Hello everyone!
I am Ricky Carranza, a professional dancer/choreographer, and
the producer & director of 'Sayaw Kalsada' (translated street dance: 'Sayaw' means DANCE in Tagalog and 'Kalsada" means STREET from spanish word 'Calzada.'). I have been in the street dance
business since 1981.
My former group called “The Funk System” was among the early
street dance crews in the Philippines alongside our friends and contemporaries
like the Mechanics, Knapsax, Mastermixes, Eclipse, Infoclash Rockers, Manouvres
and Kool Kats.
These crews inspired a new breed of talents in the 90s like Jungee Marcelo, Jerome Dimalanta, X-people, Spindicate Posse, Universal Motion Dancers, the Streetboys, and many more, who
later motivated the dance crews of the 2000s like the Battle crew, The
Philippine All Stars, Team Vibe and more…
There were other dance crews and extraordinary individual
dancers and artists during our time and even before us (some have long been
forgotten), who inspired us and set up the first pillars of Filipino street
dance. Names like A&W Computer, Billy Boy Muniz and Zorayda of the Funky Friends, Monty Flores, Rommel Canlas, Darwin Tuazon, the late master rapper national icon Francis Magalona,
Ronnie Ong Herrera, Raoul Henson, Larry Moncado, Uriel Policarpio and the cult-classic Dance 10 group
of Ray An Fuentes and Mike Monserrat, Sandy Hontiveros and Poncy
Quirino of the Penthouse 7 hosted by Archie Lacson, and of course, our very own national pride, multi-talented musician, Gary Valenciano, are among these pioneers who laid out the foundation of
our urban dance culture.
Sayaw Kalsada is dedicated to the new generation of Filipino
talents, who continue to enrich and represent our culture taking our flag with
honors to the international scene. Multi-time champion world-class Philippines
All Stars, crews from the University of the Philippines (UP) and Della Salle
University, the FMD, the Rockstars, and many more are among the new heroes who
tirelessly push and extend the frontiers of Filipino street dance beyond our
known limits.
This documentary is the untold story of these dancers and artists, and their burning passion which paved a hard way to the establishment of Filipino street dance culture.
Moreover, this film features some of the best Filipino-blood street-style dancers, teachers and organizers around the world
who have remarkably contributed and continue to share in the development of the
street dance culture in their respective areas and worldwide. To name a few: Keone and Mari Madrid, Brian
Puspos, Bboy Ronnie, Cris of Jabawoockeez, Justin “Jet Li” of Poreotics, Donna Sunny D Lock, Bailrok, Dennis Infante, Dave of World of Dance,
Arnel Calvario of Kaba modern, Bboy Mouse, Bboy Reo Matugas, Jheric Hizon “Bboy Twist” and Cezar of
Fresh Groove from Vancouver, Arnel Serrano of Rockstars from Toronto, Canada, Michael Flores from Sydney, Marco Selorio of
Battlegrounds, CL from Dubai, Errol from Brisbane, Cyrus, Lucky and Lisa of
Urban Force, Vince and Liz of Passion studio, Karen Jehodo of K-Star studio,
Joel Gallarde from New Zealand & Melbourne, some forgotten heroes like Alvin Tuazon (brother of Darwin Tuazon), Don Sevilla from Los Angeles, Bboy
Wrek of NASA crew & Rock Steady crew, and many more.
Through this film the whole world will know why
Filipinos love street dance under any conditions!
THE CONTENT
Sayaw Kalsada is the story of how street dance developed in the Philippines and what the dance culture means to Filipinos worldwide.
This documentary, however, is not solely about Filipinos or Filipino street-dance. It is about the dance itself as an entity and its amazing transforming power and influence over an individual and a culture like that of the Philippines.
Sayaw Kalsada deals also with definition, categories, boundaries and the difference between street-dance and hiphop. It answers many important questions such as: Which one is the umbrella? Which came first? Are all street dance styles hiphop? What makes hiphop hiphop? What makes street dance street? And more…
This film is highly educational and recommended to schools (including dance studios), dance event organizations, and all academic institutions, particularly those with dance and international art-culture programs. This is a MUST for all urban-style dancers, dance event organizers, and every dance teacher and student.
THE BUDGET
Most of the work has already been done. And
thus, there’s not much to raise and we don’t need an awful lot of money to finish
it. I, and my family, have spent about
30k US dollars to arrive to this point.
These expenditures include the travel cost, hotel, food, and local
transportation in different countries (i.e. Canada, USA, Australia, United Arab
Emirates, Philippines, Singapore, England, Hongkong) and cities within (take note: we filmed in more 20 locations around the globe), film
equipment, production crew, computers, external storage, editing program and
other relevant reasons.
We need to raise now a minimum of 10k US
dollars for the post production work which includes the making of the
soundtrack (take note: we will make our own music album for the documentary),
video editing, graphic animation, promotion, marketing, making of dvd, and
other relevant cost. That amount does not
even include my salary for all those years of hard work and all those expenses
we forked out from our own pockets.
Thus, if you are able and feel like giving
more, please do so that we may somehow recover from our prior expenses. Come to think of it, it is not really a lot of
money we are raising now. If only 100
friends share 100 US dollars each, this documentary is done! I know I alone have more than 100
friends who are wiling and excited to take part of this life-time worth endeavor. For this reason, I am sure we can
finish this project in time.
I need that fund while I am in the
Philippines, between 28 April to 30 May, during which period, I will sit in the
editing room most of the time, if not filming the last scenes.
If we are able to surpass that 10k US
dollar goal, we plan to use that excess to invest more on our earlier project, which
we have put on hold – the narrative feature film - “Dance Boy”. We know a lot
of you have been waiting for this. We
decided to concentrate on this documentary project first, not only because it
is lighter financially, but also to establish credibility that we are not only
capable of doing what we say we can, but also to prove that we are legitimate
street dancers and know our subject well.
Our prayer is that this documentary film will inspire and unite Filipino
dancers around the world to keep working together in representing our
individual natural talents and our unique rich culture flowing in our
veins.
THE SIGNIFICANCE
This documentary film means a lot to me,
and my family, not only because it marks the beginning of a new chapter for us,
but, more so, because, I know it will inspire and open up so many opportunities
not only for our own people, but for others as well. Like many others, dance has “saved” my life
and gave me a new purposeful direction.
With this documentary, I hope to be able to give back to my own people
and provide help and support to many talented Filipino dancers specially those who have less
chances of making a living of their craft.
If both these film projects will become
successful, and generate funding and interest from financially capable
individuals, I intend to set up the Street dance Institute of the Philippines,
a refuge and haven for those who intend to make a career out of their passion
and skill. This will be the first
educational institution in Asia, probably in the world, which specializes only on the vast street dance
culture and will offer street dance as a degree both for those who want to
become professional dancers and those who want to become respected
degree-holder teachers. I have written
the manual/curriculum for that matter as early as the 90s. This is not an overnight dream or wishful
thinking. I have been working on this
dream relentlessly for several decades now.
THE CALL
I am calling on my friends, relatives,
former classmates, dance students, former dance students, co-dancers, friends
of friends, all Filipino-blood dancers and everyone who shares the same interest
and passion for street dance and close affinity with Filipinos, please join me and my family in making this a
reality. Thank you. May God bless our efforts.
Much love,
Ricky
