The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
The Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP), through its Intertexual Division, is set to hold its Performatura 2017: Performance Literature Festival at various CCP venues from March 31 to April 2.
The three-day festival, which was launched at Manila’s Diamond Hotel recently, celebrates the intersections of the written word and performance. The word “Performatura” is a combination of “performance” and “orature,” or oral literature.
Orature is a term coined by Ugandan linguist Pio Zirimu who wanted to raise oral literature to the level of written literature.
Prize-winning performance poet Vim Nadera will be the director of the festival, which has “Sa Loob at Labas ng Bayan Kong Sawi (Within and Outside My Sorrowful Country)” as its theme. It is a direct quotation from Francisco “Balagtas” Baltazar’s masterwork Florante at Laura.
According to the CCP, Balagtas’ spirit shall animate Performatura as various artists breathe life into his body of work.
This year’s Performatura shall feature poetry readings, cultural performances, film showings, marathon readings, a book fair, and interviews with renowned artists and writers from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
National Artist for Literature Virgilio Almario, a.k.a. Rio Alma, will speak during the opening ceremony on March 31 at the CCP Tanghalang Aurelio Tolentino (Little Theater) at 9 a.m. Celebrated performer Nora Aunor will give lucky fans and attendees an intimate look into her practice as an actress on the same day at the MKP Hall inside the CCP Main Building at 2 p.m.
National Artist for Literature F. Sionil José will grace the opening show on April 1 at the CCP Promenade at 9 a.m., while Gawad CCP Para sa Sining (Panitikan) and 2001 Palanca Hall of Fame inductee Dr. Leoncio P. Deriada will talk on the practice of poetry on the same day.
Ricky Lee will talk about his practice as a screenwriter in a separate café session on April 2, while filmmakers Sari Dalena, Giancarlo Abrahan, and Jim Libiran will talk about the art of writing and making films during the Peliteratura segments.
Also on April 2, at the Balagtas Shrine in Manila’s Pandacan district at 7 a.m., National Artist for Literature Bienvenido Lumbera, CCP officials, and Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino Director General Roberto Añonuevo will lead a wreath-laying ceremony with some performances.
Entrance to the festival is free and open to the public, but audiences are encouraged to donate a book as a price for admission. Each donation will go to the Center’s Aklatang Bayan, a project of the CCP Library.
For details, visit the CCP Intertextual Division Facebook page; send an e-mail to Markus Aserit at ccpintertextualdivision@gmail.com; or call (632) 832-1125 loc. 1707 or 551-5959.