NATIONAL Artist for Dance and BP’s current artistic director Alice Reyes.

When people mention Ballet Philippines (BP), National Artist for Dance Alice Reyes’ name is sure to follow next.

This comes as no surprise since it was Alice who founded and steered the first resident company of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) during its formative years which became its strong foundation.

But borrowing a line from Irish poet William Butler Yeats, how can we know National Artist Alice Reyes from BP? How do we separate the founder from the company?

While it would certainly be challenging to do so, we can get to know Alice through the stories told by the people who know her best, such as the dancers she worked with in her prime, the writers who cover the arts and culture scene and the next generation of ballerinas who have followed in her dancing steps.

These stories have been collected and curated into a book, Alice Reyes & Ballet Philippines, A 50-Year Legacy in Dance, launched on 27 November at the CCP Tanghalang Ignacio Gimenez (new CCP Black Box Theater).

“It is as much a book on me and my life in dance as it is a book on Ballet Philippines, initially brought about as the result of my discovery of a most amazing theater in the artistic edifice built by Mrs. Imelda Marcos, called the Cultural Center of the Philippines, in 1969,” shared AR, as she is fondly called by the young dancers and staff of the dance company.

The idea of publishing a book on Alice, her life and works, including BP’s 50 years, came forth after she was named National Artist in 2014. With that award given to individuals who made significant contributions to Philippine arts and culture, she would receive a grant from the National Commission for Culture and the Arts to make projects which could demonstrate what she can do and further develop her arts.

In 2017, Alice decided she really wanted to publish a book. That was the year when BP welcomed her back as artistic director.

“I took inspiration from the extraordinary book of Nic Tiongson on National Artist Salvador Bernal and his production designs,” said the current BP artistic director who tapped into “folks who were there from the beginning,” back when BP was still the Alice Reyes Modern Dance Company and became part of the editorial board.

SUMMER workshops of BP have been conducted in CCP over the years.

Tess Rances, the CCP department manager for administrative services who brought Bernal’s book to life, agreed to become the project director, while Elizabeth Reyes, who took summer classes at the annual CCP Summer Dance Workshop back then, joined the editorial board as the executive editor.

In turn, Elizabeth brought in a formidable team of publishing experts including book designer Dopy Doplon, copy editors Randy Bustamante and Jae Abaya.

“I was very fortunate to have had Margie Moran-Floirendo spearheading the project while she was still BP president and seeing it through to its very end, effectively coming up with the publishing team and helping us with much-needed additional funding,” shared Alice.

Elizabeth described the book as “a very collaborative work about National Artist Alice Reyes. From the start, AR chose the various people whom she felt knew or understood her best — to be the writers of her story — portraying AR as a real person and a lifetime artist.”

COUNTLESS stories about the woman behind BP.

When the concept of the book became more sound, the writing began early this year.

“That was the most challenging part for me — finding writers. This is not about making choreography or producing dance, but it is about creating text,” said Elizabeth, adding, “We needed to find writers who can really write, who are reliable and could beat deadlines, who really know Alice’s vision and values.”

It took a few months before they finally got the stories.

“Each of the seven writers —- four former dancers, two journalists and one tour manager/BP trustee —– started from their own grounded experiences with Alice and the early dance company. We, the two editors, then stitched together the diverse essays, stirring in more vivid memories or quotes from Alice herself. Thus, we told the visionary Alice’s story through a chorus of many creative voices,” shared Elizabeth.

NORMAN Walker’s “Season of Flight.” Jojo Mamangun

“The only part of the book that touches on my life is written by my sister Beatrice Homann, a wonderful writer whose memory is so much clearer than mine. I owe her for her stories of our early family days of music, song and dance,” she said.

She added: “The writers — Nes Jardin, Edna Vida, Richard Upton, Doreen Yu, Gina Katigbak-Bautista, among others —- all witnessed the birth, the growth, the developments and activities undertaken by the company, both within the Philippines and out on international stages, with the company bringing back kudos from local and international dance critiques that led to more productions and the growth of a repertoire that speaks of the Filipino cultural wealth and our comfort and agility with both Western and Asian music and dances and mythologies.”

According to Elizabeth, there were many stories and experiences that emerged from their research. The editorial team had to “choose the most relevant incidents, the most resonating experiences and most colorful quotes —- and then drop out too much overlap and redundancy. Eliciting —- then finally editing —- the seven essays was a monumental task by itself.”

Reyes signs her books for patrons of the arts.

With a photo of a young Alice dancing on the cover, the book is divided into two sections: the Legacy and the Repertoire.

The Legacy section, which makes up the first third of the book, recounts Alice Reyes’ whole legacy through seven essays about her personal history (starting from her early childhood before she started dancing on the CCP stage), the humble beginning of her dance company, her influences (featuring international dance masters), her collaborators (some of them even became National Artists themselves) and the new generation of choreographers birthed from years of experiences and exposures and the growth of the BP School of Dance.

A quote from dance critic and scholar Ann Daly: “A dance legacy must be performed in order to be preserved” — rings true in the Repertoire section. A highly-visual section, it features 45 of the best dance works produced by Ballet Philippines over the last 50 years. Featured works showcase “the BP repertoire known for its depth and richness and range,” as well as “the varied styles of dance the (dancers) are able to dance and interpret.”

“It is not about the glamorous photos, best set designs or fantastic costumes. AR chose the works because there is something about it that is worth to be shown. There is a certain value, a broader vision or a deeper message in the featured work,” enthused Elizabeth.

“One of the challenges is choosing the dance works for the Repertoire section. There were so many we thought should be featured, but there are only so many pages in the book. Another challenge is finding the photographs to help us tell the story. Photographs had to be researched — a lot of detective work had to be done. This was quite a challenge —- getting archival photos of the original photographers like Rudy Vidad, Mario Pamintuan and Don Jaime Zobel,” shared Alice.

Over 2,500 photos or digital files of BP dances had to be culled and narrowed down to 250 black and white photos from the archives, as well as beautiful photographs by the young photographers such as Jojo Mamangun and Victor Ursabia (both were former members of the dance company) and Justin Alonte to complete the visual narrative.

For Elizabeth, this is the hardest book she has ever done, but it is also the most satisfying. “I’m very proud of it. It’s amazing how you can put memories in paper and create a book that can stay for a very long time.”

Ballet Philippines’ performance at the launch of the coffee table book.

Alice enthused: “I am very thankful for the opportunity handed to me by the NCCA to think of doing a book that would reflect on and show BP’s 50 year journey, in words of those who knew it best and passionately treasure all that BP means to our culture today, and in pictures that speak volumes of the company’s incredible repertoire that all Filipinos can be proud of.”

And this book can serve as an inspiration to aspiring young dancers.

“If that is so, that I am an inspiration to young dancers, that is humbling. But it is also inspiring to me. This will only encourage and energize me to work harder on what I can do for the state of dance in our country.”

What’s next for the National Artist? Alice looks forward to working with the CCP and the NCCA on projects that serve the decentralization of dance both on the educational and performance levels.

“I would like to think that I could actively go for the establishment of theaters in various islands and cities so that more and more of our countrymen can experience first-hand all the wonderful presentations that we, who live in Metro Manila regularly see and experience,” concluded Alice.