Philippine dance

GASTON-MANOSA, INDAY (Maria Luisa Gaston-Manosa) b. Iloilo City 2 Sept 1928. Dancer, teacher, choreographer. Her parents are Emilio Gaston and Amparo Corteza; soprano Conchita Gaston is a sister. Married to architect Manuel Maftosa, she is the mother of dancers Maiqui, Mia Monica, and Mimel Maftosa. She graduated with bachelor of arts and bachelor of science in education degrees from Assumption Convent. In dance, she studied with Luva Adameit, Remedios de Oteyza, Paul Szilard, Mia Slavenska, and other teachers in New York. Gaston-Maftosa was a founding member of the Ballet Federation of the Philippines in 1976, and of Philippine Ballet Theater in 1987, of which she was also the first artistic director, 1988-1989. Among her notable roles were the Black Swan pas de deux and principal parts in Paul Szilard's Sylvia

209

ARTISTS

GENERoso-INIGo, CoRAZON CRISTOBAL b. Manila 18 Dec 1930. Dancer, teacher, choreographer. Her father was Jose Generoso, a theater production director; her mother was Felisa ·Cristobal, whose own father, Venancio Cristobal, was a renowned bombardino soloist. She is married to Carlos Iii.igo Jr. She studied at the University of the Philippines (UP), receiving her master of science in physical education in 1990. Her dance train- ing has been varied, with Trudl Dubsky-Zipper, Ricardo Cassell, Alice Reyes, and Norman Walker as her teachers. She danced with Dubsky-Zipper's Manila Ballet Moderne, and did solo parts in the Manila Ballet Academy productions of Swan Lake and Giselle. She learned folk dancing from many sources, including a UP group under Luz Einsiedel and her own field researches. Generoso-Iii.igo, an associate professor in the UP College of Human Kinetics, has also taught at the International School, the National College of Physical Education, Philippine Women's College in Davao, Far Eastern University or FEU , University of the East or UE, Philippine High School for the Arts, and the UP College of Music; she has been guest teacher for Ballet Philippines and the Cultural Center of the Philippines' (CCP) summer dance workshop. She has conducted dance workshops and seminars in many Philippine provinces, in Hong Kong, China, and France, and headed Philippine delegations to international festi- vals and conferences all over the world. Her choreographic works include Lam-ang, with Mig Alvarez-Enriquez and Jerry Dadap, for the UE Dance Group; Jubilation to Bach; Brother Sun, Sister Moon and Rumors to Ryan Cayabyab; Gabriela Silang, to Eliseo Pajaro; and Sisa to Pipo-Walton-Ohana, for the UP Filipiniana Dance Company; Baile de Ayer (Dance of Yesterday) to Rodolfo Cornejo; Sisa to Lucrecia Kasilag; Gabriela to Joey Ayala; and the Ara- bian Dance in The Nutcracker, all for Ballet Philip- pines. She has also danced and choreographed for the movies.

210

Among Generoso-Iii.igo's folk dance researches, now included in standard repertoires are "Awitan" (Singing), "Batad" (Sorghum Grass), bati, "Ifugao Funeral Dance," "Ilongot Festival Dance," kuntao, "Manobo Courtship Dance," "Manobo War Dance," "Maranaw Fan Dance," pag-apir, palo-palo, panga- lay, sapatya, sagayan, singkil, subli, tadek, "Tanggo Dance," "Tiruray Festival Dance," and uya-uy. She is UP artist-in-residence and a member of the CCP board of trustees. She was awarded the Golden Kulintang by the Philippine Women's College, Davao, Altiora Peto Award by the Delta Lambda Sigma soror- ity, and the Patnubay ng Sining at Kalinangan by the City of Manila. • B.E.S. Villaruz

