro-moro choreographic logic In both villages, the story periodically gives way to

dancing, and scenes are organized in a manner that best showcases movement even if

it is at the expense of the plot The priviledging of dance numbers plays an important

function connected with the moro-moro's being a devotional act In both villages, the plays are staged in fulfillment of a sacred vow or panata, and the performance of

many dances are seen as suitable offerings to the patron saint because they require a lot of skill, they are physically strenous, and thus, involve a great deal of sacrifice on the parts of the performers Some elaborate dance numbers are mere "flourishes", or demonstrations of virtuosity that play no role in the development of the plot They

are inserted into the performance, somewhat illogically - at least to an outsider - but

for the moro-moro performers and audiences, these dances constitute "climactic

moments" If we are mindful of the notion of dance as devotion, we can reconsider

the moro-moro in a new light: what may be viewed as "superfluous" scenes from a

literary standpoint, can be valued as "central" scenes from a choreographic standpoint

The Arakyo of Peñaranda Town in Nueva Ecija Province

The "Arakyo", sometimes spelled "Arraquio", is Nueva Ecija's version of the

moro-moro It is a play depicting the search by Queen Elena for the Holy Cross on

which Christ died Neighboring barangays or villages in the area all perform the

same play, using very similar costumes, choreographic patterns, and music All the

performances take place in May, and barangays would choose one of the weekends of

the month to stage their play each year May is also fiesta time in other parts of the Philippines, and many communities celebrate devotions to the Virgin Mary called

"Flores de Mayo", and to the Holy Cross called "Santacruzan" We can also view the

Arakyo in this light, as a devotion to the Santa Cruz In Peñaranda town, in particular,

the Holy Cross itself is honored as the town's patron saint, and the Arakyo is considered by performers as a yearly offering

In 1999, Nicanor Tiongson published the book Komedya which presented a

study on the Arakyo of Peñaranda based on a performance in Barangay San Jose, held from May 10 to 11, 1986 The analysis that follows is based on a performance held

in Peñaranda's Barangay Sinasajan, from May 20 to 21, 2005 It is not the same village as the one in Tiongson's study, but they are close neighbors located within the same municipality, and Tiongson's study can still be used as a guide for understanding

how the Arakyo was performed in the area twenty years ago

The Arakyo performance I observed was performed on bare, open-air stage, made of cement, elevated some four feet from the ground and was only partially-roofed, leaving actors exposed to intense sunlight There is no backstage, but there is

no need for one anyway, for the actors do not have any costume changes There is also no lighting because the performance is held at daytime Also noticeable is the absence of a backdrop, scenery, and stage effects In the Arakyo, the story shifts back and forth, from Rome, to Turkey, to the Holy Land In many situations, the characters travel from one place to the next, by just taking a few steps across the stage For such sudden transitions, the platform had to be regarded by the audience as

a neutral area, not a specific locale The stage could be whatever the actors indicate it

to be: a castle, a mountain, a battlefield The shifts in locale take place in the spectator's imagination rather than by changes of scenery

The stage Tiongson observed in 1986 had several features that are absent in

Sinasajan's production in 2005 One such feature is the damara, or a bamboo trellis

covered with coconut leaves which shields the performers from the sun Another is

the bundok or mountain, a makeshift bamboo passageway, standing on bamboo posts,

and decorated with bamboo railings and coconut leaves, elevated some ten feet high Actors used to climb on these bamboo mountains for exciting scenes in the play I asked the audience in Sinasajan about this, and they remembered having it in the past They said it was more exciting to watch the fight scenes then, when the wooden structure shook from the movement of the actors as they scurried across

