Philippine dance
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LABAYEN L LABA YEN, ENRICO b. Paco, Manila 23 Oct 1953. Dancer, choreographer. He first trained with Antonio Llacer at Dance Arts Studio, then with Alice Reyes, Eddie Elejar, Antonio Fabella, and visiting choreo- grapher-teachers at the CCP Dance School and Ballet Philippines. On several scholarships, he studied fur- ther at the American Ballet Theater School, American Ballet Center, American Dance Center, School of American Ballet, and San Francisco Institute of Choreography. He performed with Ballet Philippines, American Ballet Theater II, Alvin Ailey Dance Theater, Larry Richardson Dance Company, Edward Villela and Friends, Eglevsky Ballet, Rod Rodgers Dance Com- pany, New York Dancers, Garden State Ballet, and guested with Saeko Ichinohe Dance Company, San Luis Ballet, San Francisco Dance Spectrum, and Hart- ford Ballet. Between 1988 to 1990, he worked with Lines Dance Company where Alonzo King choreog- raphed special roles for him, as in Granados Pas de Seul and Ligetti Variations. Labayen has been balletmaster for Sacramento Ballet, New York Dancers, Eglevsky Ballet, Lines Dance Company, and Ballet Philippines. His students include Katherine Healy, Christopher Boatwright, Roseanne Germer, Anna Villadolid, and Melissa Cuachon. In 1991, he founded Lab., Projekt which encompasses a broad range of theatrical forms--ballet, modern and ethnic dance, visual installation, and per- formance arts, multigravitational approach-blended to explore and expand choreographic possibilities and, "hopefully, to find a style suited to the Filipino." Since its debut at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) Tanghalang Aurelio Tolentino, Lab., Projekt has performed in the First Manila Contemporary Dance Festival, Baguio Arts Festival, Iloilo Arts Festival, Sagada Arts Festival, Stars of Philippine Ballet tours, and the 1992 Singapore Arts Festival. Between 1990 and 1992, Labayen choreographed more than 30 works, notably Mindstonn, Maya, Etchings, Icarus Eternally Damned/The Dupe of Time, Sa Isip, Sa Salita at sa Gawa? (In Thoughts, Words, and Deeds?). He has collaborated with musical artists Lucrecia Kasilag, Shant Verdun, Jeffrey Ching, and visual artists Ben Cabrera and Santiago Bose. 215 ARTISTS
Labayen was cited Dancer of the Year by the Beaux Arts Society of New York. • R. de Guzman and B.E.S. Villaruz LAUCHENGCO-DRILON, MERCEDES b. 1933. Dancer, teacher. She is the daughter of impresario Jose Lauchengco, wife of management expert and poet Jose Drilon, and mother of dancer Maricar Drilon. Inspired by the visit of Alicia Markova and Anton Dolin in 1948, she started formal ballet lessons at 16 with Rosalia Merino-Santos at the Philippine Women's University, and continued with Ricardo and Roberta Cassell and Remedios de Oteyza. She was a leading dancer of the Studio Dance Group. Until1953, she had two years of physical education courses at the University of the Philippines, as well as courses in business administra- tion. She also took lessons from visiting artists in Manila, like Frederic Franklin, Alexandra Danilova, Michael Maule, Mocelyn Larkin, Trudl Dubsky- Zipper, and Jean Deroc. In New York, she studied with Melissa Hayden and jazz master Luigi or Eugene Louis Pacciuto. In 1962, Lauchengco-Drilon established the Maria Makiling Dance School in Los Banos, Laguna, which existed for more than 20 years. For a while, there was a Maria Makiling Dance Group. Her most noted stu- dents are actor-director Tony Mabesa and her own daughter Maricar. Lauchengco-Drilon was also a founding member of the Ballet Federation of the Phi- lippines in 1976, and was actively involved with the Friends of CCP. From 1978, she has taught ballet at the Philippine High School for the Arts in Los Banos, Laguna. • P. del Rosario and B.E.S. Villaruz LAYAG, LUIS PACIA b. Manila 31 Oct 1946 d. Dusseldorf, Germany 23 Apr 1979. Dancer, choreo- grapher, dance director. His parents were Felino Layag and Rafaela Pacia; his sisters were dancer- choreographers Felicitas "Tita" Layag-Radaic and Lucy Layag-de los Reyes. He studied fine arts at the University of the Philippines where he was one of the Ten Outstanding Students in 1967. He trained in ballet with Layag-Radaic, Anita Kane, Eddie Elejar, Tony Llacer, El Gabriel, Poul Gnatt, Robin Haig, and Miro Zolan. He studied mod- em dance with Alice Reyes and Norman Walker. Abroad, he studied at the Cologne Summer Dance Academy, American Ballet Theater School, School of American Ballet, Harkness Ballet School, and the schools of Finis Jhung, and of the companies of Robert Joffrey, Martha Graham and Alvin Ailey. 216
