Behind the Shadows
At present the ANINO Shadow Play Collective is a group in search of a home and community. For now, with the recent reorganization, its community is its current membership along with its universe of artist-friends and supporters. After all it can be argued that ANINO is a community in itself. . . what with an across the arts membership, the constant sharing and levelling of expertise and skills and the mentoring system that it is evolving. But the entire archipelago, if not the world, is its prospective audience. In fits and starts, whenever and wherever opportunity presents itself, ANINO attempts to develop and propagate the art (or craft) of shadow play.
Its heyday dates back to its Philippine High School for the Arts years. That was a time of unbridled creativity because the group’s community was composed of a supportive school administration, faculty, staff, and art students and their families. To this day, ANINO members experiment with visuals, sounds, and movements.
ANINO’s advantage is the accessibility of its art form. Because it straddles the whole spectrum of art forms and employs popular norms, there is something for everyone in ANINO productions.
In 1992, the Cultural Center of the Philippines outreached ANINO to selected towns and cities nationwide. That experience confirmed shadow play’s potential as a tool for communication, education and advocacy. Unfortunately, so far, it was the only time that the group ever received much-needed government support. 8 years later an officer of the Kasanggayahan Arts Foundation still remembered ANINO’s performance and interaction in his town. Unfortunately for lack of funding ANINO’s follow through plan in the Bicol region did not materialise.
Beginning 1995, by participating in CASA San Miguel’s Pundaquit Arts Festival and by conducting workshops among the local youth, the ANINO sa Zambales was born. And now Mauban, Quezon through its annual summer art workshops for its children and youth presents another possibility.
The two years in Diliman (first in the V. Luna area, then in Teacher’s Village) was a failed attempt to develop a community base. ANINO did not succeed in engaging the community in which it maintained a studio. Instead ANINO was active within the Diliman campus of the University of the Philippines in partnership with the Pangkat Malaya theater group and Makiling Ensemble under the auspices of UP Ibarang. From this experience we learned that ANINO was in fact a closed community of alumni of the PHSA and decided to open its doors by actively recruiting and training non-artists and non-Ibarangs alike.
The question of whether shadow play is art or craft remains in many people’s minds, not excluding ANINO’s own members.
For 10 years, through performances, interactions and workshops, ANINO has been seeking to engage and “convert” non-art audiences. ANINO’s advantage is the accessibility of its art form. Because it straddles the whole spectrum of art forms and employs popular norms, there is something for everyone in ANINO productions. Additionally, shadowplay is adaptable to a wide range of technologies. With no more than a piece of cloth, some candles and our own bodies, we’re in business. We can take and replicate ANINO even in the hinterlands. But we can and do also go high tech.
The question of whether shadow play is art or craft remains in many people’s minds, not excluding ANINO’s own members. Its present relationship with the Museo Pambata has resulted in the perception of ANINO as little more than a group of party clowns available cheaply and at a moment’s notice. Still, being practising artists in our respective fields, we continue to create shadow plays that come close to what we have been taught in school to reckon as art. And never mind if, for the meantime, these pieces have only our friends or ourselves for audience. We promise ourselves that some day all these will culminate in a production we have dubbed Mga Guni-guni ni Blu, a 3-year old work in progress.
Experience has shown that workshops and endorsements and/or support from cultural institutions like the CCP, CASA San Miguel and other art groups are the means by which ANINO and its art is taken seriously. A recent performance/interaction at the National Arts Center has opened the possibility of a renewal of ties with the Philippine High School for the Arts as well as access to the surrounding community.
As for empowerment, ANINO seeks first to empower its own members but is hopeful that through its treatment of its repertoire of subjects (history, folklore, ecology, social justice, et al.) it contributes to the empowerment of its audience as well. Empowerment in this case takes the form of heightening of awareness and transfer of techniques and skills by which one may express or present ones ideas.