One feature I found puzzling in Sinasajan's production in 2005 was the fact that it wasn't only the stage that looked bare So too did the space in front of the stage, where an audience should logically have been On the first day of performance

it seemed like no one had turned up for the show, save for a handful of people The

actors seem unfazed by their lack of audience as they continued to perform They seemed oblivious to the young man dribbling a basketball and shooting hoops on the court right in front of the stage, or the kid biking around, or the vendors setting up their makeshift shops under a cluster of trees A few curious children have decided to climb the stage, sitting on the edge, with some of them even walking all the way to the middle, to sit next to the prompter-director as he dictated the verses to the actors Since there was no seating provided for spectators, some would sit on the stage, on the sides, or on the roofed part where there's some shade, in order to watch the performance

On the second and final day of performance, the basketball court began to fill

up, in a peculiar fashion As the sun moved along, so too did the shadows from the cluster of trees, and the gathering crowd, in turn, inched across the basketball court with the advancing shade At two o’clock, they covered a quarter of the court, with a few people sitting on the ground They move forward, in a strangely systematic, though still disorderly fashion, as the concrete floor cooled It was an audience that

unhurriedly congregated and casually advanced toward the stage

By half past four, it seemed like a majority of the people in the barangay had shown up The crowd was composed of people from all ages, male and female alike, from babies to old folk The gathering had the look and feel of a backyard affair It is worth asking: why has the crowd turned up only as the play was about to wrap up?

Audience Involvement in the Arakyo: The "Panata"

To understand the behavior of the spectators, we must consider what function the Arakyo plays in their lives Many of the puzzling elements of an Arakyo performance can be made more intelligible by a basic understanding of what the

audience expects to get out of the performance A key concept here, is the notion of

"panata", for it is in this context that the involvement of the producers, performers, and audience of the Arakyo is framed

A “panata” is defined in the Filipino-English dictionary as a “vow, meaning a

promise to perform certain religious devotion.”1 In the Nueva Ecija province, stories abound of how communities that fail to stage an Arakyo performance suffer repercussions like reduced crop yields With this logic, community members feel compelled to safeguard their livelihood through the performance of the time-honored

tradition A communal panata is made, and there is collective acknowledgement that

it needs to be honored

The panata is also made on a personal level, for individual intentions A

parent whose child is stricken with illness, for example, may vow to participate in the

Arakyo in exchange for her child’s health The panata can be performed by the parent, and later on, the responsibility to fulfill the panata may be passed on to the

child or other family members, giving the it the function of an infinite thanksgiving

ritual Besides performing a panata as an expression of gratitude, it may also be done

in the spirit of supplication as a pro-active means of asking for protection and providence for the coming year Many parents would participate in the Arakyo believing that by doing so, they can guarantee a year of good health for their children

One who has made a panata to participate in the Arakyo may do so in a

number of ways One is by becoming a sponsor of the play, or, in local terminology,

becoming a hermano or hermana It is considered an honor and privilege by

villagers, such that there is even a waiting list to be one Currently, there are 12

hermanos and hermanas who collectively spend for the costs of production, from

1

Taken from the Tagalog-English Dictionary by Leo James English published by the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer.

costume rental, to band fees, and meals for all performers It is customary for the

Arakyo cast to make a courtesy call at the homes of the hermanos and hermanas to

give them a song and dance demonstration In return for the private performance, they are expected to give a cash donation and refreshments, similar to how carolers are received at Christmas time This special "preview" staged in various locations in the village extends the spatial and temporal dimensions of the performance What I saw on May 21 and 22, was a continuation of, or culmination of a series of performances over the last few months

Another form the panata takes is in the performance of a communal dance At

the end of the play, the stage is opened up for the community, and members of the

audience come up on stage to perform the pantot or the pasayaw The dance is

believed to be efficacious, in that it can bring good health and other blessings Older women, and babies, are the more common participants of the dance, but I also saw a couple of men who were carrying babies, joining the dance