In 1974, he trained with and observed ballet com- panies in Berlin, Hamburg and Cologne. From 1974, he danced with the Heidelberg Ballet, and from 1976 with Pina Bausch's Wuppertal Dance Theater until his death. He joined the Gulbenkian Choreographic Sum- mer School in London in 1978. In the Philippines, he danced with the Pamana Ballet, Dance Theater Philippines, Ballet Philippines (from its start in 1970) and his own group, Dancers of Mercury. He also taught and choreographed for the Royal Academy of Dancing (RAD)-Philippine Center, directed the Amihan at Habagat dance series at the Rizal Park from 1972, and worked on everything, from choreography to costume, set, and lighting designs. He was mainly interested in movement and its visual- aural effects. For Dance Theater, he choreographed Take Four to music by Felix Padilla Jr, La Mora to Antonino Buenaventura, and They Came Joking In to John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and Joshua Rifkin; for the RAD-Philippine Center, Back to Bach and Lucretia McEvil to the Beatles; for Ballet Philippines and its school, Positive-Negative to Victorio Fellegara, Transept to Robert Helps, Walls to Luciano Berio, The Warrior, later called The Fugitive, to Kazuo Fukushima, and Bagatelle to Berio. Some of his works were revived in Germany, sometimes to different music. In Manila, he staged dances for Pajama Game, Once Upon a Mattress, West Side Story, Guys and Dolls, Jesus Christ Superstar, Godspell, The Survival of St Joan, Cabaret, and the Filipino operetta lbong Adarna (Adarna Bird). In Heidelberg, he did dances for The Mikado, Das Land des Lacheln, and Salome, which he co-directed. He also choreographed for tele- vision in Cologne. Layag was awarded first prize for choreography and costume design in the 1971 Songfest. He received study grants from the German International Theater Institute in 1974, the JDR III Fund in the US in 1975, and the Gulbenkian Foundation in 1978. He repre- sented Wuppertal, Germany, in the Young Choreo- graphers Concert in 1978 and the Philippines in the International Theater Institute. • B.E.S. Villaruz LAYAG-RADAIC, FELICITAS aka Tita Radaic b. Manila 10 Jul 1936. Dancer, teacher, choreographer. She is the daughter of Felino Layag and Rafaela Pacia and was married to writer Ante Radaic. She holds a bachelor of arts degree from the University of the Phi- lippines and a master of arts in the Spanish language from the University of Madrid. She also writes dance criticism and poetry. She is a founder of Philippine Ballet Theater, and member of its artistic council. Layag-Radaic trained with Anita Kane and danced with Kane's company as ballerina. She trained further in Paris and Madrid with Valentina Kaschubas, Xenia Tripolitoff, and Karen Marie Taft. With a scholarship from the Music Promotion Foundation of the Philip- pines, she trained in London from 1964 to qualify for membership in the Royal Academy of Dancing after passing all examinations to the advanced level. She also earned membership in the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing that trains in the Cechetti Method. In 1973, she was awarded a German Interna- tional Theater Institute grant to study in Germany and British Council grant to study in the United Kingdom. In 1968, she organized the Royal Academy of Dancing branch in the Philippines and soon founded her own school at St Theresa's College. Her school granted scholarships to both girls and boys, with the latter also provided with academic scholarships in the schools of their choice. With Julie Borromeo and Eddie Elejar, Layag- Radaic co-founded