UNIT III – Philippine Art and National Artists

Filipino Dancers/ Choreographers and their Works

Filipino Dancers/ Choreographers Reporters

Jamin Alcoriza

Reynaldo Alejandro

Ligaya Fernando Amilbangsa

Al Bernard Garcia

Antonio “Tony” Limuaco Fabella

 Al Bernard Garcia

Program Coordinator (Dance) at Philippine High School for the Arts- Senior High School
Philippine High School for the Arts | University of the Philippines
NCR - National Capital Region, Philippines
Al is an independent Dance Artist, Choreographer and Performer. Proud graduate of the
Philippine High School for the Arts, Al specialized in Folk Dance and finished with an
Outstanding Artist Award and the Maria Scholarship. To further his training he became company
member of the UPDC- University of the Philippine Dance Company. Now, he is an associate
professor in dance at Fo Guang College- Manila

He choreographed his first full length production entitled Sulog sa Kinabuhi last
October 2011 at the National Arts Center Grounds and re-staged at the College of Music
Grounds last January 2012.

He won first prize at the Wi-fi Contemporary Dance Festival 2012 New
Choreographer’s Competition held at the Cultural Center of the Philippines. He also
collaborated with Myra Beltran, an established choreographer in a dance forum entitled
Independance Forum where they had a conversation regarding their reflections on Doris
Huphrey's The Art of Making Dances.
 As an actor, he was featured in the plays Orosman at Zafira (2010), Collection (2013) and
Ang Nawalang Kapatid(2014) under Dulaang UP, Pulses under UP Dulaang Laboratoryo, Riley
Palanca’s Little Black Book and Sipat Lawin Ensenble’s Battalia Royale. And Bit by Bit
Productions' Maxie the Musical(2014). As a Philippine delegate to the Taipei Dance Elite
Academy Festival last 2010 where he studied Choreography (with H.T. Chen) and Contact
Improvisation (with Philipp Egli).

His recent works are:

Dulaang UP's And Nawalang Kapatid (Actor/ Choreographer),
Dulaang Laboratoryo's Ang Ahas (Director/Choreographer),
Fete del la Musique in the WiFi Body Independent Dance Festival (Choreographer,
Performer),
Himala (Choreographer), and
AGYU Patungo sa Paraiso (Choreographer/Actor/Dancer)

Al Bernard Garcia has been making waves in the Philippine contemporary dance scene as an
independent dance artist, teacher, choreographer, and performer. He won First Prize at the 2012
Wi-fi Contemporary Dance Festival New Choreographers’ Competition held at the Cultural
Center of the Philippines and featured the winning piece at the Yokohama Dance Collection EX
Showcase in 2013.

On “Bagong Sayaw 2016”

On September 10, six dancer-choreographers — Al Bernard Garcia, Erl Sorilla, Bonifacio
Guerrero Jr., Gia Gequinto, Danilo Dayo Jr., Louise John Ababon — were given an opportunity
to showcase their concepts at the Cultural Center’s experimental theatre. The current BP 2
dancers were the colors to their canvas. While all pieces showed promise, two works stood out,
and one of these is the work of Al Bernard Garcia called the “Tau-luwa”.
Garcia’s purposeful simplicity
Al Bernard Garcia presented “Tau-luwa”, the story of an imagined rural community, which was
impressive in its purposeful refusal to find inspiration from the easily accessible, instead
choosing to dig deep and create something new out of what’s forgotten or ignored. Equipped
with a background in folk dance and his research on tribal dance, he created nuances to his
movement by borrowing accents from different tribes like the celebrated use of the siosay (palm
leaves) from the Subanen tribe and the malong from the Tiboli.
Garcia was quite the storyteller as he played with courtship, marriage, and family while using the
thread of movement. Derived from the words tao and kaluluwa,“Tau-Luwa” explores the
connection of tribal faith to the earthly journey of people,at the forefront of which were his
principal characters, a man and woman that showed the dynamics of romantic relationships. At
one point both characters were joined in a mirage of a pas de deux that used them along in a slow
careful process of connecting the couple, until they were finally moving as one person,
signifying togetherness and commitment — a marriage — executed through gradually
intensifying extensions and lifts.