The crowd swelled up towards the end of the play because it is then, when

dances related to the panata were scheduled to be performed At a little after five

pm, adults carrying babies made their way close to the stage They were preparing for

the pantot, and getting ready to pass their babies to the actors on stage Upon the

announcement of the director over the microphone, actors walked towards the edge of the stage, each reached down to grab a baby from a sea of outstretched arms, and they performed choreographic patterns on stage After completing a choreographic marching sequence, the actors returned the first set of babies to their guardians, and took another set, over and over, until all babies have had their turn Different pieces

of lively music were played by the band It was a very festive sight to behold The stage was nearly overflowing with movement The air was filled with a cacophony of

sounds from the band, complimented by the excited murmuring of proud parents, punctuated by the peculiarly joyous sound of some crying babies

After the pantot, there was another dance, a kind of turnover ceremony from the incumbent to the incoming set of hermanos and hermanas On the stage a row of

plastic chairs was arranged at the center of the platform and the children of the

incoming hermanos and hermanas were made to sit on them Behind the chairs, the four actresses each held an object symbolizing the Arakyo such as the performance

text, the crown of Queen Elena, the crown of King Constantino, and the Moro princess held a Moro headgear The band played another waltz, and the actresses

moved around the chairs while artfully flicking the Arakyo objects to the beat of the

music The dance symbolized not just the formal end of the reign of this year's

hermanos and a “passing of the torch” to the next batch, but also assured everyone of

the continuity of the Arakyo

Illustration 13: " The Pantot" Afternoon of the second day Villagers have turned up with their babies, and young children, whom actors carry on stage for a dance Old women also join the dancing

Children too old to be carried stand on stage

The Arakyo Performance Text: "The Untold Story"

I have intentionally chosen to first describe the nature of the audience's attendance in watching the Arakyo before discussing the story of the play for good reason A discussion of the plot of the Arakyo play requires some qualification, because the story really often does not get across to the audience Of the performance

in 1986, Tiongson made the following observation:

As the outsider watches the komedya for hours and tries to make sense of it,

he eventually throws his hands up in despair Hardly anyone seems to be

interested in what the actors are declaiming Moreover, as the actors go

through all the other activities (dances, pantot, breaks) that wreak havoc on

the logic of the story, one comes to the realization that in this performance,

the story, dialogue and acting are actually secondary, if not downright

marginal The play is not the thing For its meaning seems to lie not in

what goes on on stage per se, but in the fact that the play is staged….What

is important is that it happens…The point is that the komedya is presented

as an offering to the Holy Cross to ensure blessings on both individuals and

And even if acoustics were good, and we were clear on exactly when certain actors have switched roles, the length of the play would still make it impossible to follow so many twists and turns in the story The play is shown a couple of hours in

2

Nicanor Tiongson 1999 Komedya, Philippine Theater: History and Anthology 2 Diliman:

University of the Philippines Press p, 215

the morning, then there's a break for lunch, it resumes for another couple of hours in the afternoon, then there's an activity in the evening, it resumes the next morning, then there's another lunch break, and then it is hurriedly rushed in the afternoon of the

second day, to make way for the pantot and other song and dance numbers Before

each break is taken, the actresses would get together to perform a song and dance If one were trying to follow the story, the experience could be quite disjointed, and frustrating The audience is also not expected to watch the entire show, they can come for a while, go home, then come back again, so the director does not feel pressure to present a coherent plot

In addition to this incremental mode of consumption and presentation, another factor that wreaks havoc on the story is the practice of performing scenes out of their chronological order There are certain parts of the story that need to be performed at a certain time The search for the cross, for instance, is performed at night after the first day of performance had taken place, and before proceeding to the second half to be performed the next day The search for the cross is performed off-stage in village backyards, and allows for the participation of villagers in searching for the cross, akin

to an "Easter egg hunt" This activity is performed at its scheduled time, even if it breaks the chronology of action in the story