Dance Theater Philippines (DTP) also in 1968. She served DTP for 21 years in various capacities as dancer, teacher, choreographer, artistic and managing director. Through DTP and her school, she trained such dancers as Irene and Hazel Sabas, Sophia Radaic, Mary Anne Santamaria, Eloisa Enerio, Anna Villadolid, Lisa Macuja, and Mylene Saldana. She choreographed ballets for DTP including the full-evening Mir-i-nisa, 1969, with J. Borromeo, to lib- retto by Jose Garcia Villa and music by Eliseo Pajaro; May Day Eve, 1971, to the story by Nick Joaquin and music by Eliseo Pajaro; The Prey, 1973, to music by Rosalina Abejo RVM; Maho-no-Ken, 1974, to music by Alan Hovahnes; Japonsina, 1975, to music by Lucrecia Kasilag; Nan-Pangkat, 1975, to music by Angel Pefia; Diwata (Fairy), 1976, to music by Nicanor Abelardo; La Innamorata (The Enamored), 1983, to music by Chopin; and the comic ballets Oy Akin 'Yan! (Hey That's Mine!) and Tanan (Elopement), both 1968 and to music by Juan Silos Jr; and Tubig!!! (Water!!!), 1979, to a commissioned score by Roberto Robledo. Layag-Radaic worked for two full seasons of DTP at the Meralco Theater, 1981-1983; its residency at the University of the Philippines College of Music, 1984- LLACER 1990; foreign tours to the United Kingdom festivals; 1975 and 1979; and to the Asian Arts Festival in Hong Kong, 1980. She is credited for DTP's performances (once or twice a month) at the Rizal Park for 13 years, bringing ballet to the people. In 1988, Layag-Radaic was awarded the Patnubay ng Kalinangan at Sining by the City of Manila, and in 1985 the Mariang Maya Award by the UP Sigma Delta Phi sorority. • B.E.S. Villaruz LEYTE KALIPAYAN DANCE COMPANY Formerly the Leyte Filipiniana Dance Troupe, it was founded in 1960 by Teresita Veloso-Pil, its choreo- grapher and artistic director. It started at the Holy Infant Academy in Tacloban City, drawing members from the students and the faculty, and with the sup- port of Sr Mary Canisius, director of the academy. Its initial public performance was in September 1961 for the college day celebration. Following this were provincial, regional and national tours. On its fifth anniversary in 1965, the troupe fulfilled an 11- month tour of the United States as Philippine ambassa- dors of goodwill. Since then, the troupe has made eight international tours, performing to capacity crowds at Expo '70 in Osaka, at the UNESCO cultural season in Paris, standing-room audiences in Saudi Arabia, 7,000 spectators at the World's Fair '82 in Ten- nessee, the opening rites of the Epcot Center in Dis- neyworld in Florida, and audiences at international festivals in Israel, Rome, France, Switzerland, Kuwait, Bahrain, Mexico, and Malaysia. The company conducts workshops in drama, voice; jazz, modern dance, and ballet, in order to improve its members and to encourage their versatility. In 1986, it also formed the Leyte Kalipayan Children's Dance Group for children 6 to 11 years old. The children are taught ballet and they perform in school programs. It is the only Philippine dance group not based in Manila to have won a major international award, the silver medal at the International Folklore Festival in Dijon, France, in 1980. It continues to perform exten- sively in small towns and rural communities in the Philippines. • T.V. Pil LLACER, TONY (Antonio Llacer) b. Manila 14 Oct 1935. Dancer, teacher, choreographer. After high school in San Beda College, he took journalism courses at the University of Santo Tomas. He trained in dance in Manila with Ricardo Cassell and Anita Kane. He performed in their ballets, such as Fifth Symphony, Peruvian in Paris and Les Sylphides. He also danced 217 ARTISTS