GONZALEZ, TONI LOPEZ b. Manila 11 Oct 1965. Dancer, teacher. She started ballet at the age of four with her mother, dance teacher Sony Lopez-Gonzalez, at the Academie of the Performing Arts in Makati. She finished high school at the Assumption Convent, 1983, and studied briefly at the De la Salle University. In 1972, she was a scholar at the Richard Thomas New York School of Dance and the Ballet Arts in the United States, and again in 1977 at the American Ballet Thea- ter school and the Melissa Hayden School. She also studied with Wergen Schneider, Patricia Wilde, Robert Denvers, Igor Youskevitch, Violette Verdy, David Howard, Michael Lland, John Prinz, Diane Cartier, Mary Day, Elena Tchernikova, and Gabriela Taub Darvash. In 1978, at the age of 12, she joined Ballet Philippines and eventually became a principal danc- er. With the company, she performed in Asia and Europe. In 1982 she entered the ABT scholarship program and received grants from the Culpepper and Hearst foundations. In l983 she was a semifinalist in the 11th international ballet competition in Varna, Bulgaria. In 1984 she was one of five finalists in the first New York Ballet Competition. Between 1985 and 1989, she was a soloist and later a principal dancer with the Washington Ballet, touring the US and Asia. In 1990-1991, she rejoined Ballet Philippnes. In 1987, she guested in principal parts with Philippine Ballet Theater (PBT) in Jian Zuhui' s New Year's Sacrifice, in 1991 with the Hong Kong Ballet Group in La Fille Mal Gardee, and for the Third China National Arts Festival in Camille, by the Eric Cruz, and in 1992 with the West Australia Symphony Orchestra in Perth. She has danced principal roles in The Nut- cracker, Giselle, The Sleeping Beauty, Don Quixote, Les Sylphides, La Bayadere by Vhaktang Chabukiani,

Napoli, Cinderella, and Romeo and Juliet both by Alice Reyes, Peter Pan by Edna Vida, and in the contempo- rary ballets of Chao San Goh, Judith Jamison, Matthew Diamond, Norman Walker, Paul Taylor, James Canfield, and Alonso King. She teaches for PBT and its school, and has guested in the schools of Ballet Philip- pines and the Jean M. Wong School of Ballet in Hong Kong. • N.S. Bake and B.E.S. Villaruz H

HALILI-CRUZ, SHIRLEY b. Tondo, Manila 18 Oct 1959. Dancer, teacher, choreographer. Married to engineer Eric Cruz, she is the daughter of costume maker Rufina Casanova and Rufino Halili; two sisters, Rufina and Jo, are folk dancers, and another, Zenaida, once danced with Dance Concert Company and Ballet Philippines. Halili-Cruz holds a business administra- tion degree, major in accounting, summa cum laude, 1980, Siena College. In dance, she trained with Bonnie Weinstein Calagopi, 1967-1972, Edgar Valdez, 1972- 1974, and Vella Damian, 1974-1984; she also studied Polynesian dance and jazz. Other teachers have been Jean Deroc, Robert Barnett, Maniya Barreda, Burton Taylor, Tina Santos, Gary Wahl; abroad, she has trained at the American Ballet Center, Neubert Ballet Institute, and the New York Academy and Conserva- tory of Dance. She also earned professional accredita- tion from the Dance Educators of America, Western Kentucky University. While in school, Halili-Cruz participated in and choreographed for the theater productions of James Reuter SJ. With Damian, she danced in Dance Concert Company, directed by Eric V. Cruz. She took lead roles in Cruz's Minkusiana, Visions in Blue, Carmen, Camille, La Gitana, Mir-i-nisa, and solo parts in Swan Lake, Paquita, Don Quixote, and Giselle. She started teaching dance at age 13, when she took over Weinstein-Calagopi's school in St Paul College. By 1972, she was also teaching at Siena College, Angelicum School, and Santa Catalina College. In 1984, she opened the Halili-Cruz School of Dance, and in 1988 established its performing arm, the Quezon City Ballet. Among her choreographies are Alice in Wonderland, 1985; Filipino Suite and Variations in White, both in 1988 and with Zenaida Halili; Ang Aming Inay (Our Mom), 1988, to music by Emani Cuenca; Valse Engrande (Grand Waltz), Promenade, 1990, with z. Halili; and Konsiyerto (Con- certo), 1991. • M.L. Globio/M. Ojeda/B.E.S. Villaruz