The inclination towards omission of sections of the script is yet another major

factor that defeats the story The maestro in Sinasajan informed me that nowadays,

due to time constraints, they just try to cover as much of the script as they can, ending

it before it gets too dark, whatever point in the story that may be Skipping the latter sections of the play effectively changes its plot, in which case, the story as it exists in

the performance text, remains untold

The Arakyo performance text used in Peñaranda was recorded, analyzed, and published by Tiongson, together with his annotations on how the direction written on the text was executed on stage His annotations were based on the performance he saw in 1986 Back then, he already noticed that some of the scenes in the script have been omitted in the performance Fortunately for me, the performance I saw in 2005 used the same script, so I was able to compare some of my observations against Tiongson's annotations In 2005, there were far more omissions, and some major components of the play, central to Tiongson's analysis, were no longer performed

Thus having clarified how the story as it exists in the script may not necessarily get performed on stage in its entirety, I now provide a summary of the plot and sub-plots of the Arakyo in Peñaranda Despite attempts at being concise, the summary presented here is still lengthy because the episodic play is full of twists and turns It has nearly four-dozen scenes, originally suited for a performance that stretched over a period of several days Some details may seem superfluous, but they have been included on purpose, for many ostensibly inconsequential details, which one may initially consider to be of marginal value to the development of the plot, do

in fact figure prominently in the actual Arakyo performance in surprising ways, and this will be the subject of analysis in succeeding sections But let us not get ahead of ourselves, and get back to the task at hand, that of relaying the plot as it exists in the

performance text As will soon become obvious to the reader, the typical moro-moro

plot is full of anachronisms, violating the unities of time, place, and action

The story begins with King Costacio of Rome and Constantinople leading his generals to capture Jerusalem They

encounter the Turks, and engage in battle The Moro Prince

Godimar, nephew of Emperor Costroas of Turkey, sets out on a

journey to find love and happiness Back in Jerusalem, Costacio is

outnumbered by Moro soldiers, he singlehandedly fights the Moro

soldiers Arcio, Marmolin, Osmalik, and Mahometo and he is

mortally wounded by the Moro general Arcio The Christian

soldiers Fernando, Leonato, and Rosauro arrive in the bloody

battlefield and King Costacio mortally wounded but still alive, he

orders them to take him to his wife Queen Elena Back in Rome,

Queen Elena with her ladies-in-waiting, the two damas Blanca and

Layda, and the general Lucero, receive word from Fernando of

King Costroas being wounded In Turkey, Emperor Saladino

receives news from Arcio who informs him that King Costroas has

been mortally wounded In the forest, Lucero is sleeping at the foot

of a tree when the Turkish princess Ordelisa wakes him Startled, he

fights with her, until he realizes she is a woman, and is in fact the

famed Moro princess, who is well-known for her beauty and the two

fall in love King Costacio is about to die, Queen Elena is by his

side He instructs her to bequeath his thrown to their son

Constantino when the latter comes of age Costacio dies and he is

brought back to Rome for his burial

The first eight scenes of the play, as relayed above, took the first half of the first day to perform One wonders why the scene introducing the Moro prince Godimar is inserted in between the fighting scenes between the Christian and Moro armies Why didn't the playwright just choose to finish the fighting scene first, instead of inserting a seemingly anti-climactic speech?

The opening scene which portrays Christian and Moro armies at war, involves

several lengthy choreographic sequences It starts with the pattern called parada with

mandasyon, where the King executes a march, and "fetches" the other soldiers whom

he leads in a serpentine pattern around the stage The "march" involves a dynamic movement, not merely a simple stepping action from left to right foot associated with the word "march", but rather, a hopping move, with the body crouching low to the ground, the knees dipping deeply towards the floor and the body leaning into the pose

as the body is thrust energetically from side to side while the serpentine path is executed The serpentine sequence ends in a straight line executed by the generals, formed diagonally across the stage, facing downstage right Once in the straight line formation, the bodies of the performers are held taut, and they march in place while keeping the upper body upright The King checks this line, making sure it is straight,

then he breaks the line, leads the soldiers to another marching sequence in serpentine paths, around the stage, ending in another straight line, diagonally across the stage, this time facing the opposite direction, downstage left The repetitions in choreographic sequences mirrors the repetition in dialogue discussed in the previous chapter, with an underlying "distributive" logic of giving various sections of the audience access to the performance

