BREAKING LEGS!
Butch L. Ferrer, Vice President, SCCAFI

"Merde"! "Break a leg!"

How would you feel if someone wishes you dead on stage? Morbid, isn't it?

Yes. "Merde!" means death in French and receiving such admonition simply affords one an eerie feeling of discomfort.

Whatever its origin, it had been a tradition to French dance artists to admonish each other "merde!" before one takes center stage and hugs the limelight. Simply put, you are wishing him his death on stage.

It is a casual challenge to a colleague to die in the passions of his craft as an artist, as in good luck. It is an admonition that an artist has to take his whole life in performance, as if there is no tomorrow, making his every performance always his last. If he does, then accolades are showered upon him as he takes his bow at curtain call, well-deserved and well-earned if indeed, he did a performance of his lifetime, one that is in commune with discipline, space, movement, rhythm, music, lights and self.

Breaking legs and "dying" quite several times were reasons enough for the South Cotabato Performing Arts Ensemble (SCPAE) to evolve. Independent dance groups took four years of unyielding passion to perform before they were noticed by the provincial government. Pocket performances aptly titled "Choreographer's Showcases", became a venue for members of the South Cotabato Dance Society under Butch Ledesma Ferrer, its first President, to purvey their idealism through dances, to create their own niches in South Cotabato's cultural mainstream, and to leave a mark that with intense passion, good performers endure the rigors of performance with or without audience, with or without talent fees.

Four years of staging grueling routines at the Protech Center during National Arts Month as entertainment fare of the Kawayan Festival, the independent dance groups took turns to showcase their respective repertoire all in the name of passion and commitment to the ideals of culture and the arts. Performances were almost always open for public.

These four groups, the "Kahayag Community Dance and Theater Company" with their contemporary dances then under the late Cyrus Nobleza; the "Me'dal Kolon Datal Dance and Theatre Ensemble" with their folk, tribal and ballroom dances under Butch Ledesma Ferrer; the "Cybercrew" with their contemporary and hiphop dances under Benjie G. Roderos; and the "Tboli Performing Arts" with traditional Tboli dances under Rodel Hilado, became the pillars of the South Cotabato Performing Arts Ensemble in 2005 when Provincial Governor Daisy P. Avance Fuentes took notice of the potentials of the groups in creating bridges between government and the people, preserving and promoting the rich cultural heritage of the province, and streamlining the value of culture and the arts in the development strategies of governance. Cyrus Nobleza then was appointed as the Coordinator.

Formalized in the same year, the provincial government through the Sangguniang Panlalawigan, in partnership with the Provincial Planning and Development Office and the Arts, Culture, Tourism and Sports Promotions Unit has empowered these groups by virtue of the quarterly endowment fund for the groups' sustenance, with the inclusion of Notre Dame of Marbel University "Kariktan Dance Troupe" under Eufemia Alcon, and "Extreme Dancers" under Mark Gil Melody, as original members.

Since then, the South Cotabato Performing Arts Ensemble became the province's Ambassadors of Goodwill. Through its performances, visitors and guests were treated to the province's unique trademark of welcome and reception, making them leave their hearts in awe, enticing them to come back to explore further South Cotabato's world of wonders.

The Ensemble has represented the province of South Cotabato in various activities it hosted, needing entertainment. International summits, national conventions, regional conferences, name it, and most positively the ensemble has performed for the delegates in a grand welcome and reception - thus, dispelling the myth that cultural diversity creates disparity and unstable peace an order. While showcasing how this same diversity works to an advantage, the Ensemble has strengthened the bond forged between three cultures - that of the lumad, (the Blaan &Tboli), the Maguindanaoan and the Christian settlers. This bond, immortalized by the tensile strength of moral fibers woven into a unique and exotic social fabric produced by deft hands of the provincial leadership, has proven its mettle in the advancement of peace, progress, development and global understanding - alongside South Cotabato's pride, the Tnalak!

At present, after five years in existence, SCPAE has experienced changes. For reasons other than personal, "Kariktan Dance Troupe" and "Tboli Performing Arts" have opted to leave the Ensemble. Lake Sebu 's "Kem Sefu Enkuyan Performing Arts" under Jennifer Tupas and Tantangan's "Intang Maguindanaoan Dance Troupe" under Analiza Cueva became ready replacements.

Sworn to uphold the province's culture and arts program, the Ensemble continues to perpetuate the ideals of a culture friendly environment that South Cotabato possesses. The efforts to sustain the program in aid to governance has been recognized by the international culturati , immortalized and etched in the 2009 "Sarimanok Award" presented by UNESCO/International Theater Institute through the National Commission for Culture and the Arts for South Cotabato 's "dedication to the advancement and promotion of heritage, arts and culture."

As the Ensemble continues to break legs and dying in passion on stage, the province has established a tradition of excellence in the field of culture and the arts worthy of a national award. And if indeed a performer has to break a leg and die, his passion has already sown the seed, raising a tree that would be left to die standing, forever!

LIST OF OFFICERS (2008-2010)

NOEL GAROVILLO
President

JUANITO FERRER, JR.
Vice President

PERLYN JOY ENRIQUEZ
Secretary

NEPTALI TOMARO
Treasurer

PEPITO POLICARPIO
Auditor

MELBA JAMBANGAN
P.I.O

SECTOR REPRESENTATIVES

JENNIFER TUPAS
Dance

AMY ROSE ROMANO
Music

RONITO SUBALDO/RAUL LEBANAN
Visual Art

ROLLY VISAYA/ERNA VEGO
Arts and Culture Coordinators

CEZAR SULIT, JR. / INDIRA CAGAANAN
Provincial Government Representatives

MARC SARAGENA / JULIUS MELLA
Secretariat