HARIRAYA BALLET COMPANY

HARIRAYA BALLET COMPANY It was founded in 1968 as Hariraya Dance Company by Remedios "Totoy" de Oteyza and Maria Luisa "Inday" Gaston- Maftosa. It was endowed a year's subsidy by Jose Mari Locsin of Silay City. The company was the culmination of a series of groups started by De Oteyza from her Classical Ballet Academy, later called Ballet and Dance Center, starting with the De Oteyza Ballet in the 1950s, followed by the Manila Ballet Company, and an infor- mally constituted Hariraya in 1967. Its first major concert in February 1968 at the Rizal Theater featured Les Sylphides, Four Elements by Gaston-Maftosa and De Oteyza-Rachmaninoff, and Masquerade by De Oteyza-Khatchaturian, accompa- nied by the Manila Symphony Orchestra (MSO) with Oscar Yatco as conductor, and Solita Gutierrez as piano soloist. In November, Hariraya premiered Reynaldo Alejandro and Roberto Caballero's Legend of the Sarimanok, with music by Bayani Mendoza de Leon, and Cesar Mendoza's Difficult Years, with music by Menotti. In March 1969, it performed with soloists from the Bolshoi Ballet like Raisa Struchkova, Alexander Lapauri, Boris Khokhlov, and Vladimir Levashev, for the inaugural season of the Meralco Theater. The company supported them in Swan Lake, Act II, and it saw a De Oteyza and Lulu Puertollano- attributed Sarimanok. Another major production in December 1969 was directed by Sulamith Messerer. It premiered locally the grand pas from Paquita with Vella Damian and Eric Cruz, and "The Shades" act of La Bayadere with Effie Naftas and Conrad Tiolengco. Also in the repertoire of original works were De- sign and Variations No 1 by De Oteyza-Tchaikovsky, Combat by De Oteyza-Debussy, Sisa by Alejandro and Caballero-Mendoza de Leon, and Capriccio Espagnol, featuring Ruben Nieto. In 1970, Hariraya premiered lbong Adarna, commissioned by the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP). For a time in 1973, the company also composed the briefly-constituted MSO Corps de Ballet. In the 1980s, Hariraya performed erratically, mostly at Puerta Real, in Festival Four, 1983 to 1985, at the CCP, and in Sayaw Sining, 1986, at the Manila Metropolitan Theater. It also performed in the provinces for a CCP outreach tour. Hariraya acquired works from Eli Jacinto, collaborat- ing with Gaston-Maftosa in Britten's Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, from Gener Caring al in Federizon' s Sanggumai, Rhapsody in Blue (after De Oteyza) and Harana Suite, both from Gaston-Maftosa in the 1980s. In 1987, it dissolved to merge as one of the companies constituting Philippine Ballet Theater, of which Gaston- Maftosa became the first artistic director.

211

ARTISTS

HoFER-ELE, HENRIETTA TocAo b. Mala- bang, Lanao del Sur 28 Oct 1935. Dancer, teacher, choreographer. She and folk dancer Marlene Hofer Tamano of the Bayanihan Philippine Dance Company are daughters of Pablo Hofer and Manuela Tocao. She received her bachelor of science in education major in physical education (PE) from Philippine Women's Uni- versity in 1957, and her master of science also in PE from the University of the Philippines (UP) in 1974. As a student, she danced with the Bayanihan, working with Libertad V. Fajardo, Francisca Reyes- Aquino, and Lucrecia Reyes-Urtula. She was the com- pany's first singkil princess, its student dance direc- tor, and student researcher in Mindanao dances and music. After teaching for several years in Cotabato, she became head in 1962, then director, of the PE depart- ment of Mindanao State University (MSU) in Marawi City. When the department became the MSU College of Sports, Physical Education and Recreation, she be- came one of its professors, and its dean from 1981 to 1986. In MSU, she was also involved in overall curricu- lar and executive planning, and in cultural affairs. In addition, she was consultant to the Folk Arts Theater and the UP, and chair or coordinator for festivals orga- nized in Region XII, the rest of Mindanao, and Metro Manila. Since 1966, she has directed MSU's Darangan Cultural Troupe. She has been active in the Philippine Association of Physical Education and Sports for Girls and Women, Physical Education and Sports Association of the Philippines, National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women, International Council of Health, Physical Education and Recreation, and is a lifetime member of the Philippine Folk Dance So- ciety. • B.E.S. Villaruz