After the Christian army has performed their parada with mandasyon, the

Moro army would then perform the same sequence just executed by their Christian counterparts Once the serpentine and diagonal formations have been completed, the two factions fall into two columns, and they come "head to head", "army to army", in

a fighting pattern that involves mirror images of each column, moving in a symmetrical fashion To the music Christians move forward, Moros move back, then the reverse is performed, Moros move forward and Christians move back, all the while there is a crossing of swords The battle ends rather abruptly, with the Moros retreating The fighting will resume in scene 3

The scene that immediately follows, scene 2, features Godimar, who delivers dialogue to express restlessness in his heart and his desire to embark on a quest for love Before he delivers his speech, the actor playing Godimar is made to perform a rather long marching sequence, using the same dynamic crouching, knee-dipping steps performed by the Chrisitan and Moro armies in the preceding scene From the standpoint of plot development the amount of time given to Godimar seems out of proportion, but from another angle, a lengthy dance number may be seen as appropriate when we consider the fact that the role of this Moro prince is considered

as a plum part, since it is this character that performs opposite the lead female role of Queen Elena in challenging scenes to come We have already seen in the previous

chapter the choreographic sketch of a scene between Godimar and Elena, and it has been mentioned that the role of Godimar is assigned to the most senior and skilled male performer Given this background, it makes sense that Godimar be given an opportunity to demonstrate his virtuosity with the Arakyo dance steps The amount of time given for his dancing is commensurate to his skill level, and despite time constraints, his dancing is not ommitted

After Godimar's speech, the battle resumes in scene 3, but by some leap of logic, King Costroas is alone, separated from his generals, and he has to fight the Moros alone Again, from a literary standpoint, this scene makes little sense, why would the Christian generals simply vanish from the battle scene? What could the palywright be thinking? Choreographically, however, this makes sense In the first scene, two fighting patterns have already been performed: "man versus man" (King Costroas versus the Moro Arcio), and "army versus army" (Christian column versus Moro column) In this third scene, a third classic fighting pattern is performed, "man versus army" We could imagine the playwright to be guided by a desire to assign a variety of fighting patterns to the lead performers so he structures the scenes in such a way that choreographic repertoire are best showcased

This also explains the peculiar placement of the scene between the Christian general Lucero, and the Moro princess Ordelisa Their meeting in the forest is too facile, Lucero just happens to be sleeping in the forest alone - which is quite illogical given the tense situation in the palace with the news of King Costacio's being mortally wounded From the angle of creating a choreographic sequence, however, this scene showcases yet another classic fighting pattern, this time involving "man versus woman" We could imagine the playwright attempting to incorporate a variety of fighting patterns in the first eight scenes so that those who come to watch this part of

the play will get a chance to see the classic fighting patterns characteristic of the Arakyo

The plot continues thus:

