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Volume I, Issue III- April 2002
PHILIPPINE STUDIES INITIATIVES
"Kung hindi ngayon, kailan pa? Kung hindi tayo,
sino ba?" (If not now, when? If not us, who?)
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"Ang hindi lumingon sa kanyang pinanggalingan, Hindi makararating sa paroroonan." The Philippine
Study Group (PSG) is a network of students, scholars, faculty, staff and community members whose purpose
is to provide venues and opportunities of intellectual interchange related to the Philippines. This
newsletter is created to highlight "initiatives" taken towards the re-invigoration and re-establishment
of Philippine Studies in Michigan.
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-TAPESTRY-
A special presentation of Dance, Music and Poetry, by Selected Filipino and Filipino-American
Artists
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As a culminating event for the Philippine Studies Lecture Series (a.k.a. Asian Studies 492), an artistic
performance is being organized. Tapestry is the performance title and theme, and it will be a celebration
of the Filipino and Filipino-American cultural experience. Philippine Studies Initiatives like the
lecture series help Filipino-Americans to understand their history, strengths, weaknesses, and beauty.
Like a gifted weaver, these Initiatives help pull the many threads of culture together into a rich and
beautiful tapestry to tell the story of Filipinos and Filipino-Americans.
The highlight of the Tapestry
performance will be the dance performance choreographed by Steve Villaruz. Steve Villaruz is a visiting
guest lecturer in the Asian Studies 492 course, who will address "Dance as Discourse," on his April 9th
lecture. The Department of Asian Studies has been working very hard with Filipino community members
to show how Philippine Studies is not always an academic analysis of cultural traditions. Villaruz's
lecture and choreography will exemplify the unity between academic analysis and art forms as a way of
better understanding the Filipino-American experience. For more information on Steve Villaruz, please
see page 2 of this newsletter
The performance will feature several UofM affiliated and community
artists, including:
* Emily Lawsin, Poet and UofM faculty member, Asian American Culture Program
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Charisse Baldoria, Pianist, Doctoral student, UofM
* Laura Greve, Flutist, Detroit Symphony Orchestra
* Elizabeth Ordinario-Weil, Lyric Soprano, UofM alumna
* Erik Santos, Baritone, Asst. Professor, School
of Music, UofM
Elizabeth Ordinario-Weil will be singing two selections: Waling-waling, by Rodolfo
de Leon, and Lulay, by Lucio San Pedro. Erik Santos will also be performing two vocal pieces: Lihim,
composed by Erik's late father, Rosendo E. Santos, and Passionate Shepherd to His Love from Christopher
Marlowe, an original composition. Both Weil and Santos will be accompanied on the piano by Charisse
Baldoria. In addition to Santos' two songs, an original composition of his will be the music which Steve
Villaruz will choreograph. Villaruz will be using several student and community volunteers in his choreography.
Tapestry will be open to the community, and will be held at the University of Michigan's McIntosh
Theater, at the School of Music, on north campus. The performance will start at 7:00pm and is expected
to last until 9:00pm. The event will be free of charge. However, pledges for donations to the Philippine
Study Group will be accepted during the performance, and will go towards the next Philippine Studies
Initiative project in Fall 2002 and Winter 2003.
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TAPESTRY: Original Art to Be Unveiled By Highly Acclaimed Filipino Choreographer
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This month, the University of Michigan welcomes Basilio Esteban S. Villaruz, as he participates in the
Asian Studies 492 lecture series. Villaruz will be the last lecturer of the series. All are invited
to hear him speak on April 9 and April 16. The theme of Villaruz's lectures is "Dance as Discourse,"
and will attempt to exemplify this discourse in two lectures titled Joses y Marias: The Making of Philippines
Dances with Colonial Casts, and A Metro Manila History of Losses and Appropriation. Both lectures will
be held from 7-10pm, room 2752 of the International Institute /School of Social Work Building on UofM's
Ann Arbor campus. The reading materials for both lectures are available on the internet, through the
Center for Southeast Asian Studies website. E-mail philippinestudygroup1@hotmail.com for the security
information necessary to access the site.
Villaruz is a choreographer and social critic. He is also
a professor at the School of Music at the University of Philippines, whose dance history includes time
with Modern Dance Company (now Ballet Philippines), Hariraya Ballet Company, Dance Arts International
and Movement Men/Manila. Villaruz has also reportedly been involved with Dance Theater Philippines as
a choreographer, and artistic director. Villaruz's choreographic works include: Ritual Bonds, Oriental
Fantasy, Ay Kalisud and Spiritual Canticle: An Eclogue-Operatorio. He also earned grants from USA, USSR,
Britain, and Germany, as well as numerous other places in Southeast Asia for his scholarship in comparative
literature, choreography and criticism. Villaruz was invited to speak at the "First Philippine Dance
Gathering," in Los Angeles during the summer of 1999 where one hundred Philippine dance and music oriented
leaders gathered to participate. He is currently the president of the World Dance Association. Much
of Villaruz's articles and critiques are available on the web, including a series of articles available
on the National Commission for Culture and the Arts website (http://www.ncca.gov.ph/phil._culture/ncca-arts.htm).
