When Filipino choreographer-teacher Maximino Luna III first taught in Italy in the late 1990s after his stint with the Alvin Ailey School in New York, nobody would show up for his modern dance technique class.
To attract dancers, the versatile Luna taught jazz instead. He incorporated the Horton dance technique in his classes until he had taught the complete syllabus. Developed by dancer Lester Horton, it is one of the few codified modern dance techniques which strengthen every part of the body to enable dancers to tackle any style.
Today, many Italian dancers aspire to get the teacher’s certification for the Horton technique at the Ailey School in New York. Several dance academies in Italy have paid tribute to Luna as a modern dance proponent.
Luna has dedicated over 40 years of his life performing and teaching around the world. After living in America for 35 years, he came home in 2008.
He returned to Ballet Philippines (BP) hoping to give back by sharing what he had learned. “I thought it would be a challenge to work with the company that got me started.”
Luna began his performing career with BP under the artistic direction of Alice Reyes in the early ’70s.
When Luna and partner Alan Hineline became BP co-artistic directors during the 2008-2009 season, they were optimistic about infusing new ideas into the company.
Readjusting to the culture was challenging for Luna, who had become very Westernized in outlook.
“I learned that you can’t change something fast,” he said.
Fond memories
Although his tenure lasted for only a year, Luna has fond memories of working with BP. “The highlight was seeing my works on a beautiful stage, done beautifully by dancers who gave their all. They were technically challenged and had improved.”
Luna then went to Bacolod and rented a cottage by the sugarcane fields. He taught at the schools of the late Lydia Gaston and former BP dancer Dwight Rodrigazo.
“If I can help it, I don’t want to teach anymore. But sometimes, why not? I still have so much to share,” said Luna.
There is a dearth of dance schools where students can absorb not only the vision of a master teacher but also the latter’s long dance history.
Luna’s advantage is his extensive international performing career and his knowledge of the Horton syllabus. The technique develops a wiry upper body, a flexible lower back, stretched feet and legs, and fierce but expressive dancing. The crux of the syllabus is fortification, consisting of exercises that build up specific body parts
A class starts with simple exercises for articulating the spine and strengthening the lower back. It ends with exercises that teach students to make seamless transitions from the floor to knees to standing.
“The Graham technique goes against ballet,” he explained. “Horton is about expansion and core strength; Graham’s is grounded and contracted. The Horton technique tends to be hard on the body, but it is very strengthening. It has exercises for the eyes and for every part of the body.”
He observed that many studios utilized modern dance as a melange of what the faculty had learned from visiting teachers or workshops abroad.
Despite the Filipino’s prodigious talent and ideal build, the dancing scene has hit a plateau. Luna noted the need for refinement of technique and nuanced performance.
“I want to train teachers in the Horton technique so they can spread it around and dancers can have a strong foundation to build from. I think a lot of modern dance here is what they think it should look like, or they try to look like a European style. It’s not really it.
“They’ve done very well though,” he added. “Filipinos move beautifully. They have the ballet technique, but not the proper modern dance vocabulary. But sometimes, I think, what for?
“They look good in what they are doing. Why go through a strict modern discipline when they are talented choreographers? I just don’t like it when there’s an imitation or gaya-gaya of something else.”
With the introduction of the Horton technique in many studios here, Luna could sense some resistance. “The dancers tend to be set in their ways. They are accustomed to a certain way of doing things. You have to be flexible in styles to be a good dancer,” he said.
Best dance schools
At age 13, Luna became a BP scholar, learning both classical ballet and modern dance. He recalled going to school at Colegio San Agustin, wearing tights under his uniform. He would then bribe the family driver to take him to the Cultural Center of the Philippines for classes.
When his family migrated to the US, Luna, then 15, got scholarships at the best schools in New York—Joffrey Ballet, School of American Ballet, and American Ballet Theater. Although he would be asked to join company productions just to stand and hold the props, Luna declined since he had extensive performing experience at CCP.
At 17, he was dancing with Ballet International de Caracas in Venezuela. He also performed for jazz exponent Ron Forella and modeled for Halston.
His resumé is impressive—Ballet Hispanico, Joyce Trisler and Les Ballets Jazz de Montreal in Canada. While performing for Trisler’s company, he was introduced to the Horton technique.
He also met choreographer Alvin Ailey, who invited him to join the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.
His favorite moves came from the Ailey repertoire, such as Ailey’s “Revelations,” a signature piece about African-American freedom and liberation, set to gospel and blues music.
“It was like my Sunday Mass,” he said. “The choreography was so internal yet explosive.”
Dancing with soul
He also enjoyed the late Ulysses Dove’s “Bad Blood,” an intensely physical work about shattered relationships.
But Luna once had an operation after his partner slammed herself too hard against his chest. The movement injured his neck, which required surgery.
In 1992, Luna, then 35, wept after a show. He was burned out from the company’s schedule of nine shows a week for 10 months. He would be in three of the four evening dances, even performing during Christmas and New Year.
Ailey then offered him to be the Ailey School’s resident choreographer.
Asked what he learned from Ailey as a performer, Luna replied, “Personality is important. One should dance from the soul and be honest with it.”
He observed how today’s reality dance shows had influenced people’s perception of dance.
“The dancing is good but the soul and the refinement of the art are missing. It becomes an exhibition. That’s what happens when everything is technical. It becomes a competition.”
When his former students became company members, he would chide them if their performance was too showy. “I scolded them, ‘What were you doing? Competing? You don’t have to do 15 turns. It’s about the quality of the turns,’” he said.
As a choreographer, Luna cited “The Hurt We Embrace” as one of his most important works. Praised by American critics, the dance was inspired by the testy marriage of his parents: “My father was a babaero (womanizer) yet my mother hung on to him no matter what.”
If you hang around with Luna, he will regale you with stories about teaching with an ensemble of nine drummers in Mozambique; training advanced students in movement studies at the Actor’s Studio; dancing in Iraq after the US bombings in 1991; bringing his company called Luna to France; and dancing for the king of Morocco in the Canary Islands.
Now living in Tagaytay, Luna leads a quiet life and visits the city only to conduct classes. Despite the challenges on the local dance scene, Luna hasn’t given up hope.
“My main goal is to help dancers. I can still do it,” said Luna, who’s still boyish-looking at 56.