King Costacio's death leads to a contestation for power His

Generals Arnulfo, Nicetas and Vitalino attempt to take the throne

But loyal generals Fernando and Lucero, save the throne for

Costacio's son, Constantino Constantino grows older, and assumes

the role of king He wishes to avenge his father and attacks Turkey

Meanwhile, Queen Elena, while praying to the Blessed Virgin for

his safety, hears a voice which promises victory for her son She is

instructed that after he triumphs, she must visit the Holy Land and

retrieve Jesus's Holy Cross Lucero is sent as emissary to Turkey,

to offer Emperor Saladino a chance to surrender and to warn him

that Consantino's forces are coming Saladino refuses to surrender

so Constantino's army attacks and Saladino is killed He is

succeeded by his son Emperor Costroas Princess Ordelisa is sent

by her father Costroas to be an emissary to the Christian kingdom,

to demand Constantino's surrender and seek redress for the death

of Saladino She is eager to fulfill her mission, and at the same time

is excited to see the Christian general Lucero with whom she is in

love When she arrives she is fought by Christian generals, but

Lucero comes to her defense She delivers her message to

Constantino, asking for him to surrender, but the Christian king

refuses, and he sends Ordelissa back to Turkey with the message to

Emperor Costroas to prepare for war

From the section of the story relayed above, we get a better sense of the

choreographic symmetry of the moro-moro, that is, of scene patterns being

performed in both the Christian and Moro kingdoms For instance, the Christian King Costacio is killed by Moros at the beginning of the story, and later, in turn, the Moro Emperor Saladino is killed by Christians The choreographic sequences performed at the start of the play are repeated again in the mid-section of the play As was

mentioned in Chapter 3, the moro-moro audience consumes the play in bits and

pieces, and repetition functions as a means of distributing access to the story We can think of repeated choreographic patterns in the same way, as a distributive strategy

A symmetrical unfolding of events on both Christian and Moro kingdoms is likewise

a repetition The Christian General Lucero is sent as an emissary to the Moorish

Kingdom of Turkey, so he will perform a pageembahada (ambassadorial scene) And

later, his counterpart, the Moro princess Ordelissa is sent as an emissary to Rome,

and performs the same pageembahada (amnbassadorial scene) in the Christian

kingdom

Another type of repetition can be seen in the way certain characters

"continue", or perhaps "collapse" into each other seamlessly, that is they are conflated they are two roles that are played by the same actor The actor playing the role of King Costacio at the start of the play becomes his son King Constantino later on, which is the same case with Emperor Saladino who turns into Emperor Costroas If

we were to be mindful of the unity of time, we would see how illogical it is for the same retinue of generals to be accompanying both the older king as well as the younger one - for wouldn't the other characters logically be older by this time? The lovers Lucero and Ordelisa, for instance, should have gotten older already, instead, they remain the same age and the young Constantino grows older "in an instant" to assume the role of king If we view these characters as choreographic units however, the older Costacio and the younger Constantino can be read as a single entity - as the

"Christian king"; in the same way that the older Saladino and younger Costroas may both be read as the "Moro emperor" The dance moves for leading their soldiers into

battle are the same for the older and younger king/emperor, and to the moro-moro

viewer, who is accustomed to seeing the Christian king and Moro emperor leading their armies into war, little details such as whether it is the older or younger king/emperor do not matter at all For the regular audience of the Arakyo, that actors play two roles does not seem to be a source of confusion

Continuing on with the story:

Meanwhile, Elena and her entourage search for the cross in the

Holy Land The Turkish general Marmolin encounters them, and he

reports to Emperor Costroas that he saw Elena with the Holy Cross

Costroas and his Moro retinue catch Queen Elena while she is

alone, separated from her Christian companions, and they succeed

in wrestling the cross away from her One of the Moros is Godimar,

who has fallen in love with Elena When Costroas and his men leave

Elena, and she is left on her own, Godimar declares his love for her

and she rejects him She scurries away, only to come face to face

with Princess Ordelisa The Christian queen and Moro princess

engage in a sword fight Godimar, who was following Elena, sees

his cousin Ordelisa in a swordfight with the woman he loves, so he

attempts to stop them Ordelisa and Godimar leave Elena

unharmed, and they return to Turkey Elena prays to the Blessed

Virgin for help, and she is reunited with the other Christians She

bids the soldier Alberto to find Constantino to tell him that the Holy

Cross is with the Moors

This section of the story is choreographically demanding for the actress playing the lead role of Queen Elena She will be cornered by Moros, and in their battle for custody of the Holy Cross, she will engage with a Moro in a unique war dance Each dancer's left hand will be holding on to a crucifix while the right hand is used for the crossing of swords Right after the scene when the cross is wrestled away from her, she will have the courtship scene with Godimar, which was discussed in the previous chapter This scene requires skills in delivery of dialogue and well-timed movements and gesture between Elena and Godimar This will be intensified further

in the following scene when Ordelisa is added to the mix, and Elena and Ordelisa first engage in a fighting pattern "woman versus woman", and Godimar attempts to stop them, thus ushering in a challenging sequence where all three characters coordinate their dialogues and movements

