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BWW Feature: Dulce Capadocia and The SilayanDance Co. Honored At First Ever Filipinafestby Valerie-Jean Miller Jun. 19, 2020

Corona Choreographic Chronicles:

Dulce Capadocia & The Silayan Dance Company were the featured honorees for the first everFilipinaFest planned to honor the late Sonia Capadocia, Silayan Dance Company Founder incelebration of National Women's History Month.

Earlier this year, plans were set to honor the creator of the Los Angeles-based Silayan DanceCompany by her daughter Dulce, a choreographer trained in both Philippine traditions andAmerican Modern Dance forms. Silayan is the first Philippine-American dance company as well asthe first culturally specific arts organization founded in Historic Filipinotown in Los Angeles,California. Sonia, in addition to being an award winning director, teacher and civic leader was also atalented seamstress. The Philippine Expressions Bookshop in San Pedro, California offered tocreate an installation of her personal collection of beautifully hand-sewn gowns and elaborateSilayan costumes. This was to commemorate a series of book readings in celebration of NationalWomen's History Month. As word got out in the larger Philippine-American community, it grew intoan entire Festival - aligned to be the first "Filipina-Fest" Los Angeles Festival. First. Ever. Produced

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in partnership with FilAm Arts (theAssociation for the Advancement ofPhilippine-American Arts and Culture) andspearheaded by Giselle Tongi Walters, theevent was to take place at PhilippineExpressions in San Pedro at the end ofMarch to recognize the importantcontributions of Filipina leaders whogreatly contribute to the civic life of ourgreat city. Important women civic leadersand "movers and shakers" in thecommunity were chosen to participate andpartake in an exciting live danceperformance, fashion show and festivalparade of the handmade garments.

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"Her Name is Woman," honoring the life andcultural Legacy of Sonia Capadocia, was toinclude a performance of Silayan DanceCompany's "Singkil Stories" (featuringperformance artist Tomas Tomayo in drag toportray Sonia) while highlighting the gownsand garments Sonia had sewn with her artisanhands for her Silayan Dance Company.Philippine arts and crafts would be sold, bookreadings were to be shared, culinary delightswere to be feasted on and performances ofdance, music and theatre were to be enjoyedon this day of this first ever Filipina-Fest, anevent that blossomed to now receive majorfunding through the City of Los Angeles'Cultural Affairs Department.

Then, the covid-19 pandemic hit with full force, cancelling the entire festival after months of heavypreparation. Dulce had been rehearsing her dancers and performers, writing the script, gathering allof the elaborate costumes and coordinating the performance programming of the day. She had justfinished selling her ancestral home, had just closed escrow, had moved and stored all herbelongings in PODS, and was staying in hotels with plans to relocate to the East Coast after thefestival.

Through a series of events and with the aid of some amazing "guerilla" filming and editing by KateJohnson of EZTV, excerpts from Silayan's repertoire were shown in a "live" web presentation onFilAm Arts Facebook page. Filipina-Fest Live persevered and aired on March 29th.

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Silayan remains the first culturally specific arts launched in Southern California. The word"Silayan" (pronounced see-lie-yan) is Filipino for "reflection" as in a ray of light. When light isreflected, it diffuses into many different directions creating patterns of shadows and color. Silayan Dance Company is an acclaimed award-winning Los Angeles ensemble founded in the'70s in the heart of what is now "Historic Filipinotown". Spearheaded by the late Philippine FolkDance authority Asuncion "Sonia" Capadocia, a civic leader, NEA Choreography fellow, and aschoolteacher by profession, she invited young inner city Filipino-American students to her"Temple Street" home to vicariously teach them their culture through Dance. A performing artsgroup blossomed. By the late 70's, a 50-member group premiered their first full-length concertappearance at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion of the Los Angeles Music Center supported byfunding from the National Endowment for the Arts.

In 1990, under the artistic direction of herdaughter Dulce, the company transformedfrom its grass-roots based folk arts identityinto a vibrant multi-ethnic group of trainedperforming arts professionals. Oftenembellished by impressive arresting filmimages, photography, set design, spoken word,powerful storytelling, and informed byPhilippine field work and research in remoteregions of the islands, Silayan's dynamic multicultural productions speak of the Philippine-American experience. Garnering many organizational grant awards from the Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department,California Arts Council, California Community Foundation, Los Angeles County Arts Commission,AT & T Association Rewards Program, as well as accolades from critics and audiences worldwide,

