Filipino-Belgian dancer makes waves in Europe

By Dheza Marie Aguilar, ABS-CBN Europe News Bureau

Posted at 12/15/2010 8:29 PM | Updated as of 12/16/2010 7:14 PM

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THE NETHERLANDS – A Filipino-Belgian dancer is making waves in the Netherlands for pioneering and taking contemporary urban street culture to a higher level through dance and theater performances.

Marco Gerris is popularly known as one of the members of the jury of the hit dance show “So You Think You Can Dance”. But he is also the founder and artistic director of “ISH”, a dance company which aims to train young people interested in underground disciplines like hip hop, break dancing, skating, martial arts and beat box. He adopts these disciplines and transforms them into dance and theater shows for the general public.

Gerris, who grew up in Belgium, is proud of being 100% Filipino. He was adopted by his Belgian parents from an orphanage in Cebu when he was only 3 years old.

Bringing street culture to the stage

Originally wanting to be an actor, Gerris got into dancing when he was kicked out of Antwerp’s Terleick School of Drama. Since moving to Amsterdam when he was 23 years old, he discovered street dancing and started his own company “ISH”.

“I felt that there’s too less hip hop and breakdance on stage and if you found it, it was always too little. And I said, I want to make a crew, a dance company, with all these underground skills like skating, martial arts, beatbox, hip hop, breakdance, what comes from the street and make a show with it. 10 years later we are still doing it and we are still developing and inspiring a lot of youngsters,” said Gerris in an interview with Balitang Europe.

“ISH” quickly jumped to popularity after its first show in 2000, and has since then gathered several recognitions. Their shows were a hit, not only in the Netherlands but also in the United States and Canada, as well as other parts of Europe.

Gerrris' life also inspired the award-winning documentary “Wheels of Fortune,” and he has played in several dance movies.

With an initial crew of 7 young people, Gerris strived to develop his company, and in 2005 achieved his dream of playing in Broadway at the New Victory Theater in New York together with his crew.

Pinoy docu film wins in Amsterdam

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NETHERLANDS – It was a story that made headlines in 2002 when an American Vietnam war hero was convicted of two counts of rape--a story that Director Monster Jimenez had followed in five years and released into a documentary film.

On its first worldwide in screening in the International Documentary Film Festival in Amsterdam, “Kano: An American and His Harem” won IDFA’s top award for first screening. The IDFA jury tagged Kano: An American and His Harem as a “debut film of disturbing power and an exceptional achievement by a new voice in the documentary, Monster Jimenez.”

“With an extraordinary lack of moral judgementalness, Monster Jimenez takes us inside the mind of a man who sees himself as the Hugh Hefner of the Philippines but whom the courts see as a pedophile and rapist. But Ms. Jimenez not only creates a complex portrait of a troubled man that challenges stereotypes of the sex offender, she also lets us hear the voices of the women, and some of the wives, who came to depend on and even love Victor Pearson, the “Amerikano” who gave them a sense of financial and emotional security even as he also patronized and abused them.”

Jimenez said that the story of Victor Pearson is an unpublished article that she started writing in 2005 but she eventually made into a film. When asked about her goal in making this film, she said she only wanted to tell the story.

Protecting Pinoy seafarers in Somalia: What can RP do?

By Dheza Marie Aguilar, ABS-CBN Europe News Bureau
Posted at 11/23/2010 5:16 PM | Updated as of 11/23/2010 5:16 PM

NETHERLANDS – Hundreds of Filipinos have already been kidnapped in the Gulf of Aden and around the Horn of Africa. Most of them are still in the hands of their captors. But hundreds of thousands more are still in dangerous waters around the Horn of Africa and risking their lives in the hope of a better life for their families.

Amidst the fear of their families back home and the call of maritime organizations to ban Pinoy seafarers from going to the Gulf of Aden, a Dutch ship owner urged the Philippine government to send ships to the Gulf of Aden to help in protecting Filipino seafarers.

“Do the same as the Koreans, Chinese and Japanese. They have at least one or two navy ships there and they are organizing escort convoys. In my opinion that is the best way to help them on the spot,” said Erik Berendsen, captain and director of KVB Moerman, one of the many Dutch shipping companies which are hiring Filipino crew.

Another Dutch shipping company hiring mostly Filipino crew, who does not want to be named due to their more delicate operations in the Gulf of Aden, also supports Barendsen’s recommendation.


Military Aid

In addition to the best management practice developed by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) that includes installing razor blade wires, fire equipment and water spray and lines around the ship, there are three ways to pass safely through the corridor of the Gulf of Aden, the notorious “pirate alley.”

DepEd's K+12 plan: Learning from the Netherlands

By Dheza Marie Aguilar, ABS-CBN Europe News Bureau
Posted at 11/17/2010 3:05 PM | Updated as of 11/17/2010 3:05 PM


NETHERLANDS - Time and money. These are the two main issues why a lot of Filipinos, lawmakers, parents and students alike, are questioning the feasibility of the K+12 proposal of the Department of Education (DepEd).

Many believe that adding 2 more years to basic education will be more expensive, both for government and the parents, and will take additional years away from students, which they can otherwise use in looking for a job.

While Oscar Sañez, member of the Presidential Task Force on Education and President of Business Outsourcing Association of the Philippines, admits that it is a Herculean task to pass and implement the K+12 proposal, it actually targets to solve, in the long run, these problems. Parents will have to spend less money in sending their children to school, and graduates will easily get a job in a shorter period of time.

The K+12 proposal will involve a complete overhaul of the educational system in the country, from adding two years to the basic education, re-training of the teachers, increasing the number of classrooms, acquiring new software and knowledge from other countries and involving companies into providing the right kind of jobs for new graduates.

“The prospective is that we need an education reform. If we don’t do this, in the long term, many of our graduates will continue to fail relative to the other students in other countries competing with the Philippines for the same talent. This is a good step in improving the competitiveness of the Philippines in the area of skills and workforce development,” said Sañez in an exclusive interview with Balitang Europe in the Netherlands.

Brillante Mendoza impresses the Dutch

By Dheza Marie Aguilar, ABS-CBN Europe News Bureau

Posted at 11/16/2010 12:29 PM | Updated as of 11/16/2010 12:29 PM

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THE NETHERLANDS - Sound applause, standing ovation, admiration and a whole new respect for the Philippine cinema. These marked the premiere showing of “Lola,” one of the 9 films of Brillante Mendoza which will be shown until December 2010 in the Eye Institute in the Netherlands.

Attended by writers, philosophers, film critics and very discerning Dutch film-goers, "Lola" gathered very positive feedback from the audience.

Rene Wolf, Head of Acquisition of the Eye Institute, expected this reception when he decided to buy “Lola” and “Kinatay” 2 years ago to be shown in the Netherlands.

“We always look for new directors who have something important to say but also that it is very important that they give their own touch to the way they use film in telling the stories. I think for Brillante Mendoza this is the case. Both in what he has to say and the way he does it are very unusual. I would say both image and sound because I think sound is very important in his movies. That was what interested us very much,” Wolf told Balitang Europe.

Wolf felt that Mendoza is still quite unknown in the Netherlands, and there is a need to invest in a program to make him well known in the country so they decided to show all his 9 films in the Eye Institute in Amsterdam.

Although, there is yet no similar interest for other filmmakers and films from the Philippines, Wolf said that through Mendoza, they will pay more attention to the Philippine cinema. He also expressed an interest in old Filipino movies, especially those made by another award-winning director, Lino Brocka.