The latter part of the plot proceeds thus:

Alberto intercepts King Constantino as he heads his army to war

Alberto returns to Elena to tell her that the Christian army is headed

towards Turkey, and Elena decides to follow Constantino, and they

meet outside the gates of the Moro Kingdom Constantino sends

Lucero into the gates as emissary to speak with Emperor Costroas

Meanwhile, Costroas entrusts the Holy Cross to Princess Ordelisa

for safekeeping The soldiers Marmolin, Osmalik, Godimar, and

Mahometo protest to Costroas, claiming that a woman should not

be entrusted with a relic so important Ordelisa is slighted by their

remarks, and strikes at each of them, but they block her blows with

their swords She storms out in disgust, and meets Lucero on her

way out He tries to woo her, but since she is in a foul mood, she

dismisses him Lucero is then captured by the Moros When he fails

to rejoin his army, Constantino sends generals Fernando and

Leonato to try to reason with the Moro emperor When they arrived

at Emperor Costroas's court, a fight erupts between the Christian

and Moro generals Fernando is left behind, and Leonato goes to

Constantino to ask for help Now the entire Christian army plans to

attack Turkey and to return for Lucero and Fernando who were

about to be executed Constantino's army arrive in time, invading

Turkey just before Lucero and Fernando are killed Princess

Ordelisa decides to help the two prisoners escape The Christians

attack Turkey, and Lucero and Fernando rejoin their army

Fighting ensues, and the Christian generals beat the Moros

Meanwhile Elena and Ordelisa are engaged in a sword fight

Lucero intervenes and begs Elena to spare Ordelisa, explaining how

he loves her Ordelisa decides to be baptized, and she and Elena

embrace Back at the Emperor's court, the defeated Moro generals

blame Ordelisa for their defeat in battle Elena and Ordelisa enter

arm in arm, and Costroas is crushed at the sight of his daughter's

betrayal Constantino offers the Moros the opportunity to be

baptized The Moro generals agree, and Costroas vehemently

refuses to be converted Lucero kneels before him, begging Costroas

to be baptized so he can redeem the Turkish kingdom, and he finally

agrees Ordelisa produces the Holy Cross and gives it to Elena A

baptism is organized, with plans for Lucero and Ordelisa to wed

soon after The play ends with the baptism of the Moro characters

who are each given their new Christian names

The scenes described above show a number of repeated choreographic sequences We see a courtship scene where the Moro princess Ordelisa ignores the Christian general Lucero, which is the "Moro counterpart" of the "Christian" courtship scene where the Christian Queen Elena ignores the Moro prince Godimar

We also see a scene where Elena and Ordelisa again engage in a fighting pattern

"woman versus woman", but Lucero intervenes - this is a repetition of the choreographic sequence performed earlier, but with Godimar intervening

Today's performances no longer end in baptism, and this will be discussed in more detail in chapter 7 Due to time constraints also, many scenes are skipped by the

diktador He does not reduce the amount of dancing, however, and the scenes that are

choreographically challenging are retained

In addition to the dancing that are part of the story, there are also other dances

that are inserted into the performance Discussed earlier in the chapter are the pantot,

which brings babies and old women up on stage; and the dance that serves as a over ceremony from this year's batch of sponsors to the next year's incoming group of sponsors And there is also the song and dance number performed by the female

turn-performers Why is it that there is so much dancing in the moro-moro? It is within the power of the diktador to lessen the number of dance sequences involved so that

there would be more time to devote to the development of the plot But instead of

lessening or shortening the dance scenes, the diktador choses to retain them So much

of performance time is devoted to entrances and marches, and repeated fighting patterns What is the motivation behind these choices?

