ENTERTAINMENT
NEW KID ON THE BLOCK
Dancer turns to acting
FIVE-year-old Nigel
Guarin has been
entertaining the Filipino-
Australian community
with his dynamic dancing.
By VIOLI CALVERT
Nigel now adds acting to his
performance package as he sets out to
play Tam in Packemin Productions’ stage
musical Miss Saigon at the Riverside Theatre,
Parramatta, on July 28-August 12, 2017.
The character Tam is the love-child
of an American soldier and a Vietnamese
woman.
Nigel first performed at the Aguman
Terakan fund-raising event at two-and-a-
half years of age.
He took part in two episodes of The
Marcus and Michelle Show, first when his
energetic performance of Gangnam-style
dance had the audience “dancing in their
seats” in November 2015.
April 2016, Nigel’s danced to an
interpretation of Ghostbusters.
Among his performances at community
fund-raising events was a surprise
appearance at Radio Tagumpay's 2016
Inspire Concert with a dance number I Get
it from My Daddy.
What does Nigel enjoy most when he is
performing?
“I like clap; people clap hands, ‘coz it's
really awesome.
“I don't like people talking together.”
What does Nigel want to be when he
grows up?
“Be cool chef, ‘coz I like watching chef
boys and chef girls on iPhone cooking
vegetables and food.”
Who is Nigel’s idol or who inspires him?
“Captain America with shield, coz I
like it a lot. And when the bad guys shoot
Captain America's shield, the bullets go
back to the enemy coz it's metal.” n
Photos by Ricky Mendoza
Play on a road to discovery
Musical traces the life of a prince that lived 600 years before Christ
THE musical Prince
Siddhartha was
performed on June 12
at The Concourse Theatre
in Chatswood.
By MITCHELL
BADELLES
The play was about a young prince born
about 600 years before Christ to a Nepalese
clan, the Shakya.
The kingdom of ancient Kapilavastu
where Siddhartha was born is thought to be
at the base of the Himalayas, at the border of
Nepal and India.
The Shakya clan, according to the Vedic
social class, were Ksatriya, a ruling warrior
clan.
Siddhartha Gautama grew up in
a privileged family sheltered from the
hardships of life.
He was curious about life outside of
the kingdom’s walls and ventured outside
the walls and discovered that life was
complicated by suffering, prompting him to
search for a way to end physical and mental
suffering for his kingdom.
In his 6-year search for understanding,
he tried asceticism, practicing extreme
avoidance of self-indulgence, including
hunger.
www.kalatas.com.au
He then discovered that moderation,
between extremes of hunger and
indulgence, was the way.
Then he spread this teaching, and
was from then known to be a Buddha – an
enlightened person.
The musical was performed by a cast
of Filipinos from Cebu City’s Guang Ming
College Performing Arts Institute of the
Philippines.
Benjie Germano Layos is from Cebu. He
has been performing the role of Siddhartha
for the last 10 years, touring Manila, Taiwan,
USA, Singapore,Malaysia, Hong Kong, Macau
and new Zealand.
Benjie has mentioned in his acting
biography that Buddha had chosen him to
play this role.
AK asked him to answer the following
questions as the character Siddhartha
Buddha.
AK: In every age of man, books of
wisdom have been compiled. We have the
Bhagavad-Gita and its companion book,
The Mahabharata, The Old Testament and
The New Testament, and then The Koran.
Siddhartha Buddha came about 600 years
before Iesous Kristos, and then about 600
years after Christ we had Mohamed. It’s now
2017 and there has been no other prophet
after Mohamed.
Keeping that timeframe in mind, do
you think that humanity has finally reached
spiritual harmony?
LAYOS: In the Budd