On April 26th, 2002, Villaruz will unveil an originally choreographed piece for the Filipino Community,
which will use volunteer students and alumnae from UofM. The performance will be part of the grand finale
for the Asian Studies 492 Lecture Series, and will also include solo musical performances from several
UofM affiliated artists in the Filipino Community. All are invited to attend the performance, which
will be held at the Mckintosh Theatre in the UofM School of Music. For more information on this performance,
including directions to the theatre and performance start time, please e-mail philippinestudygroup1@hotmail.com,
or call the program coordinators, Benita Murrel (734) 763-4652 or Gemma Lum at (734) 764-2417.
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SPOTLIGHT ON TAPESTRY ARTISTS
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Emily Porcincula Lawsin teaches Filipino American history, literature, and activism in Asian/Pacific
American Studies, American Culture, and Women's Studies at the University of Michigan. Originally from
"She-attle," she was a member of the Filipino Youth Activities and co-founder of the statewide Washington
APSU (Asian & Pacific Islander Student Union). From 1994 to 2000, she taught at UCLA and California State
University, Northridge, where she received an award for her dedication to students. In 1998, the National
Council of Teachers of English awarded her for her ethnic studies online curriculum. Last Fall, she launched
the Filipino American Oral History Project of Michigan, collecting interviews and photographs of Filipina/os.
Her poetry and essays on war brides, writers, and students have been published in numerous anthologies,
newspapers, and 'zines, including Flippin': Filipinos on America; Teaching Asian America; Words Matter:
Interviews with Contemporary Asian American Writers; the forthcoming Going Home to a Landscape: Writings
By Filipino Women and InvASIAN: Asian Sisters Represent! Currently, she volunteers with Detroit Summer,
serves on the Board of Trustees of the Filipino American National Historical Society, and is the Program
Chair for the 9th National FANHS Conference, to be held in Los Angeles in July 2002. An oral historian
and spoken word performance poet, she has appeared on radio and stage throughout the United States and
Manila.
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Laura Greve began tutoring the flute in the 6th grade with only one student. She continued to pursue
her artistry with the flute throughout her middle school and high school years, in which she was the
flute section leader: leading sectionals and coaching during rehearsals. Ms. Greve has a strong background
for theory from the Center for Creative Studies - IMD, at which she studied with Laura Larson from 1988
to 1998. During her time at CCS-IMD, Ms. Greve was awarded a scholarship from the Skillman Foundation,
and also won a Margaret Wilson Scholarship. Her studies at CCS-IMD have been supplemented with workshops
for pedagogy in the Suzuki Method and has had master-classes and lessons with various Suzuki teachers.
Ms. Greve has also had the opportunity to learn from many other great teachers including Michel Debost,
William Bennet, Jeffrey Zook, and Paula Robison. In addition to Suzuki workshops, Ms. Greve has attended
a variety of workshops for pedagogy, technique and theory at three National Flute Conventions. She currently
teaches music lessons at Huber Breese Music Store in Mount Clemens.
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Erik Santos is on the faculty at the University of Michigan School of Music where he teaches composition
and music technology. He has been the recipient of numerous prizes and fellowships from The American
Academy of Arts and Letters, Broadcast Music Incorporated (BMI), The MacDowell Colony, the Civic Orchestra
of Chicago, the Rackham Graduate School of The University of Michigan, and was named the 1999 "Shepherd
Distinguished Composer of the Year" by the Music Teacher s National Association (MTNA).
Santos has
had commissions for theater and dance music from the Wild Swan Theater of Ann Arbor, orchestral commissions
from the Bozeman and Butte Symphony Orchestras of Montana, and a number of commissions for chamber works,
among them: Zauberkraft (Magic Power) commissioned by Danish-American percussionist Timothy Lutte for
performance at the 1996 Percussive Arts Society International Conference (PASIC) in Nashville, …con Cruces
de Fuego (...with Crosses of Fire) which was commissioned by the Michigan Music Teachers Association,
and Sun Dogs for a new CD by the percussion duo, Equal Temperament (Eric and Stacey Jones). The CD, called
Parhelion (Eroica Classical). The premiere of Santos' …in the Mines of Desire (for choir and orchestra),
commissioned by the Butte Symphony for its 50th anniversary, was videotaped and broadcast by Montana
PBS in 2002.
His new projects include an organ solo, Star Rising , designed for use in church services
during Epiphany, commissioned by the American Guild of Organists for their National Convention in Philadelphia
(July 2002), and Dreamer (7 Poems of Langston Hughes), for tenor Darryl Taylor, piano and harp. This
will be performed in Riverside Church and Merkin Hall, New York City, in January, and recorded for Naxos
Classical in February. Following his interests in music for theater and dance, Santos will be traveling
to Japan in July to work with the internationally acclaimed butoh dance company, Dairakudakan.
