Xtreme Productions, a Singapore-based film company, documented the Integrated Performing Arts Guild (IPAG), its dances, and its work when a team of filmmakers shot footages in the Institute from October 26 to 29.

Xtreme produced documentaries for such international channels as Channel News Asia and the Biography Channel Asia. This project is for the Singapore Broadcaster Medicorp Okto series entitled “Art Less Travelled,” eight one-hour documentaries about the lesser known traditional arts and cultures around Asia which will be broadcast worldwide.

Feature in this series is IPAG’s version of the singkil used as medium to narrate a portion of the epic darangen. Also interviewed on film were the Guild’s Artistic Director Steven Patrick C. Fernandez, actor Michael Lagura, Zayda Macarambon (the Institute’s Cultural Development Officer), performers of the Guild, and the staff and support artists who comprise IPAG’s network of creative collaborators.

The Singapore production filmed the IPAG and its artists in various venues in their daily routines, at work, play, and in their homes. Filming also included featured shots of Muslims in Friday prayer, location shots around the city, and a highlight performance of the Guild in a traditional M’ranao wedding in Cagayan de Oro.

IPAG’s growing international reputation has invited experts to document its praxis. Three months ago, UNESCO sent over a Cypriot scholar to document the pedagogy of the IPAG, the study of which will be published in an international reference.

IPAG’s works have been positively reviewed in Harvard University’s Asian Quarterly.

Topics : ipag