For Fil-Canadian dancer Alvin Tolentino, paradise is within

Some people live their entire lives hoping to one day find happiness in paradise, but choreographer and dance artist Alvin Tolentino believes paradise lives inside oneself.   The Filipino-Canadian artist explores this idea in his cross-continental dance project "Paradis/Paradise," which he created in 2008 with French musician-composer Emmanuel de St. Aubin and Vancouver media artist Donna Szoke.   This month, Tolentino and de St. Aubin will stage "Paradis/Paraiso" in the Philippines.   “I decided to live the idea of paradise through my body, the idea of being able to see, to hear, to touch, and to taste all of these different paradises — of being really aware of my perception, my own feelings,” Tolentino says in a press release.   “I guess paradise lives inside of me. It’s in my own body. As a dancer, finding a way to express that is this piece,” he adds.   In his solo performance piece, Tolentino's paradise is unlike childhood fantasies of white fluffy clouds, airy music and flying angels.   Tolentino performs in plain black, and the music is far from the typical notion of heavenly choirs. De St. Aubin's music is more like structured noise, heavy sounds to which Tolentino moves within a bare space.   Asked if the performance has something to do with the world he left when his family moved from the Philippines to Canada almost 30 years ago, Tolentino admits that the piece is nostalgic.   “That’s something I’m always aware of,” he says. “And I think that there is a sense of nostalgia in this piece—a sense of nostalgia and longing that’s kind of sitting in the body. We don’t really literally speak about it, but I think it sits in the body; it’s centered in the body. And for me as a dancer, finding a way to express that is a dance,” he tells Alexander Varty in the Georgia Straight.   Tolentino last performed in the Philippines in 2007 when he toured his solo piece “Field: Land is the belly of man” across the country.   He began dancing at an early age. As a young boy, he was a member of a cultural dance troupe in Apolonio Samson, Quezon City. When Tolentino's family migrated to Canada, he continued dancing throughout high school in Vancouver, and later trained at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet.   Drawn by the freedom of modern dance, Tolentino went on to perform with Kokoro Dance, Lola Dance and Keren Jamieson.   In 2000, Tolentino founded Co.Erasga Dance Company in Vancouver.   Co.Erasga’s works address themes of identity and ethnicity in a global context through contemporary dance. One of their goals is to recognize and celebrate Asian heritage and diversity within Canadian multiculturalism. They also aim to produce and promote original contemporary dance to a broad audience across British Columbia, Canada and internationally.   The company has performed in festivals and venues as far as Scotland, France, Italy, Belgium, Singapore, and Venezuela, and most recently in Germany and Uruguay. - YA, GMA News   “Paradis/Paraiso” will be shown on Friday, July 27, 2012 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. at De La Salle College of St. Benilde Blackbox Theater, 6th floor, De La Salle College of St. Benilde School of Design and Arts Campus Building, 950 Pablo Ocampo St. (formerly Vito Cruz), Malate, Manila. For tickets, call 536-6752 loc. 113 or 0906-294-3895. Photo courtesy of The Lemon Circle