Panata, Performance, and Power

We have mentioned earlier in this essay that the villagers arrive at the end of

the performance to participate in the pantot to have the actors carry their babies The

performers are seen to be worthy conduits through whom positive energy flow, and

by carrying the babies, they can pass on this energy In the Javanese conception of power, energy is seen as a substance that animates every aspect of the natural world, and that this power can be accumulated, or diffused Power can be accumulated through various practices that involve sacrifices in order to "focus" or "concentrate" in oneself, the energy diffusing in the universe Ileto has shown in his study of Tagalog peasants, how local notions of potency in the Philippines are similar to the Javanese

The peasant's attachment to anting-anting or amulets, for instance, is premised on the

belief that proximity to them may enable the wearer to absorb some its power For

an amulet to take effect, or for its power to be absorbed by the wearer, the latter's

inner being or loob must be properly cultivated through ascetic practices (like prayer, controlled movement, and other forms of self discipline) The amulet or anting-

anting does not just magically protect their wearers, the possessor must have

undergone renewal and purification.3

When applied to our study of the Arakyo performance, we can liken the script

to an anting-anting, a source of power like a pusaka (heirloom) is for Indonesians

For the script to be efficacious, it must be performed, and not just in any way, but in a

"correct" way It falls upon the diktador, who is also the director and maestro, to

teach the performers in what he views to be the correct way, and it also falls on him to orchestrate the performance suitably The actors and performers, through their many months of practice, and many hours of dancing and declaiming, especially in the heat

of the sun (which further increases the intensity of their sacrifice), are able to concetrate power, or energy, upon themselves At the end of two days of performance and the months of rehearsals that came before, when they are believed to have already accumulated power, their dancing with the babies in their arms can transfer some of their positive energy to the babies The children who are already too old to be carried, come up on stage, so that through proximity, they may access the concentration of power permeating the performance space

We can thus better appreciate the efforts of actors who dance with gusto for hours even when there is no one watching In connecting scenes, when soldiers

"march" off to war, the "march", doesn't really look like the regular marching of a soldier It is a more strenuous and dynamic version Instead of a simple step, there is

3

Ileto., Pasyon p 25

a jump or a hop, to initiate the sequence They do not hold their bodies upright, like soldiers do on parade, but rather, crouch down towards the ground, knees dipping quite low, with the weight kept on the hind leg, as the front leg swings forward across the body, the swords sweeping sideways The movements thrust the dancers' bodies dynamically, causing them to lean into the step, and to bend even deeper at the knee

It is sprightly, and tiring, requiring strength of the knees, and physical endurance Actors are able to cover a significant area of the stage in a few strides, and they do this repeatedly, and perform the sequences with vigor even in the scorching heat

A staple of the moro-moro, of course, are the fighting scenes which come in a

number of patterns: one person against one person; one person against an army; and the Christian army versus the Moro army All of these combinations are performed several times over in the period of two days

To understand the appeal of battle scenes as a "choice offering" for the patron saint, we can borrow from Jan Mrazek's "preliminary thoughts on the pleasures of fighting" in Javanese wayang: "the battle scenes are demonstration of the performer's virtuosity and the combination of violence, fast movements, loud music, sound effects, and so on all combine to produce climactic moments, moments during which the theater and its techniques, can show off in their most spectacular."4

While the dynamics of wayang are entirely different from the moro-moro, we

can fruitfully make use of the concept of battle scenes as demonstrations of virtuosity The fight scenes are seen as suitable offerings, because they show off the performer's skills, they require strength and endurance, and coordination The fighting pattern of

an army versus another army brings together majority of the cast and requires their coordination as a group This does not mean only fight scenes show off virtuosity, of

4 Mrazek, Phenomenology….p 189