Film demands a fundamentally different kind of performance with several nuances, while theater requires exaggerated body movements and expansive gestures to effectively convey emotion. Choreographer-singer-stage performer Miguel Braganza II can do both. He can even top it off with another talent, his powerful singing ability.
Because of his pursuit of perfection and intense creativity, Miguel’s artistic preference has reached a certain level where commitment was always a firm goal and failure was never an option.
The Braganza creativity has always been consistently manifested in his terpsichorean and theatrical productions where he gave rise to the global acceptance of the ever growing Filipino ingenuity. His well-acknowledged terpsichorean talent is undoubtedly shaped and influenced by both nature and nurture because he was born with such and able to hone it to perfection through constant training, study, updating skills through travels and keen observation, and, most of all, learning through his mistakes and weaknesses.
Dancing, acting, singing, and musical theater Miguel’s basic supplements for a well-lived professional life. “Basically, it’s not entirely entertaining my audience that’s first and foremost. I must be the first to be pleased and satisfied with what I do before expecting others to truly appreciate it,” he said.
Meticulous and persevering, Miguel possesses a strong self-discipline and highly motivated by his audience’s great expectations vastly bestowed on his shoulders.
“I’m not used to resting on my laurels. My every last performance becomes a standing barometer that gauged my next with a huge challenge to surpass it.” Miguel stated with firmness, adding “Every single comment, whether a constructive criticism or an unfavorable remark, serves as a building block piled beneath my feet to give me ample support to reach higher levels.”
“I couldn’t afford to be swell-headed, knowing that there are lots of better talents out there that were not given the chance to shine and every single minute, a future star is born,” Miguel said humbly.
A Theater Arts graduate from Siliman University, his extensive training was under Julie Borromeo. He also became a faculty member of Dance Arts Philippines, the Academy of Performing Arts in Makati City and Dance Center in Cubao, Quezon City.
His terpsichorean talent was duly recognized and ably sustained by scholarship grants courtesy of Ailey American Dance Center in New York, the Nat Horne Musical Theater New York, and the Walter Terry Memorial Scholar for Dance and Choreography in Harvard University.
Early in his career in Broadway, Miguel was production assistant and assistant director to David Henry Hwang in M Butterfly. He wasn’t choosy about his job as long as it was theater-related although, he was initially eyeing on-the-stage roles other than behind-the-scene assignments.
After several painstakingly persevering opportunities and well-developed talent, Miguel became part of the original cast of Miss Saigon on Broadway and its first US National Tour including Canada, North America, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Portugal.
His enormous body of work and magnificent performances earned for him raves and brilliant reviews. This placed him at par with internationally acclaimed terpsichorean masters. Miguel has a peculiar way with his locomotive music as he has it with his vocals.
Hailed for his innate nationalism, writer Rudolp Alama said, “Despite his sojourn in the United States, Miguel is a fervent nationalist, believing that he can help his country through his talent in theater and dance. He helped form the Tanghalang Filipino with John Melegrito in Washington D.C. in 1987.”
A born leader and creative propagator, Miguel was the founder of Ballet Asia (Asian-American Dance Theater) which became the springboard for young dance theatre hopefuls in New York City, and the Founding President of Filipinos in the Arts in America (Filinarts) which went into production and staging of many productions to fundraiser for the Filipino community.
Currently the artistic director of MB2 Musical Theater for the Young Audience in New York, Miguel’s life literally revolves around the stage and behind the scenes of his every production. He has undoubtedly and successfully devoted his life into this career he believes his heart throbs and his soul thrives.
“I always advocate to utilize my talent in the perpetuation of art through humanitarian and charitable deeds. This is such a small effort that could support a good cause and I feel great knowing that I could be of help through my own humble way,” he said.
Driven by the escalating demand for well-rounded theater masters to impart fresh ideas and to ably impart his knowledge with appropriate up-dated performance techniques to new talents and growing number of aspirants, Miguel flew back to the Philippines just in time for Davao’s annual festive celebration of Kadayawan sa Dabaw.
His homecoming must have been with a rewarding purpose: to be on the helm of the grand performance of local theater artists’ full scale production of “Broadway, Our Way at the CAP Grand Auditorium by LCB Performing Arts Center Foundation with Chin Bon Lu as its producer. Performances were successfully mounted last September 1 and 2.
Composed of diverse talents of different age brackets, the production features more than a hundred of LCB’s students from four to sixty-eight years old: 22 kids, 13 teens, 22 adults, 20 scholars, four company dancers, four associate choreographers, and with the special performance of New Jersey’s very own Kirby Asunto.
“Broadway, Our Way” effectively showcased monumental excerpts from well-raved Broadway plays like Aida, Ruthless, Billy Elliot, Sophisticated Ladies, and Chorus Lines.
Miguel was instrumental in mounting a charity concert at the Kalayaan Hall of the Philippine Center New York that raised funds to aid less fortunate Filipino families mercilessly displaced by the horrendous devastation of Hurricane Sandy through the initiative of PATAG (Phil-Am Tulong Agad Group) and a huge number of concerned volunteers.
Just recently, Compostela, a second class municipality in the Province of Compostela Valley (Region XI) in the Philippines with a population of less than 700,000, suffered the same fate when it was hardly hit by Typhoon Pablo that literally erased the once idyllic place from the geographical map. Although, born in Tagum, Davao in 1956, Miguel, based from his early accounts, spent his formative years in Compostela having had family farmlands in the area and nearby Samal Islands.
Miguel’s attention was, undoubtedly, focused in the devastated area and one thing was certain: he won’t take the disheartening situation in the calamity-stricken Compostela calmly. He’d have his share of assistance in any way he could… be it through his music or dance or both.
Incidentally, there are still a lot of bright ideas crowding Miguel’s already crowded mind. One of which is his most magnificent dream: to create a significant theater piece that he can call his very own, something he could possibly develop into a lasting legacy that totally showcases and encompasses his entire theatrical life. “Juliet: Ghost of A Rose,” his dance theater proposal in ballet based from Shakespeare’s tragical play Romeo & Juliet, is slowly taking shape and gradually nearing realization through the guidance of Russian director Sergey Ostrenko of the Shakespeare Directors Lab.
“There are a thousand and one wonderful stories and subplots one could create out of this romantic tragedy. Its timeless theme never ceased to excite and thrill me!”
The galliard theater danseur-singer, despite continuously receiving recognitions and awards for his excellent accomplishments, remains low-key with both feet firmly rooted to the ground. Among his most treasured trophies are from the Pan American Concerned Citizens Action League, Inc. (PACCAL) for 2011 Excellence in Performing Arts and 2012 The Outstanding Filipino-American (TOFA-NY), and still another prestigious one in the offing.
Fulfillment, for Miguel, is not only having achieved what he aimed for but also ultimately enjoy its very essence and still having able to share the same experience.
“Success is worthless when not shared with those whose lives one have touched,” he said with conviction, adding, “The sweet scent of achievement becomes more intense when you allow it to fill the air.”
As this creative world of theater arts continues to innovate and evolve, Miguel Braganza II unrelentingly embraces the formidable trend to farther gain prominence to consequently establish a refutable name in the field and leave a legacy synonymous to the art he literally lived with.