for Trudl Dubsky-Zipper. On full scholarships, he stu- died further at Ballet Arts, 1958--1960, and at the School of American Ballet, 1959-1960, both in New York, and at Eugene Loring's American School of Dance, 1963--1968, in Los Angeles. Among his teachers were George Balanchine, Vladimir Dokoudovsky, Anatole Oboukhoff, Pierre Vladimirov, Valentina Preyeslavec, Jose Limon, and Eugene Loring. Aside from ballet, he also trained in jazz and modern dance. Between 1959 and 1961, he danced in the original Broadway production of Flower Drum Song, and later with its national road company and in Las Vegas. He also danced in Pal Joey, Peter Pan, and Sound of Music, and took bit parts in the movies Sand Pebbles, The Detective, and An Extraordinary Seaman. From 1964 to 1965, he taught for Western Ballet Company in Los Angeles, and from 1967 to 1968 in Loring's Amer- ican School of Dance and Ballet Petit. Returning to Manila, he was balletmaster and dancer for Dance The- ater Philippines between 1968 and 1971, at the same time that he taught ballet and jazz for Dance Arts Studio. Among the dancers he nurtured were Odon and Tommy Sabarre, Mitto Castillo, Nonoy Froilan, and Enrico Labayen. Between 1971 and 1972, he also taught for the school of National Artist Leonor Orosa-Goquingco; be- tween 1973 and 197 4, the Manila Symphony Society Corps de Ballet; and between 1971 to 1979, the Karilagan Cultural Arts International. For Dance Theater Philippines, he choreographed In the Beginning ... , 1969, to music by Villalobos, and Les Patineurs (The Skaters), 1969, to Meyer- beer. For the Singapore National Dance Company, he has since done Quintet, Triad, and Three Songs. For Dance Arts Singapore and the Singapore Dance Festival, he also choreographed Hi-Jinks, Variaciones, Etudes, Cantata, and Movements Cinq. • B.E.S. Villaruz LOCSIN, AGNES DAKUDAO b. Davao City 28 Sept 1957. Dancer, choreographer, teacher. Locsin is the daughter of Jose Severino Locsin and Carmen Dakudao, a pioneer ballet teacher in Davao. She has a sister, Bing Locsin, who is a tap dancer and jazz teacher in Los Angeles, USA. She received her degree in English from Ateneo de Davao University, 1979, and her master of arts in dance from Ohio State Uni- versity, USA. She first trained with her mother in Davao at the Locsin Dance Workshop where she later taught and became artistic director to the Locsin Dance Ensemble. She was dance director to the Terpsicho- reans in Ateneo de Davao and has been on the faculty of the CCP Dance School, the University of the Philip- pines College of Music, and the Jazz Tap Center. She has been dance consultant to the Philippine Educational 218 Theater Association or PET A and Tanghalang Pilipino and artistic director to Ballet Philippines II. In 1986, she gave a solo choreographer's concert called Female Moves with selected dancers from Metro Manila and Davao. It premiered Only a Woman, using video-film, and was about a woman's qualities and life cycle; La Lupa, to sound effects and based on a story by Giovanni Verga; and Dabaw, based on the Bagobo belief regarding the solar eclipse as a monster eating the sun, which becomes the symbol for the terrorism in Davao. It also premiered Igorot in the Philippines which had been staged for the Petit Ballet Theater in Amsterdam in 1987. In 1990, Ballet Philippines II was launched with her Ismagol and Bagobo. Her other works include Carmen, 1977; Teresa, 1981, about St Theresa of Avila; Ang Kapalit (The Substitute), 1981/ 1982, as her masteral thesis about Gabriela Silang; Kulam (Witchcraft), for the Metropolitan Dance Theater; Moslem for Ballet Philippines and Moriones, 1991, for the CCP Dance School; Roll Over, Beethoven for Ballet Philippines II and Paglalakbay Oourney), 1992, for the Pas de Deux, a joint concert of Ballet Phillipines II and Le Jeune Ballet de France. Also in 1992, she collaborated with composer/singer Joey Ayala and librettist AI Santos to produce a much acclaimed neoethnic full-length work, Encantada (Enchantress). Locsin is considered one of the most progressive contemporary choreographers in the Philippines, focusing her attention on Philippine beliefs and rituals, and ethnic and urban life. • B.E.S. Villaruz LOPEZ-GONZALEZ, SONY b. Manila 3 Aug 1933. Dancer, pianist, teacher. She is the daughter of Francisco Lopez and Angelina Fajardo and the mother of dancer Toni Lopez Gonzalez and dance teachers Rosanna Gonzalez-Paredes and Gianna Lopez Gonzalez. She took music courses at the Santa Isabel College, Manila. She studied with Ricardo Cassell and Remedios de Oteyza, then at Ballet