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Silayan has produced and presented its celebrated works in notable theaters, performance spaces,schools, universities, community centers, festivals, and in unconventional venues throughout thecity of Los Angeles, the state of California, the East Coast, and in the European Festivals of France& the Basque regions of Spain. Hailed in Ann Haskins' L.A. Weekly Dance Pick of the Week columnas "Filipino Dance for a new generation and for uninitiated audiences", Silayan's deftly crafteddance dramas, paired with sound scores by multiple Emmy award-winning Sound Designer DarleenStoker, investigate how traditional art forms are preserved, influenced and transformed by today'sculture and society. A multiple Lester Horton award nominee and winner in several categories for artistic excellence inConcert Dance, Silayan has been honored by the Los Angeles Dance Resource Center as one of thecity's "Milestone Dance Companies" for over 25 years of professional participation in performance,leadership and service to the Los Angeles community.

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Dulce who grew up in a dance home, spoke of her late mother - her teacher and mentor, explaining:

"When I was growing up, I often wished I had someone as sweet as Carol Brady for a mom. Instead,I had Sonia Capadocia! In her presence, you either rose to the challenge and excelled, or you ran foryour life! Either way, it was never easy. She was an unforgiving and critical theater mom and parent.

But look at all the amazing, creative roads she paved - not just for me but for everyone that cameacross her often hard mentorship and person. She came from the school of hard knocks so it is nota surprise that her teaching style is a reflection of her experience with the world. She was agraduate of Philippine Women's University, the mothership of the famous Bayanihan Dance

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Company created to bring Philippine cultureto the world. Mom's major was English andPhysical Education which means Dance. Folkdance.

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Unlike most people who immigrated to the U.S. for work or because they were petitioned by afamily member, tragedy brought her here. She arrived in Los Angeles by herself to nurse my fatherwho was in a near fatal car accident. He had come here first from our hometown of San Jose DeBuenavista, Antique, Philippines. A scholar sponsored by a cross cultural exchange programbetween the Philippine and Spanish governments, he completed his graduate studies in Spanish inMadrid and decided to come to Los Angeles to visit. The accident left him in a coma and impaired;my mom nursed him to health and bravely persevered. She moved on to start a dance companyand gathered inner city youth to our home to teach them dances. She was a teacher by profession.Most of her students were U.S. born Filipinos who had no access to culture or the arts. It startedout as a hobby, perhaps. Perhaps it was a way to avert her sorrow. She did this right after theheated civil rights movement and during a time when women of color didn't have a voice inAmerican society. It is amazing what women can do when they decide to put their mind to it.Weirdly, we grow up greatly wanting to be our own person only to realize that a lot of the greatqualities of our mothers are in ourselves.

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Mama, not a day passes when I don't think of you; you made us all tough - just like you; you madeus all persevere - just as you have. During life's hard times (such as this one), all I can do is get onmy knees, raise my hands to the sky in exaltation and give thanks to the good Lord that you weremy mother."

(Three Generations, top left, Concordia Estuche, Dulce's Grandmother, bottom left, SoniaCapadocia, on right, Dulce Capadocia.)

The culture of the Philippines is deeply interwoven into all of the original work presented here. Thisform of dance is very emotionally and truthfully portrayed and I feel there is so much traditional andritualistic influence in the story of each piece.

The following video running order includes:

"Sign of the Times" television interview with Socorro Swan

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Singkil

Diwata, Fly (music by Danny Kalanduyan andthe Palabuniyan Kulintang Ensemble)

Juan and the Crocodile (a collaboration withplaywright Ed Ramolete)

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Malakas and Maganda (original choreography by Ramon Obusan)

The Legend of the Mayon Volcano

The Gatherer

Song for Tatay (Father)

Ma'i Lost (a multi-media dance drama based on Antiquenian folklore on the legendary life ofKapinangan, the Philippine counterpart of the Arthurian Guinevere. The work is informed by fieldwork on the Ati tribes of Panay Islands, Philippines.)

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Mother Night (a multi-media dance drama based on the theme of death and dying)

Performance venues include the Fountain Theatre, Los Angeles Theatre Center, Keck Theatre,LACE, California Plaza and the Luckman Fine Arts Complex. Film images by Adrian Ravarou, KateJohnson and EZTV Media, Marcus Flye and Monica Carillo.

Performance: Silayan Dance Company, Dulce Capadocia, Artistic Director

FilipinA Fest Honors FilipinAmenal Honoree Silayan Dance Company

For more information, please refer to http://www.dulcecapadocia.com

Photos: Courtesy of Los Angeles Times' Mike Lucas, Vanessa German, Roger Fojas and ElkoWeaver.

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