M. B. Niyaan

In the course of watching “M. B. Niyaan” Russ Ligtas’ latest performance art oppus ( played consecutively at Diwata Gallery, Handuraw, Alternative Contemporary Art Studio, Bantawan and Elysa Cafe) Ang Tigbuhat wondered to himself whether there was such a thing as chance.

Albert Einstein had wondered as much finally deciding that God does not play dice with the universe. The dice metaphor is elemental. We would think that the die will fall whichever way and at random after it is cast. But the opposite view is just as defensible: That in the end the ultimate outcome is determined at that instantaneous moment the fingers flick the die into its final trajectory. The clumsiness of human fingers might make the process seem purely random or seem irreplicable even in a laboratory setting, but from that instance the die releases its outcome is already set. And it will fall according to the rules of the universe, according to gravity, inertia and the laws of physics. All of which may be predicted given the right tools.

And if there are phenomena which may seem like chance to us, it might only be because we have not yet sufficient knowledge and measuring tools to understand them in their minutae. It is only this lack which makes them predictable or seem like chance.

But on the other hand, we are only talking about the fall of the dice into the table. What about human fingers? Is chance possible there? Is it chance which is essential in the human? Prof. Tigbuhat thinks so.

Chance is the elementary particle which makes choice possible. A person may do any act for a perfectly sane and logical reason like a machine or he or she might choose to do the act for no reason at all. He or she might leave everything to how the die will fall or to reason absolutely personal. Either way, he or she chooses. And it is this capacity to choose which makes humans special.

But this claim may be traced to its most fundamental constructs. To believe this, one must first believe there is God and He or She has laden man and woman with free will, spirit, a soul with the consequent ability to decide the conditionalities for his or her salvation. Chance is the fundamental particle of freedom.

Which is why Prof. Tigbuhat loves Russ Ligtas, loves performing with him and loves watching him perform. Even if Tigbuhat is not himself gay to the best of his knowledge and even if gay discourse would seem to be the core of Russ’ performances, Tigbuhat believes, the performances go deeper than that. That Russ is gay is only a premise. The deeper core is how a person, any person, and by any persuasion, deals with the human condition, deals with love and death and people going away, deals with love and abandonment and finally retrieving one’s self.

At the beginning of the performance Russ slowly and methodically disappears from us into the persona,  M. B. Niyaan. He is topless over 3 layers of skirt. His face is white, his mouth black. He is now the typical androgenous Butoh character. Butoh is a contemporary perfomance art style which began from two Japanese but has now spread its influence worldwide. Butoh is Russ’ performance discipline. But it is only medium. Russ uses this medium to bring us into his world.

It is a world of many layers. There is a computer with a built-in video camera to project images into a screen. The screen works at times on its own. Other times, it is a stage backdrop for Russ moving and/or singing in front of it. What is Russ singing or moving about? He sings and dances of M. B. Niyaan, a perfectly fictitious character, which we know cannot not be pure fiction. He or she is too familiar to be entirely that. He or she reminds us of Russ, of Liyo, Gloria, Chai, Mecca, David, Mona, Doogie; and then of Joanna, of Sophy, of Denisa and Mark, of the late Winston, of Anne, of Roy, of Larry and Merlie; reminds of people even closer, Isagani, Linya, Elias and at least three Estelas, of Ted and Raul and Budoy and Adjong and June, of Dolores, of etc.; and then of a previous time, when we all still had the courage and temerity to try something we’ve never tried before. And we were all only trying to discover who we truly were.

And yet we do not really know where M. B. Niyaan is going in the end. He or she will, like us, find redemption or its opposite way, way, way into the future. And we can ony guess what he or she will choose in the end. Because like all of us, M. B. Niyaan is human, and therefore free. And therefore laden with spirit and soul. So that while God may not play dice with the universe there is something or someone He or She might still play with to keep from being alone. God has friends. There is M. B. Niyaan. There is you and I.