Contemporary Arts

(Dance, Music and Theater)

DANCE

There are a lot of artists that are really giving so much honor in our country and we can
say that in terms of dancing Filipinos are also applying excellence. There are five (5)
regions that are proud to be represented by these artists, so come with us as we will
introduce them to all of you.

NATIONAL CAPITAL REGION (NCR)

NCR Alicia Reyes Our grandma was choreographer, dancer, teacher and director from
Manila back then .And she made a lasting impact in the development and promotion of
contemporary dance. We are so blessed and proud because our grandma is part of our
culture. She have made distinctly Filipino modern dance idiom. Our grandma's subject
matter was expressed through a combination of movements and style, from classical
ballet through indigenous and modern dance.

REGION 3- Central Luzon

Good morning everyone. This is my grandmother Francisca Reyes-Aquino she was
born on March 9, 1899 and died on November 21, 1983 (84years old). She was born in
Lolomboy, Bocaue, Bulacan. She was the eldest of the 3 children of Felipe Reyes and
Juliana Santos. She was known as the “Mother of Philippine Folk Dancing”. She made a
research on the unrecorded forms of local celebration, ritual, and sport which later
resulted into a 1926 thesis titled “Philippine Folk Dances and Games.”
She had her early schooling at the Meisic Elementary School, Tondo Intermediate
School and Manila High School in Tondo, Manila. She obtained her High School
Teacher's Certificate (HSTC) in 1923, her Bachelor of Science in Education degree in
1924 at the University of the Philippines (UP) and her Master of Arts degree in 1926
also at the UP. In 1922, while still studying at the university, she worked as student
assistant at its department of physical education. After graduating, she served there as
instructor of physical education, then assistant physical director and, finally, as director
in charge of women. In 1927, Dr. Jorge Bocobo; then UP President, sent her to the
provinces to research on folk songs and dances. As a result, the university was able to
exhibit Philippine dances at the Philippine Carnival Auditorium.
She served as a supervisor of Physical Education at the Bureau of Education in the
1940s. This are her books Philippine National Dances (1946); Gymnastics for Girls
(1947); Fundamental Dance Steps and Music (1948); Foreign Folk Dances (1949);
Dances for all Occasion (1950); Playground Demonstration (1951); and the Philippine
Folk Dances, Volumes I to VI.

Region 5- Bicol Region

Good Morning everyone! Today, I'm going to discuss about a National Artist for Dance.
And he is my Lolo Ramon Obusan. Lolo Ramon was born on June 16, 1936. And he
died on December 21, 2006. Lolo Ramon was a Filipino dancer, choreographer, stage
designer, artistic director, an acclaimed archivist, researcher, and documentary
filmmaker from Legazpi, Albay. Lolo Obusan's work focused on promoting Philippine
Traditional Dance and Cultural work. The Ramon Obusan Folkloric Group (ROFG) was
founded in 1972 and started out as a fledging folk dance company. Through ROFG, he
had effected cultural and diplomatic exchanges using the multifarious aspects and
dimensions of art dance. Lolo Ramon choreographed these following: "Vamos a Belen
Series", " Noon po sa amin", "Obra Maestra", " Unpublished dances of the Philippines",
"Water, fire, and life, Philippines Dances and Music-A Celebration of Life", Saludo sa
Sentenyal", " Glimpes of ASEAN, Dances and Music of the ASEAN-Member Countries"
and "Saplot (ROFG) Philippine Costumes in Dance".

Region 15 – Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao

Good morning Everyone! I would like to introduce to all of you my grandmother Leonor
Orosa-Goquinco. She also called Cristina Luna. She was born on July 24, 1917 in Jolo,
Sulu. At the age of 87, she was died due to cardiac arrest to cerebrovascular accident.
My grandmother was graduated valedictorian of her high school class and finished
Bachelor of Science in education, summa cum laude, at St. Scholastics College. She
took graduate courses in theater craft, drama, and music at Columbia University and
teachers college in New York City, USA. In 1934, at the age of 17, she started her major
dance experiments. My grandmother had been published by the Philippine Cultural
foundation and Philippine periodicals, by Arts of Asis, Enciclopedia dello Spettacalo
(Italy) and Grove’s Dictionary of music and musicians. She was the author of a history
of Philippine Dance. She was the honorary chairman of the association of Ballet
Academies of the Philippines, founding member of the Philippine Ballet Theater (PBT) ,
a Zontian and a performing arts critic or columnist of the Manila Bulletin (arts and mind).
Among the many honors, she received throughout her life included the Patnubay ng
Sining at Kalinangan award (1961 & 1964), Rizal Centennial Award (1962), Republic
Cultural Heritage Award of Merit (1970) , Tandang Sora Award (1975), and the
Columbia University Alumni Association Award (1975). She was proclaimed National
Artist for Dance on March 27,1976.

Lucrecia Reyes Urtula.

