We had a chance to sit down with the country's pioneer of Neo-Ethnic Filipino dance in the balcony lounge of CCP's main theatre, which was her home for fifteen years
When National Artist Agnes Locsin walked through the hallowed halls of the Cultural Centre of the Philippines (CCP) for the ceremonial tribute to the latest batch of the country's National Artists, she was coming full circle. Her uncle, National Artist for Architecture Leandro Locsin, designed and built the famed brutalist edifice and its surrounding structures to mark the country's promotion of national heritage, art, and culture more than fifty years ago. Befittingly, she had spent significant time inside the theatre as part of the performing dancers and eventually as a choreographer.
During her speech, the newly conferred National Artist for Dance shares, "I used to stand by the door when the traditional processions of National Artists occur, waving and smiling proudly when the spotlight looks at the National Artists and hits us at the side. Back then, we were kidding, sharing the spotlight with esteemed pillars of the arts. Never did it occur to me I will be also one."
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Locsin is a choreographer, director, and teacher. She is dubbed as one of the "most progressive contemporary choreographers in the Philippines," for she distinctively utilises Filipino beliefs, rituals, and ethnic traditions in her choreographies, concepts, and direction. She beautifully merged these with her knowledge of Western dance techniques and called it "neo-ethnic". Among her successful works are Babaylan, which won second place in the Tokyo International Choreography Competition in 1993; Taong Talangka (Man-Crab); Salome, which won second place for distinguished dancer Camille Ordinario in the 1994 Concours International de la Danse in Paris, France; and narrative works like one on the life of the mythical hero Labaw Dungon in the Panay epic Hinilawod.
Born in Davao, she is the daughter of Carmen Dakudao Locsin, a famous dancer of her time and founder of the Locsin Dance Workshop. She went to Philippine Women's University to finish elementary and high school and returned to Davao to earn a bachelor's degree in English at the Ateneo. Later she moved to the United States to obtain a master's degree in dance at the Ohio State University (OSU).
She returned to the Philippines and served as the artistic director of the Locsin Dance Workshop, and became a faculty member of the University of the Philippines dance program. Later she became the artistic director of Ballet Philippines until 1999.
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