Efren Pamilacan, the Founder and Artistic Director of cultural arts organisation Cypher Culture, is heading up the team curating and producing Arai? Aray! and INAMO Kiki Ball for Asia TOPA’s Club 8 Nightlife program.
Between these two events and the electric performers taking to Arts Centre Melbourne this February, sleeping on Asia TOPA isn’t an option. From freestyle cyphers to ballroom scenes, Club 8 is all about surrendering to the lights, music and movement as it unfolds right in front of you. Trust us, you won’t be able to resist.
Asia TOPA: Club 8
- Thursday, February 20 to Monday, March 10
- The Leaper Family Pavilion, Arts Centre Melbourne
- Tickets to INAMO Kiki Ball on February 21 here
- Tickets to Arai? Aray! on February 27 here
- Full Asia TOPA program here
Explore Melbourne’s latest arts and stage news, features, festivals, interviews and reviews here.
Efren’s work in preparing both Arai? Aray! and INAMO Kiki Ball for the Club 8 program at this year’s Asia TOPA extends far beyond the work he has done directly with the triennial. The different plates that he juggles across his career all feed into one another, informing his ambitious objective at the centre of it all.
“My career exists to empower street dance communities and cultures to thrive,” he says. “[Also], bridging the gap of representation in Australia and building community capacity for sustainable jobs.”
Just like Asia TOPA aims to do, Efren points out, “Cypher Culture [also] wants to shine a light on how diasporic people from the Asia-Pacific break bread, celebrate life and, of course, get into the cypher.”
Spotlighting hip-hop and ballroom culture in Naarm
As a dance artist himself, Efren is passionate about positioning himself as “an advocate for street and queer-born dance forms.” His collaboration with Asia TOPA has provided a portal of exposure for a whole new wave of audiences to join. For Efren, though, the triennial is just another space for a longstanding community to come together.
“Platforms like Asia TOPA are instrumental in affirming that hip-hop and ballroom culture is not a trend. It is a staple for communities around the world and the Asia-Pacific is no exception,” he says.
The history of the communities behind these performances is front of mind for Efren. “Being away from the originators of the forms in Turtle Island, North America, these black, brown and queer dances that we are in a relationship with, acknowledge that we are guests in the houses of these styles,” he says.
“Asia TOPA though – including Arai? Aray! and INAMO Kiki Ball – has come from the culture, labour, love and genius of these respective communities with their layered histories, local contexts and deep knowledge systems.
“Asia TOPA provides another bridge to experiencing firsthand the culture by bringing the dancefloor to Arts Centre Melbourne. These cultures are a living breathing world, not just a transaction. This experiential knowledge allows for a deeper understanding.”
“[It] is a space of resistance and survival”
Cypher Culture’s work with producing INAMO Kiki Ball is heavily informed by Efren’s collaboration with multidisciplinary artist Kianna Oricci. “Being an ally to her practice as a leader of ballroom in Australia is enriching for the soul,” he reflects. “I always enjoy supporting her vision, making it come to life and unpacking what ballroom culture means for the Asia-Pacific.”
“Ballroom culture and voguing is a space of resistance and survival,” Efren continues. “Every ballroom event that Cypher Culture is privileged to support provides a vocabulary for queer people to express themselves and reorient away from a society that oppresses ethnically and sexually diverse people.”
“It is my honour to help Kianna and other house mothers empower their communities and help everyone realise that ballroom is not just a viral meme of a dip, it is an epicentre of empowerment.”
As Filipinx artists, Kianna and Efren were able to travel to the Philippines last year in anticipation of their contribution to the Asia TOPA Nightlife program. “The trip for both of us was a homecoming as people from the Philippines,” Efren says.
Efren’s time overseas led to him meeting with members of two collectives from across the Philippines and Thailand – Moro Beats and BKK Ciphers. Miss A & Fateeha (Moro Beats, Philippines), Réjizz (Thailand) and DJ Tha Wzard (Moro Beats, Philippines) will all be showing Naarm what they’re made of this February as part of Arai? Aray!
A kaleidoscope of dance culture
At the centre of Arai? Aray! is an idea prevalent across hip-hop culture, in both the music and the dance: the call and response. For the cypher-to-stage event on February 27 at Club 8, Efren says that “street dance communities will be responding to the calls of international rappers, DJs and beatmakers. This intersection of artists is an unrepeatable moment. I’m excited to see how the dancers of Naarm respond to the call of their beats.”
The call and response isn’t only limited to the performers on stage. If audiences are keen to join in – and no doubt you’ll want to – Efren offers some tips.
“These are exchanges not created to be taken sitting down,” he says. “Let them know if you enjoy something in the cypher, [in] our dance circle! A ‘woo’ is appropriate – hype them up! There will be moments for the audience to dance on the dancefloor, but with Arai? Aray! there are pockets of surprise performances.”
Basically, come ready to make some moves.
Grab your tickets to INAMO Kiki Ball on February 21 here and Arai? Aray? on February 27 here.
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