My grandmother is a choreographer, dance educator and researcher, spent almost four

decades in the discovery and study of Philippine folk and ethnic dances.She applied her
findings to project a new example of an ethnic dance culture that goes beyond simple
preservation and into creative growth. Over a period of thirty years, she had
choreographed suites of mountain dances, Spanish-influenced dances, Muslim
pageants and festivals, regional variations and dances of the countryside for the
Bayanihan Philippine Dance Company of which she was the dance director. These
dances have earned critical acclaim and reviews from audiences in their world tours in
Americas, Europe, Asia, Australia and Africa. She acclaimed dances like:, a Bayanihan
signature number based on a Maranao epic poem; Vinta, a dance honoring Filipino
sailing prowess; Tagabili, a tale of tribal conflict; Pagdiwata, a four-day harvest festival
condensed into a six-minute breath-taking spectacle; Salidsid, a mountain wedding
dance ; Idaw, Banga and Aires de Verbena.

MUSIC

Music has always been part of every people’s life. Like the traditional music of the
Philippines, it reflects the life of every Filipinos and a lot of the songs from the
Philippines have a strong connection with the nature. We Filipinos are said to be
musical people that made us know not only in our country but in the whole wide world.

NATIONAL CAPITAL REGION

Filipinos are known to be good in every aspect of life, one of this is in music. We are
known to be good in this aspect not only here but in the whole world. One of them are
my grandparents.

My lolo Jose was born on January 31,1917. He was a pianist,

enthnomusicologist and National Artist for Music. My lolo graduated with a music
diploma at the Acadamy of Music of Manila in 1935 before he was sent to Paris, Frace
where he studied piano. He also studied musicology at Columbia University,
anthropology at Northwestern University, and ethnomusicology at University of
California. My lolo embark on a life-long dedication to the understanding and
popularization of Filipino traditional music. He was also a writer; he wrote papers that
enlightened Filipino and Foreign scholars about the nature of Philippine traditional and
ethnic music.

My lolo usually performed as a communal ritual, his compositions like ugma-

ugma (1963), pagsamba (1968) and udlot-udlot (1975) are momuments to his
unflagging commitment to Philippine music. His other major works are agungan, kubing,
pagsamba, ugnayan, ading, aroding, siasid and suling-suling.

Andrea Veneracion July 11, 1928

My lola Andrea or most commonly known as Ma’am OA was a choirmaster and coral
arranger.

Two of her indispensable contributions in culture and the arts include the founding of the
Philippine Madrigal Singer and Spearheading of development of Philippines choral
music. She is recognize as an authority on choral music and performance and has
served as adjudicator in international music competitions. She was a lyrics soprano
soloist in various Oratorio works and in Opera Stage. She was also a very
accomplished pianist and accompanist and was the accompanist of national Artist for
Music, Jovita Fuentes for a number of years.

Region 1-Ilocos Region

My grandma Lucrecia Roces Kasilag, born on august 31, 1918 at san Fernando, la
union and died on august 16, 2008 Her parents are Marcial Kasilag Sr and Asuncion
Roces Kasilag who is a violinist and a violin teacher, and her mother is her first teacher.
She's an instrumental in developing ph music and culture. She discover the Filipino
roots throug ethnic music and fusing it western influences that inspire other composer to
experiment in similar approach. She founded bayanihan folk arts center for research
and theatrical presentations. Some of her awards are Honorary doctor of music from
centro escolar university 1975, Honorary doctor of laws from the ph women's university
1980, honorary doctor of the fine arts from st. Johns univ, new york 1981 and national
artist in Philippines 1989
REGION 3- Central Luzon
Antonio Buenaventura - My Lolo is a soldier by profession and he was made a national
artist back in 1988. May Lolo spent seven decades pushing Philippine music forward,
composing songs for solo instruments and also symphonic and orchestral works that
are based on folk music of different ethnic group. My Lolo was born on May 4, 1904 in
Baliwag, Bulacan. As a young boy my Lolo was exposed to the music of his father, who
was a band leader during Spanish time. My Lolo graduated from the University of the
Philippines conservatory of music and he wanted to be part of the military and he
started teaching at the UP, but later commissioned by Gen. Basilio Valdes and assigned
to Dau. In time, he was transferred to the Philippines Military Academy where he taught
and conducted the PMA Band until World War II. In 1935 My Lolo and Francisco Reyes
Aquino. National Artist in Dance, conducted research on Philippine folk songs and
dance, which has influenced the popularization of folk music up to this day. Felipe
Padilla De Leon - My Lolo’s mother name is Natalia Padilla and his father name is Juan
De Leon and my Lolo was born on May 1, 1912. Before becoming a musician he took
various odd jobs to support his family, such as a shoe polisher, carabao herder,
carriage driver, and vendor of various items. In 1927, he took up fine arts at the
University of the Philippines, but he had to abandon his studies to make a living. My
Lolo played the trombone in cabarets and circuses, and later worked as an assistant
conductor of the Nueva Ecija High School Orchestra, where he started composing
music. To improve my Lolo’s composing skills he again enrolled to the University of the
Philippines, and graduated in 1939 with a diploma of music teacher and conductor.
Much later my Lolo continued his studies under Vittorio Giannini of the Juiliard School in
New York, U.S. My Lolo lived up to 80 years old and wrote over 327 composiyions.
Ernani Cuenco My Lolo is a seasoned musician born in May 10, 1936 in Malolos,
Bulacan. A composer, film scorer, musical director and music teacher, he wrote an
outstanding and memorable body of works that resonate with the Filipino sense of
musicality and which embody an ingenious voice that raises the aesthetic dimensions of
contemporary Filipino music. Cuenco played with the Filipino Youth Symphony
Orchestra and the Manila Symphony Orchestra from 1960 to 1968, and the Manila
Chamber Soloists from 1966 to 1970. He completed a music degree in piano and cello
from the University of Santo Tomas where he also taught for decades until his death in
1988.

