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Articles from the
IA&A Cultural Exchanges Bulletin
Summer 2009
“I felt like I danced before” - Jason Garcia Ignacio
Jason Garcia Ignacio is a Filipino dancer who won the 24th Annual Mayor’s Art Award in the Outstanding Emerging Artist category. Jason has extensive experience performing for international audiences. He just came back from his Middle Eastern Tour where he had a chance to perform in Jordan, Ram Allah, Israel, and United Arab Emirates. Jason has been passionate about dance since a young age. He was first spotted performing at his mother’s office at age 12 and was offered professional training. When he started dancing, he said it felt like he had been doing it all his life.
Joanna: How many hours per day do you train?
Jason: I have dance classes and rehearsals everyday from Monday to Friday. It takes six to eight hours, sometimes even twelve.
Joanna: You have a gymnast-type of body. It must be hard to achieve this effect. Are you on any special diet?
Jason: I was more flexible when I was younger. Now I have to work harder on my body. It’s very important for me to take care of myself. I need a lot of sleep to condition my body to dance. No, I’m not on any special diet. I burn a lot of calories while dancing. I also do yoga. It helps me to re-boot.
Joanna: Do you consider yourself more a performer or an athlete? I know you were a second runner up for the 1998 Aerobic Gymnastic Games in Malaysia.
Jason: Good question! During shows I’m a performer but at dance classes I’m more an athlete. Ballet requires you to be an athlete. When I’m performing I focus on an artistic approach. I always try to find new things in the same dance when performing. I improvise a lot. Each performance is different; I try to keep it fresh. If it was only about gymnastics it would turn into routine. I hate to practice dance to perfection, it loses all the magic.
Joanna: Has all the international travel helped you grow as a performer?
Jason: I started to perform professionally abroad when I was 14. It opened my eyes to different cultures. Traveling changed my life for the better, it broaden my knowledge about race, and I am able to appreciate how I look, to be proud of who I am, and where I am from; and able to see the nuances and resemblance of humanity through languages, cultures, and physical features. I am not afraid to live anywhere I want, I can easily adjust to one culture after the other. I understand that there is so much out there to see, to feel and to touch, and yes; traveling changed my life.
Joanna: Where do you reside? Which place do you consider your home?
Joanna: I’m very patriotic. Philippines have always been my home. I know there are more opportunities for me elsewhere; that is why I haven’t lived in the Philippines since I was 14. Being away from home has never been an issue for me. I have performed internationally a lot since a young age. It helped me build my confidence. Performing helps me express myself; I come out of my shell. Stage became a playground for me; I’m not scared or intimidated.
Joanna: Where can we see you performing?
Jason: I have been awarded a grant from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to create and develop a piece “The Mountain.” It’s about global warming and it was inspired by a volcano that erupted in the Philippines. “The Mountain” will be performed on the Millennium Stage at the Kennedy Center on September 10th and 11th.
By Joanna Rutkowska
Spring 2009
Director’s Journey from Warsaw to Cannes
Idit Cebula is a director, actor, and writer born in Paris of Polish parents and currently living in Paris. She came to the United States in early 2009 to tour her first feature-length film as a director, Deux Vies Plus Une (Two Lives Plus One). I saw the film and had the opportunity to catch up with Cebula to learn more about her upcoming work.
Anna: For our readers who might be aspiring actors, writers or directors what were some of your most valuable training experiences?
Idit: My life experience. Being the youngest of my brother and sister, observing them with, and in, my family... being a young woman, early married, early mother. Yes unmistakably it's my life experience more than everything else.
Anna: Why do you write?
Idit: Because I feel better when I write. Everything that happens to me has to be written, if not, I suffer. I feel good only when words are written, only when I express myself. I have to write what I feel, and what I feel and think are like pictures in my mind.
Anna: What was one of your first memorable international experiences that made an impression on you?
Idit: My first one was when I was in Germany with my first short movie, A TABLE! Also the same feeling when I was in Krakow, Poland, with my second short movie VARSOVIE-PARIS, I was happy to be there, to be back in this country with my movie where some characters spoke in Yiddish.
Anna: Please tell us about your next film.
Idit: I am writing about separation between children and parents, when children have grown up, and when they leave parents home, what happens to the couple? I try to laugh about something that can be very sad to live through and give a lot of pain!!!
Anna: What was one of the destinations that made an impression on you as a writer and director?
Idit: The most unbelievable experience was when I finished A TABLE! At the first screening I learned that it was selected at the Cannes Film Festival. It was unbelievable. Making a first movie. Finishing it. Showing it and at the same time learning that it's being invited at Cannes. It was like a dream… And the most incredible is that the movie (received a prize at Cannes), and I was the author of this. I was sure I will wake up soon. It was in 1998.
By Anna Smith