Developing the story through vignettes that portrayed the different roles people play within the
community,Garcia allowed for this unfolding to engage the audience more intimately as the
narrative progressed. His aesthetic was clean and consistent, and he chose purposeful simplicity
over technicolored tricks. Every movement held a specific emotion, all in all making “Tao-luwa”
an effort worthy of recognition.

References

N.A. Al Bernard Garcia. Retrieved from http://up-diliman.academia.edu/AlBernardGarcia.

N.A. Al Bernard Garcia. Retrieved from https://www.linkedin.com/in/al-bernard-garcia-

06898595/.
Pono, Z. (July 18, 2014). ENGAGE: The last WiFi Body Contemporary Dance Festival.
Retrieved from http://www.wheninmanila.com/engage-the-last-wifi-body-contemporary-
dance-festival/.

Jacinto, E. (Sept. 27, 2016). Rite of Passage. Retrieved from http://www.manilatimes.net/rite-of-

passage/286319/.
 Antonio “Tony” Limuaco Fabella

Antonio Limuaco "Tony" Fabella (March 20, 1941 – June 4, 2009)

was a Filipino ballet dancer, teacher, and whose contributions towards
popularizing classical and contemporary ballet and "fusing them to evolve a
distinct form and style" have led academics and practitioners to consider him
one of seminal figures in the field of Philippine dance.  He was instrumental in
the founding of Ballet Philippines, which is the Cultural Center of the
Philippines' resident dance troupe and one of the three major ballet companies
of the Philippines. Through his affiliation with this and other national dance
institutions, Fabella's works have played a significant role in the history of
Philippine ballet.

Early Life and Education

Antonio Limuaco Fabella was born on March 20, 1941 to spouses Ricardo Fabella and
Luz Limuaco in Pagsanjan, Laguna.
Ricardo, being the Principal of Pagsanjan Academy, instilled in Tony the value of
hardwork and diligence.
Tony Fabella was a consistent honor student in Pagsanjan, Laguna.
In 1965, Tony Fabella graduated with a degree in B.S. Chemical Engineering from the
Mapua Institute of Technology and immediately took and passed the Government Board
Examinations for Chemical Engineers.
Instead of pursuing a career as a Chemical Engineer, he chose to become a dancer.
 He first trained in folk dancing under Laucrecia Reyes Urtula and Libertad Fajardo, then
in modern dance under Alice Reyes, Norman Walker, Pauline Koner and Takako
Asakawa.
His knowledge of classical ballet evolved through lessons with Eddie Elejar, Joji Felix
Velarde, Nina Vyroubova, Natalia Mirskaya, Elvira Rone, Miro Zolan, Alfred Rodriguez,
Ian Stripling and Garth Welch.

Professional Career
Tony Fabella danced professionally in ballet with Dance Theater Philippines and took the
leading role in Mir-i-nisa (1969), during the inaugural season of the Cultural Center of
the Philippines.
He was a charter member, manager, and resident choreographer of the Alice Reyes and
Modern Dance Company (1970), which became the CCP Dance Company, and later,
Ballet Philippines.
In 1970, Fabella retired from dancing and ventured into choreography.
Among his major choreographies were those done for the Folk Arts Theater, Dance
Theater Philippines, Manila Metropolis Ballet, Ballet Philippines, Philippine Ballet
Theater and Ballet Manila.
Fabella later directed many productions all over Metro Manila from studio set-ups to
college and university courses and taught dance in many schools, including the Ballet
Manila School, the Philippine Ballet Theater Conservatoire, Quezon City Performing
Arts, the University of the Philippines Dance Company, and the Cultural Center of the
Philippines Dance School.

Affiliations and Philantrophy

Fabella was also a board member of the Manila Dance Foundation, an honorary member
of the Association of Ballet Academies, Philippines (ABAP) and president of the Quezon
City Performing Arts Development Foundation, established to manage the Quezon
City government's Performing Arts Development Program.
Fabella was among the country's three most distinguished dance professionals who in
1994 helped put up that program in order to seek out gifted and artistically inclined
children from among the city's marginalized sectors, and provide them with free training
in the performing arts.