Arts Studio and School of American Ballet in New York, USA. She was briefly a member of the New York City Ballet. She trained with George Balanchine, Anatole Obouknoff, Vera Nemtchinova, Vladimir Dokoudovsky, Edward Caton, Lisan Kay, and Nina Stroganova. Also in New York, she studied at the Juilliard School of Music, at Marymount College, and Katharine Gibbs School. With Joji Felix-Velarde, Lopez-Gonzalez founded the Ballet Arts Studio in 1960. They presented the full-length Giselle, 1961, and Swan Lake, 1962, with Maribel Aboitiz and Eddie Elejar. She also brought to the country in 1962 Nora Kovach and Istvan Rabovsky, to dance with Filipino artists. For many years, she r ,. 1,_ directed the Academie of the Performing Arts. She now supervises the Philippine Ballet Theater School. Lopez-Gonzalez is active in the Society for Ballet Philippines, Manila Symphony Society, and a member of the artistic council of Philippine Ballet Theater, of which she is a founder. In 1992, she became chairperson of the national committee on dance of the Presidential (now National) Commission on Culture and Arts. She has been cited by the CCP Dance Foundation, as well as numerous civic groups. • B.E.S. Villaruz M MACUJA, LISA PACHECO b. Mandaluyong, Metro Manila 3 Oct 1964. Dancer. She is the daughter of Cesar Macuja and Susan Pacheco, and sister of the late actor Jerome Macuja and singer Guia Macuja. She obtained her secondary schooling at St Theresa's Col- lege in Quezon City. She started ballet with Felicitas Layag-Radaic, and apprenticed herself as a young soloist with Dance Theater Philippines at the Rizal Park's Ballet at the Park series and Meralco Theater seasons. After obtaining her advanced certificate from the Royal Academy of Dancing, she gained a schol- arship from the Vaganova Choreographic Institute in Leningrad. There she was mainly coached by Tatiana Alexandrovna Udalenkova, and graduated in 1984 on top of her class. While in school, she performed Masha/Sugarplum Fairy in the full The Nutcracker. Macuja joined the renowned Kirov Ballet as soloist and later principal dancer, between 1984 and 1986. In 1986, she danced Kitri in Don Quixote with Farukh Ruzimatov and Giselle with Ravil Bagautdinov. Re- turning to Manila in 1986, she became the first artist- in-residence of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) while dancing with Ballet Philippines and on CCP outreach tours nationwide. In June 1987, Macuja returned to Russia for a tour, visiting Riga, Vilnius, and Leningrad. From 1988 she became ballerina of the Philippine Ballet Theater. She has guested with many international ballet companies: several Soviet State ballet companies, Royal New Zealand Ballet, 1980, Yokohama Haruchi Ballet, 1989, Singapore Dance Theatre, Ballet Nacional de Cuba, 1990, where she made her debut in Swan Lake with Ernesto Quenedit. In 1987, she obtained the silver prize in the First Asia-Pacific Ballet Competition in Tokyo. In 1988 she was invited for the 250th MADARANG-GASTON anniversary gala of the Vaganova Institute. She was fifth in the First Diaghilev Ballet Competition in 1992. Other ballets in her repertory are La Bayadere, Sleeping Beauty, Coppelia, Paquita, La Sylphide, Les Sylphides, Ang Pilya (Filipinized La Fille Mal Gardee), Serenade, Pineapple Poll, Madame Butterfly, and several works of Basilio, Gener Caringal, and Tony Fabella. Among her partners have been Nonoy Froilan, Nicolas Pacafta, Osias Barroso, Rey Dizon, Andre Reyes, Brando Miranda, Vivencio Samblacefto, Bakni~an Smagulov, Rinat Gizatulin, Paul de Masson, Pyatas Skirmantas, Aivars Leimanis, Sabir Yapanrov, Rudolf Kharatyan, Ravil Bagaudinov, Rafael A vnikyan, Gennady Garbanyov, IrekMukhamedov, Ou Lu, andJu Horiuuchi. In 1989, she received The Outstanding Women in the Nation's Service or TOWNS Award, the Patnubay ng Sining at Kalinangan award from the City of Manila, and the Young Achievers Foundation award. In 1991, she was named Outstanding Citizen by the Federation of Women Civic Organizations of Quezon City and one of the "100 significant Filipinos in the 20th century" by the TV show Tatak Filipino. She enjoys a