Region 6- Western Visayas

My grandmother is Jovita Fuentes she was known as one of the greatest artists here in
the Philippines. She was best known for her portrayal of Cio-cio San in Giacomo
Puccini’s Madame Butterfly in Italy. She was great in this kind of field. Her performance
was hailed as the “most sublime interpretation of the part” and places the Philippines on
the map in terms of performing. This is all the more significant because it happened at a
time when the Philippines and its people were scarcely heard of in Europe. Prior to that,
she was teaching at the University of the Philippines Conservatory of Music (1917)
before leaving for Milan in 1924 for further voice studies. After eight months of arduous
training, she made her stage debut at the Piacenza. She later embarked on a string of
music performances in Europe essaying the roles of Liu
Yu in Puccini’s Turnadot, Mimi in Puccini’s La Boheme, Iris in Pietro Mascagni’s Iris, the
title role of Salome (which composer Richard Strauss personally offered to her including the
special role of Princess Yang Gui Fe in Li Tai Pe). In recognition of these achievements, she
was given the unprecedented award of “Embahadora de Filipinas a su Madre Patria” by Spain.
My grandfather is a filipino composer, musicologist, and ethnomusicologist. He is a
national artist of the Philippine for music. My grandfather is a prime figure in the second
generation of Filipino composers in the modern idiom. My grandfather has contributed
greatly to the quest for new direction in music. My grandfather 1965 from the UP college
of music with

A teachers diploma and he also studied at indiana university with a fullbright

scholarship. My grandfather returned and assigned as chair of the department of
composition and theory and still now he continues to shape a legacy of modernity
anchored or the values of traditional asian music

THEATER

The Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA) is a theatrical association of

artists and educators. It is the UNESCO-International Theater Institute Center in the
Philippines. It is a non-profit, non-stock, non-governmental, and a registered donee
institution. It was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 2017. Cecilia Guidote
Alvarez was the founder of PETA it was established on April 7 1967. PETA began
creating and performing theatrical plays in Filipino. Many of PETA's plays were staged
at the Dulaang Rajah Sulayman, an open-air theater designed by Leandro V. Locsin, a
National Artist. About 300 plays were adapted, translated, written, published, and
performed by the organization by the 1990s. PETA transferred to a permanent building
as its headquarters in 2005, which is named the PETA Theater Center. Since the move,
PETA has produced and performed adaptations of classic foreign plays as well as local
and children's theatrical productions. They also began to adopt modern pop music

National Capital Region

My grandfather Ma. Wilfrido Guerrero was born on January 22 1911 and died April 28
1995 at the age of 84. My grandfather was born in Ermita, Manila. At the age of 14 he
wrote his first play in Spanish entitled “No Todo Es Risa” and this play was produced at
Ateneo de Manila University at the age of 15. My grandfather was a famous Filipino
playwright, director, teacher, and theater artist. He devoted 35 years of his life in
teaching. In 1947 he was appointed as UP Dramatic Director and served for 16 years,
travel around the Philippines to give performances. My grandfather was the first Filipino
to have a theater named after him within his lifetime: The Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero Theater
of the University of the Philippines. And I am so proud of his achievements my
grandfather received three national awards. These are the Rizal Pro-Patria award in
1961, the Araw ng Maynila award in 1969, and the Republic Cultural award in 1972.
The U.P mobile theater also received two awards when he was the director. In 1997 he
was distinguished as a National Artist for Philippine Theater.

Region 6- Western Visayas

My grandmother Daisy Avellana was born on January 26 1917 and died May 12 2003 at
the age of 96. She was born in Capiz known as Roxas City. My grandmother was
known for legitimate theater and dramatic arts to a new level of excellence by staging
and performing in break through productions of classic Filipino and Foreign plays.
Together with my grandfather Lamberto Avellana and other artists they co-founded the
Barangay Theater Guild in 1939. My grandmother starred in plays like Othello (1953),
Macbeth in Black (1959), Casa de Bernarda Alba (1967). She was best remembered for
her portrayal of Candida Marasigan in the stage and film versions of Nick Joaquin’s
portrait of the artist as Filipino.