The Mother

At the top of a square building on the roof i wake up and climb out of the black orb that was my sleeping place. The building was made by my father before i was born and i sometimes think of it. It…

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behind the house is the garden

An intimate night of theater by SAMMAY Peñaflor Dizon & the UCLA MFA Upstarts Series

Pictured from left to right Mikayla Knestrick, Lingfeng Yi, Simon Chernow, Bianca Yen, Aryeal Lands…………………………………………………… Captured by Raphael Arndt @photog.rapha

An intimate night of theater by SAMMAY Peñaflor Dizon & the UCLA MFA Upstarts Series

UCLA is known for hosting some of the greatest minds of the past and present across all departments. The Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance is no exception. This excellent production program premiered its newest offering behind the house is the garden by SAMMAY Peñaflor Dizon on April 27th and 28th 2023 — featuring dancers Simon Chernow, Mikayla Knestrick, Aryeal Lands, Bianca Yen, and Lingfeng Yi, and musicians Camille & JoJo Ramirez. The show is nothing short of a masterpiece as Dizon explores the complexity of time, memory, ancestry, and care in a world built to remind us of our relation to mortality and love.

As we, the audience, entered the Kaufman Hall theater we were greeted by a precious altar memorializing family that have transitioned. Photos, trinkets, flowers, and foods adorning an all-white two-tier fixture instantly transported the theater into a place of appreciation for those who have moved on and for those celebrating their lives. The piece begins with a mesmerizing, trance-like movement score as one dancer twirls around the stage for what feels like an immeasurable amount of time. All the while, another dancer is still before finding his way to mobility. The soundscape paints a picture of the past with a song on a record player skipping and repeating, only bringing us back to the room when accompanied by live musicians. These elements create an eerie fragmentation that invokes the spirit of the deceased while making peace with a non-linear reality. It feels as though the audience should not concern themselves with exactly where they are in time, but instead feel the air of nostalgia and what it may mean for them. This is interrupted by the entirety of the ensemble making their way onto the stage, introducing themselves through individual scores until a group sense of play is initiated.

The ensemble turns the stage into a school yard as they yell and scream, leave the stage to play games with audience members, and roll around like toddlers finding their footing. It is a moment of pure joy and innocence, cut violently with a scream: “I DON’T LOVE YOU ANYMORE.” The cast shakes and convulses, turning up the intensity of their previous momentum to convey a raw trigger of an unpleasant recollection. As this moment comes to a head, everyone in the cast finds their way out except for one, who dances to the sounds of a wailing woman in a way so vulnerable and intimate you could have believed he knew her. As he finds a resolve, the cast joins him for one last hurrah — a dedication in the form of spotlight solos to a popular Whitney Houston track. Although this piece is so richly textured with references to Filipino/Pinoy culture, this ensemble takes a moment to explore their individual movement expressions, leaving the sweet taste of love on the stage. The piece draws to a close with a duet that links an ancestral plane to the present, as a woman who moves gingerly and tenderly across the stage meets a man engulfed in frustration and sadness. They share a familial wisdom that seems to be passed down through generations.

The entirety of this show felt like a conjuring, a delicate mourning, a remembrance, and a passionate display of ancestral aliveness. If you ever get a chance to see a restaging of this work, I would recommend you do not miss it. To learn more about this production, the cast, and past and future work of SAMMAY Peñaflor Dizon, please use the links attached to this article.

The Mother

behind the house is the garden

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