212

HwA YI ETHNIC DANCE CENTER A Chinese- Filipino dance group formed in 1971. The group's main objectives are to learn and propagate Chinese and Phi- lippine folk dances, to promote cultural exchanges, and to establish strong Filipino-Chinese ties. Its artistic director is Jerry Sibal Ong, its dance director Carl Louie Sy, and its choreographers for Filipino dances are Larry Gabao and Francisco Lising. The center is a nonprofit organization that has gained recognition over two decades. On its 20th founding anniversary in 1991, it also marked the 15th anniversary of the cultural ties between the Philip- pines and the People's Republic of China at the Cultu- ral Center of the Philippines (CCP). From 1972, Hwa Yi has been the cultural arm of the Chinese-Filipino community. Among its presenta- tions have been: Have a Charity Show for the city of Manila, 1972; When Flowers Bloom, 1975, at the CCP; Merge '76, 1976; Gala Easter Concert, 1978, in Baguio City for the Department of Tourism and Chinatown Tour and Travel, a Cebu tour in 1978; Plum Blossom, CCP, 1980; Oriental Songs and Dances, 1982; a tour of China, 1984; Vintage, 1987, and Indak Awit (Dance, Song), 1988. Since the start of the CCP's Pang-alay folk dance festival in 1988, Hwa Yi has joined the annual presentations. In 1989, it won two major awards as Best in Choreography and Best in Performance from the Over- seas Youth Video Song and Dance Competition orga- nized by the Overseas Chinese Affairs in China. In 1990, it represented the Philippines in the First China International Folk Art Festival in Beijing and five other cities. In 1991 the group represented the Philippines in the International Folk Art Festival in Utah, USA. • L.A. Gabao I

J

jACKSON, KRISTIN BELTRAN b. Manila 4 Sept 1952. Dancer, teacher, choreographer. Her parents were Mary Vita Beltran and Lowell Jackson. She is married to Eric Kevin Achacoso. She holds a degree in fine arts from the University of the Philippines and a master's degree in fine arts, major in dance, from the New York University-Tisch School of the Arts, 1985. Jackson started ballet with Anita Kane and came to be a member of Pamana Ballet, joining its national tours. After Kane left, she trained with Tony Llacer and Julie Borromeo, in whose Peter Pan, 1974, she danced the role of Wendy. She continued her training in New York with Cindi Green, Graciela Kozak, Dana Reitz, and Lawrence Rhodes; she also took lessons in voice with Lionel Matthews. Between 1978 and 1981, she was in The King and I on Broadway and the production's national com- panies. In 1983, she danced with Chen and Dancers, and between 1983 and 1987 with Laura Dean Dancers and Musicians. She also served as rehearsal director in Dean's company from 1984, and helped reconstruct five dances for its 1990 season at the Joyce Theater in New York. She teaches ballet and modern dance in some studios, at Queens College, 1990 to the present, at the New York University, and as guest at Kane's school in Rohnert Park, California. Since 1982, she has been choreographing for the Salon Project, Daimon and Kristin Jackson Dances series. She has presented works in the Tiananmen Square Memorial Performance, 1989, in New York; Mail Order Bride with her Pakiusap (Plea) video in- stallation in Sydney, Australia, 1989; the National Asian-American Theater production in 1989; and the Harvard Neighbors Gallery video performance in Bos- ton, 1990. Among her works are Field, 1982; Kolias, 1984, based on a Kalinga ritual; Arctic Archipelago, 1988, using a bangko or long bench to suggest the risks under the Marcos government; The Adventures of Momotar~the Peach Boy and Gallaun I both in 1989; Gallaun II and Still Waters, both in 1990. In her works she has collaborated with poet Luis Francia, actor Ramon Hodel, and visual artist Genara Banzon.

In 1989-1990, she received from the New York State Council on the Arts a commission for Minority Choreographers Development. She has been a panelist for Dance/USA in 1986, and the National Endowment for the Arts in 1991, and administrative assistant for dance for the New York State Council for the Arts in 1988. She is a member of the Actors Equity, Dance Critics Association, and Dance/USA. • B.E.S. Vil- laruz

