Let's dance

Kiwi dancer, teacher and choreographer LEILA LOIS visited one of Manila's innovative dance companies as it celebrated its 10th anniversary.

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Manila's contemporary dance scene combines a world of inclusion and vibrancy, and has many parallels with dance in New Zealand. "Each time we dance, there is a beautiful mesh of different people," says Daloy Dance Company founder and artistic director Ea Torrado. As Torrado speaks at the company's headquarters in central Manila, dancers are limbering up and stretching in preparation for rehearsals of new work.

The high-roofed building sits amid busy offices and restaurants, a world of bustle and noise outside its windows. Inside, the Daloy dancers move energetically to a soundtrack created by local composers as they workshop Torrado's latest piece, ItikLandia. It is inspired by the traditional Filipino folk dance itik-itik, which mimics the movements of ducks - the name is the Tagalog iteration of what we could call "quack, quack".

"It's a physicalised hymn to the natural world we all share, live and thrive in," says Torrado.

The company is non-hierarchical and prides itself on its inclusive framework - a long way from the formal structures often inherited from ballet companies.

"You get a different chemistry every time you collaborate on a project," Torrado says, which means you have to be comfortable with "organic, natural, slow growth".

"Daloy" means "stream" in Tagalog and the company has certainly experienced flow and flux since its inception 10 years ago. "Like water, we aspire to take on the containers of each work," says Torrado.