NEW WAYS OF MOVING AND SEEING AT IDDF 2025

art de vivre

- RICKY TOLEDO & CHITO VIJANDRE

The atmosphere was quite electric at the opening of the International Dance Day Fest (IDDF) at the Samsung Performing Arts Theater last April 23, as an animated crowd of dance professionals and enthusiasts buzzed at the lobby.

This second edition promised to be bigger, after all, featuring over 1,200 local and international artists across a range of genres. It was also the Philippine premiere of "Autobiography (V.105)" by Sir Wayne McGregor CBE, the multi-awarded British choreographer together with the acclaimed Company Wayne McGregor, which also gave a workshop for dancers earlier in the day, "a rare opportunity to learn from one of the most innovative forces in contemporary dance," shared Christopher Mohnani, managing director of Samsung Performing Arts Theater and Circuit Makati arts and culture manager.

OPENING GALA

What makes this piece groundbreaking is the merging of science, technology and choreography to reimagine and remake itself anew with every performance.

McGregor uses the body as an archive to create "an abstract meditation on aspects of self, life and writing, a nonlinear approach to a life story refracting remembered pasts and speculative futures."

Working with his dancers to create choreography from personal memories, art and music, they crafted movement material, reflecting the 23 pairs of chromosomes of the human genome, and fed these into an algorithm based on McGregor's genetic code. The algorithm randomly selects sections to determine the material and sequence for each performance.