What happens when an artistic director names a dance program after a CBC Radio One show hosted by a Vancouver broadcaster? In the case of Co.ERASGA founder Alvin Tolentino, it resulted in the interviewer visiting a rehearsal and sharing the story with a national audience.
Laura Lynch hosts What on Earth, which reports on constructive efforts to address global heating. Tolentino is a climate-literate dance artist whose work regularly addresses environmental themes. He also listens to Lynch’s program.
Co.ERASGA’s world premiere of What on Earth will be at the Roundhouse Community Arts and Recreation Centre in Vancouver’s Yaletown neighbourhood from Wednesday (September 18) to Friday (September 20). Tickets are available through Eventbrite.
“What on Earth will continue to examine the critical creative relations to the environment and the dire times we face with global warming,” Co.ERASGA states on its website.
What on Earth consists of original works by Tolentino and two other choreographers: Toronto’s Naishi Wang and Berlin’s Alvin Collantes. They will be performed by dancers Yuha Tomita, Ysadora Dias, Samantha Krystal, Juolin Lee, danielle Mackenzie, Juan Villegas, Avery Ebenal, and Lily Wallman.
Erasga’s piece, Fire-Air-Water-Earth reinforces humanity’s connection with nature’s four sacred elements, which are being transformed by rising greenhouse gas emissions. Meanwhile in Weathering Rhythms, Naishi features dancers raising their voices and stomping their feet. According to the program, this work urges audience members “to confront the realities of the climate crisis while celebrating resilience as an act of cheerleading to the determination of communities striving for a sustainable future”.
Collantes’s work, Bulkan, “delves into the fiery depths of human emotion, drawing parallels between the raw power of volcanic eruption and the tumultuous landscape of one’s innermost feelings”.
Watch the trailer for What on Earth.
What on Earth follows up on earlier works
“Can we raise and push creative investments, practices and concerns to attune our creativity to an alarming and devastating fragile ecologies?” the dance company asks. “The productions seek and push to question our human relational, place and time on environmental stewardship.”
Tolentino told Lynch, the CBC host, that he first became concerned about a warming planet as he saw the effects in the Philippines, where he was born. His 2004 production of Field focused on why a growing number of Filipinos have become wary of planting rice. Reasons include unpredictable weather and more intense storm surges as a result of rising sea levels.
Since then, Tolentino has become very attuned to the impact of the climate breakdown on B.C. ecosystems. This is thanks in part to what he has learned from Indigenous friends.
“I’m right on this land,” Tolentino told Pancouver last year. “So, part of my work is also questioning, for me: what is my relationship with the land? What do I know? What do I witness?”
Collantes is also a Filipino Canadian, as well as an artist and drag performer. According to his biography, Collantes draws upon his experiences as a queer immigrant and person of colour to explore assimilation and its upheavals, among other topics.
Lynch also interviewed Wang on her program. Earlier this year, he co-choreographed Deciphers at the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival. Wang was born in China’s Jilin Province and moved to Beijing before immigrating to Toronto as a teenager. His PuSh festival production addressed communications barriers faced by immigrants.
Co.ERASGA presents What on Earth at 8 p.m. at the Roundhouse Community Arts and Recreation Centre (181 Roundhouse Mews) from Wednesday (September 18) to Friday (September 20). For tickets and more information, visit Eventbrite. Follow Pancouver on X @PancouverMedia and on Instagram @PancouverMedia.