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Charisse Baldoria, one of today's most promising pianists, has a rare combination of performance awards
and academic accomplishments. Just recently, she won First Prize in the Society for Musical Arts Young
Artist Competition in Ann Arbor and won the University of Michigan Concerto Competition for the second
time. She has also been chosen to compete as a Semi-Finalist in the upcoming Washington International
Competition in March to be held in Washington D.C. In 1999, Miss Baldoria was selected to be among the
top four pianists in the Ducrest Young Artist International Competition and was chosen to participate
in the 2000 Hilton Head International Competition.
Miss Baldoria came to the United States as a Fulbright
scholar from the Philippines. After only one semester at Michigan, she won the 1999 concerto competition
and performed with the University Philharmonia Orchestra at Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor. From a young
age, she has been a consistent first-prize winner in several Philippine competitions: the National Music
Competition for Young Artists (NAMCYA), the University of the Philippines Piano Competition, the Jefferey
Ching Sonata Competition, and the National Yamaha Electone Festival.
Miss Baldoria is now a doctoral
student at the University of Michigan where she also teaches as a Graduate Student Instructor. She was
also awarded the Barbour Scholarship-an award given to "Asian women of the highest academic and professional
caliber."
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PSGSA NEW GRAD!!
PSGSA would like to congratulate member Gala King on her upcoming graduation
from University of Michigan. In 2001, Gala was awarded a travel grant from the Alcoa Foundation for
a Philippines Internship with the People's Task Force to assess a resettlement population. She is also
affiliated with the Ann ARbor chapter of the Filipino American Coalition for Environmental Solutions
and the Asian American Public Health Student Association. Gala is also a research assistant in the Department
of Epediomology, School of Public Health, from which she will graduate at the end of April. In her "spare"
time, Gala assists PSGSA in meeting their goals to provide opportunities for intellectual interchange
on Philippine-related topics. Look for an article in an upcoming PSI issue, that will highlight more
of Gala's activisim during her UofM career.
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PSGSA Website, a "Work-in-Progress," Goes Live on UofM Network
The new Philippine Study Group
Student Association (PSGSA) website is now available on the University of Michigan network. The website
will contain information about the PSGSA, PSGSA events, and PSGSA projects. It will be accessible to
internet users, and will also provide information on Philippine Studies Initiatives happening at the
University of Michigan.
The website is a "work-in-progress," according to PSGSA Representative,
Lesly Burgamy, who was able to gain funding for web space and design by writing a proposal to the Michigan
Student Assembly. "The site that is up now will continue to change, both in design and in terms of the
content that will be offered to users. One of PSGSA's main goals is to serve as a communication bridge
between the Filipino-American community and the University of Michigan. The Philippine Studies Initiatives
Newsletter and this new website will allow us to keep the community informed about our efforts to reinvigorate
Philippine Studies at the University of Michigan," Lesly stated. The PSI newsletter will also be made
available on the internet through this site.
January Fortes assisted with the design, and will
continue to help PSGSA meet it's communication goals. January graduates with an Associate's Degree in
Graphic Arts from Schoolcraft College in Livonia this May. PSGSA is hoping to gain some feedback about
the site via e-mail, so that they can tailor the site to be effective for students and community members.
As users and members give more input on the site, January will be re-designing the website to be more
unified and effective.
January is also helping PSGSA members understand how web design works and
how information is made available on the web. Understanding these communication outlets is key to some
potential projects PSGSA has in mind to work with the community. According to Lesly, PSGSA may be using
this training in future projects: "Right now, I'm tossing around the idea of getting Filipino-related
youth group members trained in areas of communication, like print, broadcast, and web. The more ways
young people learn to communicate, the more likely they will be to maintain good communication when they
become the leaders of our community." You can find the new website at http://www.umich.edu/~psgsa
- and you should send feedback to philippinestudygroup1@hotmail.com.
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COMMUNITY CALENDAR
April 6th - Macombers Show, 3:00pm at PACCM in Southfield. Tickets are $10.00
Call Dr. Efren Platon,
Dr. Ernie Mac, Flor Penner, Fred Porte or Willie Dechavez at (248)443-7037.
April 9th - Steve Villaruz, Guest Lecturer - room 2752 of the International Institute/School
of Social Work
Building. Lecture topic is Dance as Discourse: "Joses y Marias: The Making of
Philippines Dances
with Colonial Casts."
April 16th - Steve Villaruz, Guest Lecturer
- room 2572 of the International Institute/School of Social Work
Building. Lecture topic is
Dance as Discourse: "A Metro Manila History of Losses and
Appropriation"
May 18th -
Social Security Seminar, 9:00am - 11:00am at PACCM in Southfield. Registration at 8:00am
includes
a continental breakfast. Question and Answer session will follow. Please call PACCM
(248-443-7037)
if you plan to attend. Seats are limited. For directions to PACCM, log on to
www.paccm.org.
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