Contributions
Performance
Tommy (1972)
Midsummer Night's Dream (1976)
 Tales of the Manuvu (1977)
Coppelia (1978)
Graduation Ball (1986)

Choreography
La Verite (1970)
Noche Buena (Christmas Eve Celebration) (1970)
Semana Santa (Holy Week) (1971)
Prince of Pagodas (1972)
Changes (1973)
Orpheus Descending (1973)
Pas de Deux to a Recorder (1974)
Ang Konsiyerto (The Concert) (1974)
That Summer Afternoon (1975)
Araw at Buwan (Sun and Moon) (1976)
Batuque (1976)
Kristo (Christ) (1977)
Siklo (Cycle) (1977)
Six for Kasilag (1978)
Mi bandera (My Banner) (1979)
Ritmo Filipino (Filipino Rhythm) (1979)
Entrances and Exits (1980)
Limang Dipa (Five Armstretches) (1981)
Love, Like the Moon, the Inconstant Moon (1982)
Ang Kasal (The Wedding) (1982)
Les Noces
Three Tchaikovsky Waltzes (1983)
A Gift of Dance (1983)
Glazounov Variations (1985)
Bolling Suite (1985)
Ancestral Spirits (1985)
Philippine Sketches (1985)
Lingon sa Nakalipas (Retrospective) (1985)
Graduation Ball (1986)
A Dance Offering (1986)
Dancing to Donizetti (1987)
Change...Gonna Come (1988)
Narciso (1988)
Pinoy Talaga (Genuine Filipino) (1989)
Beautiful Girls (1990)
Awards
He was awarded as Male Dancer of the Year in 1976 at Philippine Daily Express.
Fabella received the Patnubay ng Sining at Kalinangan Award from the City of Manila in
1984.
He was also granted a National Commission on Culture and Arts’ 2003 Alab ng Haraya
Award.

Illness and Fund-Raising Efforts

In 2007, Fabella was diagnosed with colon cancer and underwent radiation therapy to
combat the disease while still on its early stages.
On February 7, 2008, Ballet Manila undertook a benefit performance for Fabella, called
“Ballet Manila Dances Fabella”, at the Star Theater of the Cultural Center of the
Philippines, featuring some of the choreographer's most popular works.
The media noted the event as "a meaningful tribute to a passionate and indefatigable
Filipino artist no balletomane should miss."
Various fund-raising events which were spearheaded by the Quezon City Performing
Arts Development Foundation, Inc. (QCPADFI) and the Association of Ballet Academies
Philippines (ABAP) were launched to further assist in his treatment.
He underwent three chemo-therapy cycles but the cancer had spread to his kidneys.
Fabella succumbed to multiple organ failure at 9:30am on June 4, 2009.

References
Wikipilipinas. (2012). Tony Fabella. wikipilipinas.org. Retrieved October 22, 2016 from
http://en.wikipilipinas.org/index.php/Tony_Fabella.

Villaruz, B.E.S. "Altar". In CCP Encyclopedia of Philippine Art, 1st ed., Vol. 5, 204-205.
Philippines: CCP Publications Office, 1994.
Cultural Center of the Philippines. (2013). CCP Ballet Festival 2013 Features Tony Fabella’s
Works. Culturalcenter.gov. Retrieved October 22, 2017 from
http://culturalcenter.gov.ph/press-room/ccp-ballet-festival-2013-features-tony-fabellas-
works/

Wikipedia. (2017). Tony Fabella. Wikipedia.org. Retrieved Ocober 22, 2017 from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draft:Tony_Fabella.

Fabella, Mika. "Dance review: ‘Master Pieces’ a collage of hits from Ballet Philippines
repertoire". GMA News Online. Retrieved October 22, 2017.

Jump up^ "Tony Fabella’s dance influence on Edna Vida | Cultural Center of the Philippines,
Special Reports, Home | philstar.com". philstar.com. Retrieved October 22, 2017.