corporate artist grant from Far East Bank and Trust Company and Sycip, Gorres, Velayo, and Co. • B.E.S. Villaruz MADARANG-GASTON, LYDIA b. Manila 8 Aug 1936. Dancer, teacher, choreographer. The daugher of Jose Madarang and Consuelo Llaguno, she is the wife of Victor Gaston and mother of dancers Lydlyd and Nicole Gaston. She started ballet training at nine with Remedios de Oteyza until the Papal Nuncio and the Catholic schools banned the study of ballet. After obtaining her BSE from Maryknoll (now Miriam) College, she went to the United States for graduate studies and further dance training. At the school of Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, where she was a scholar, she trained with Alexandra Danilova, Edward Caton, Frederic Franklin, and Leon Danielian; at Ballet Arts Studio with Vladimir Dodoukovsky; and in modern dance with Martha Graham and Drid Williams. Later, in Manila, she con- tinued modern dance training with Alice Reyes. She danced with the De Oteyza Ballet and in pro- ductions of Paul Szilard. After returning from abroad she set up the LMG School of Ballet in Bacolod where her daughters developed. Lydlyd later joined Balti- more Ballet and appeared in Broadway musicals. In 1968, Madarang-Gaston joined Dance Theater Philip- pines but only periodically since her school kept her busy. In the 1980s, she started teaching at the Balti- more Ballet School, Mount Vernon Dance School, and Peabody Preparatory School of Johns Hopkins Uni- versity, all in the United States. 219 ARTISTS
She choreographed such dances as Buntot Pagi (Stingray), Tree of Life, Halad (Offering), Anak-Bulan (Moon Child), for Ballet Philippines, 1978, and Etude, for the CCP National Dance Festival held in lloilo, 1989. In Bacolod, she also choreographed for musical comedies and collaborated closely with Jess Aiko. • B.E.S. Villaruz MANILA METROPOLIS BALLET (MMB) Founded in 1978 by Eddie Elejar and Tony Fabella, its first public performance was at the First Choreographic Concert of the Ballet Federation of the Philippines on 7 Nov 1978. This started the company's series of original dances. When the project "Save the Met" (Metropoli- tan Theater) was launched, MMB was the first dance company to perform there. It showcased Mi Bandera (My Banner) and other original works like Fabella's Sa Ugoy ng Duyan (As the Hammock Sways) and Elejar's Hayop ang GaZing (Fantabulous). In 1983, it staged Giselle at the Met, with Anna Villadolid, Luther Perez, and Becky Rodriguez as principal dancers. The MMB staged most of its productions of original choreography at Puerta Real and the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP). Rizal Theater was the seat of their performances in 1986, featuring artists like Nina Anonas and Villadolid. Among its important tours were those in Metro Manila in 1980, Guam, and Saipan. The company was also active in the Festival Four series at the CCP from 1984 to 1988 and in the Balletfest in 1990. MMB is noted for having contributed artists such as Villadolid, Anonas, Perez, Rodriguez, Cecile Quirino, Noreen Ostrea, Douglas Nierras, and Sol Fernandez. In 1988 the company merged with other dance groups to form the Philippine Ballet Theater. • M.G. Castro MANNING-DRUMM, CARLYNTRUAX b. Chi- cago, Illinois, USA 26 Sept 1925. Dancer, choreo- grapher. Daughter of well-to-do Americans Carl Truax and Fetn Leever, an opera singer, Manning-Drumm was educated at Bryn Mawr Grammar School, Hyde Park High School, and the University of Chicago, where she got her bachelor of arts in English and philosophy. She started ballet at nine, and studied all forms of dance with Muriel Abbott. Joining the Abbott Dancers at 16, she toured South America with the group. After some time as a commercial model, she landed in the movies, dancing leading roles at Para- mount Pictures with Jack Benny and Mary Martin, 1945, and at MGM with Danny Kaye, 1946. In 1948, she came to the Philippines to join her husband John Manning. In 1951, she danced the lead role in Die Fledermaus under Trudl Dubsky-Zipper. Download 1.09 Mb. Share with your friends:
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