}ARDIN, NESTOR 0BCIANA b. Lucena City 27 Feb 1952. Dancer. The son of Luis Jardin and Paz Obciana, he took a zoology degree at the University of the Philippines (UP) in preparation for medical school. Instead, he became a dancer, starting to train at age 17. He joined the UP Filipiniana Dance Company, studied jazz and Polynesian dance, and finally classical ballet and modern dance. He attended the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) summer dance workshop in 1973, and subsequently studied with Alice Reyes, Eddie Elejar, Antonio Fabella, Gener Caringal, and visiting teachers Norman Walker, Mufteca Aponte, Gerard Sibbritt, Garth Welch, Jan Stripling, and Rochelle Zide-Booth. In 1974, he joined the CCP Dance Company, now Ballet Philippines. For several seasons, Jardin performed in numer- ous productions and tours. But he became more than a leading dancer. His knowledge of the technical aspects of production was put to good use as the company's stage manager, company manager, administrator, and president. He has also served as tour director for Ballet Philippines, and editor of Dance Philippines. He is at present associate artistic director for the performing arts and director of the coordinating center for dance of the CCP, a trustee of the Philippine High School for the Arts, director of the Pangkat Pambata, and vice-president of the Asia-Pacific Dance Alliance. He was past chairperson of the national dance commit- tee of the Presidential Commission on Culture and Arts. Jardin has received grants from the National Science Development Board, 1969, Goethe Institut, 1983, Asian Cultural Council, for arts administration, 1984, and the US International Visitors Program, 1989. In 1992, he received an ASEAN-Canada grant to attend the Arts Administration Program at the Bauff Centre, Canada. • P. del Rosario and B.E.S. Villaruz

213

JuuE BoRROMEO DANCE CoMPANY Founded in 1960, it was one of the first to introduce group dancing on television. Its first performance was on Caltex Star Caravan. Its production of Flower Drum Song, directed by Maureen Tiongco at the Philamlife Auditorium in 1966, raised the first half-million pesos for the con- struction of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP). After the Center's inauguration in 1969, the company presented there Man of La Mancha, 1970, Promises, Promises, 1971, Mahal (Beloved), the first "electromechanical, mystical Filipino rock musical," 1975, Here Where the Lord Hides and The Wiz, 1981. It presented Bata Pa Si Sabel (Sabel Is Still Young), 1973, at the Folk Arts Theater as a tribute to National Artist Atang de la Rama. In 1964-1965, the company toured the Philippines with stylized ethnic, modern, and popular dances for the Miss Caltex contests. It did a one-hour special, Sweet Charity, for Hong Kong television in 1974, with Nonoy Froilan. In 1975, it toured the United States with Malakas at Maganda (Strong and Beautiful), Bamboo Fantasy, and Igorot and Modern Jazz Works in its repertoire. In Singapore, it performed Apple Tree, 1979, They're Playing Our Song, 1981, and Rhythm of Freedom, 1987. Its 1974 calendar included the Philip- pine Revue of music and dances at the Lights and Sound Theater Lounge that ran up to 60 performances. The company participated in the National Ballet Festival in the 1970s, in the annual CCP Balletfest from the late 1980s, and in the Manila Contemporary Dance Festival in the 1990s. • M. Castro

}UMALON, NOORDIN ALCANTARA b. Cebu 5 Jul 1949. Dancer, teacher. He is the son of Julian Jumalon and Felicitacion Alcantara. He holds a degree in geology from the University of San Carlos, Cebu, 1969. He trained in ballet with Fe Sala-Villarica and Mario Recto at the Ballet Center, Cebu from 1968 to 1977. He took the teacher's course at the State Institute for Theater Arts or the GITIS, Moscow in 1973-1975, and at the Moscow and Choreographic School in 1977- 1979. He trained under Raisa Struchkova, German Prybylov, Yaroslav Sekh, Asaf Messerer, and Marina Semyonova. He also observed classes and perfor- mances of the Bolshoi Ballet. As dancer in Manila, he further trained with visiting ballet masters and choreographers from around the world. From 1968 to 1977, he danced with Queen City Junior Ballet which performed in Cebu, the rest of the Visayas and Minda- nao. From 1980 to 1988, he danced with Ballet Philip-

214

KAANYAG PILIPINAS DANCE CoMPANY Founded in 1975 as conceived by Jose Gonzaga of Bacolod, it was formerly known as the West Negros College Dance Company. Its beginnings may be traced to the Kayumanggi Folk Dance Troupe from the late 1950s and through the 1960s, with which its present artistic director-choreographer Jose Burgos Magbanua was a dancer. From its official founding, the company has per- formed outside of Negros Occidental at the Luce Au- ditorium in Silliman University, 1977 and 1979; the Portopia '81 Exposition in Kobe and a tour of Hyogo, Osaka and Port Islands, Japan, 1981; the Philippine Folk Festival at the Folk Arts Theater, 1981; and the Pang-alay festival at the Cultural Center of the Philip- pines (CCP), 1990. In 1989, it helped host the CCP Dance Festival in Bacolod City. Among its past dance directors and choreo- graphers have been Elsie Yelo-Enriquez, Asuncion Ykalina-Belzunce, Ismael Java, Bandying Espares, Rene Hinojales, and Jess Aiko who was also designer and technical director. From the Kayumanggi days, there were Rodolfo Medel, lisa Miraflores, Felisa Locsin, Maya Ramos, and Jaime Concepcion. The current cultural director is Rene Dofilas. • B.E.S. Villaruz

KANE, ANITA M. b. New Zealand 1910. Dan- cer, teacher, choreographer. Kane is the daughter of William and Ethel Kane. She grew up in Paracale, Camarines Norte where her father was a pioneer in the mining industry. She studied at St Scholastica's Col- lege and the American School, and pursued premedic- al studies in Pomona College, San Francisco, USA. She took up ballet under Katrina Makarova of the Imperial Russian Ballet, now the Kirov, who left Russia during the Bolshevik Revolution and came to Manila in 1924. During her university years in America, Kane con- tinued her dance studies under Martha Thalberg,

Norma Gould, and Ernest Belcher. She returned to the Philippines in 1934 and founded her own ballet school, at first with Janet Miles, that later adopted a graded system. During WWII, she was kept in a concentration camp at the University of Santo Tomas. After the war she reopened her School of Classic Dance. Later she also taught at the University of the Philippines and Far Eastern University. In 1950, she trained further in Lon- don at the Royal Academy of Dancing with Claude Newman, and worked with Kathleen Crofton and Harold Turner. She worked as choreographer and teacher in the Philippines from the 1950s to the late 1960s. Among the modern dancers she nurtured were Elena Robles, Angelita Barreda, Shirley Santos, Julie Roxas, Felicitas Layag-Radaic, Maureen Tiongco, Elizabeth Guasch, Julie Borromeo, Serafina Guinto, Effie Naii.as, Ester Rimpos, Lucy Layag-de los Reyes, Kristin Jackson, Tony Llacer, El Gabriel, Marcelino Garcia, Rene, Dimacali, and Luis Layag. Later she had Greta Monserrat as ballerina and Eddie Elejar as premier danseur in her Pamana Ballet. Kane created the first full-length ballet in two acts on a Filipino legend, Mariang Makiling, 1939, to the original music of Ramon Tapales. Other Filipino themes were pursued in Reconstruction Ballet, 1951; La Mer, 1957, which was later called Mutya ng Dagat (Muse of the Sea), 1958; Inulan sa Pista (Rained-out Feast), 1961; MahJong, 1962; and Aswang (Vampire), 1969. She also did dance dramas on religious themes: The Life of St Agnes, 1949, and The Parable of the Foolish Virgins, 1951. She did Masculine Suite, 1948, for an all-male cast which included Solomon Arnalda, Severino Montano, Eliseo Pajaro, LV. Mallari, Ricardo Reyes, and Enrique Albert. She also did Peruvian in Paris, 1954. She was one of four choreographers for Gintong Salakot (Golden Salakot), 1969, or Dularawan (Drama-Tableau) that inaugurated the Cultural Center of the Philippines. Her classical productions were Les Sylphides, 1952, The Sleeping Beauty, 1953, Swan Lake, 1954, and Giselle, 1955. In 1955, Kane brought together Filipino and foreign talents in a Philippine Ballet Festival of 10 performances with Alexandra Danilova, Mocelyn Larkin, Roman Jasinsky, and Michael Maule. Among the productions were The Nutcracker Suite and Swan Lake Acts I and II, accompanied by an orchestra con- ducted by William McDermot. Since 1969, Kane has been residing and teach- ing in California where she has staged new ballets and revived old works. • F.L. Radaic and B.E.S. Villaruz