"I don't describe it, I do it." - Merce Cunningham
Angela Sebastian is a Filipino Dance Artist with an MFA in Dance from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (UHM) with a focus on choreography and performance with Dr. Kara Jhalak Miller (Chair), Dr. Betsy Fisher, and Professor Peiling Kao as her thesis committee. Angela was a graduate assistant in the UHM Dance program teaching undergraduate courses in Ballet and Contemporary Dance. She has also taught creative movement courses for the East-West Center participants, where she was a Student Affiliate and a Foundation Scholarship Recipient.
She has performed with professional dance companies in Hawaiʻi including Convergence Dance Theatre and Iona Contemporary Dance Theatre. Prior to Hawaiʻi, she was a parade dancer for Hong Kong Disneyland for one and a half years. While in the Philippines, she was a member of Airdance Philippines Contemporary Dance and Aerial Arts Company and the University of Philippines Dance Company that presented her the opportunity to perform and participate in festivals across Asia, such as Taiwan, Malaysia, and China.
Her love for dance sparked after seeing a live performance by a prominent ballet school in the Philippines, Halili-Cruz School of Ballet. This event encouraged her to take ballet classes as early as the age of four at Pink Toes School of Performing Arts, where she also continued to learn various dance genres such as hip hop, jazz, modern and contemporary. Persistent with her passion for dance, Angela acquired a Bachelor of Music, majoring in dance degree at the University of the Philippines (UP)-Diliman, Quezon City. Under the expertise of dance instructors Herbert Alvarez, Elena Laniog-Alvarez, Angel Lawenko –Baguilat, Ava Maureen-Ong, and Emeritus Esteban Basilio, her technique and creativity were enhanced enormously.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Artistang Pinoy
This dance workshop is a three-day workshop held at the Philippine Consulate in celebration of Filipino-American Month. This workshop aims to gather and facilitate the community to communicate in the form of dance. Through dance, we hope to rediscover and re-imagine the Filipino body.
Within three days, the attendees will learn movements inspired by different ethnic, folk, and traditional Filipino dances. Beyond learning these movements, the attendees will also be given space to incorporate their own understanding or interpretations of the movements. In this way, we allow and recognize the nuances of the body as it expresses itself in relation to its space and environment.
The objective of the workshop is to open the community to the complexity of identity. In recognizing this, we appreciate and embrace differences. Although we are bound in one nationality, we also acknowledge that our journey as individuals has been unique. This Filipino Month Conference is an excellent opportunity to come together and celebrate our community.
*POSTPONED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE
Convergence Dance Theatre
Stay tuned for CDT's next project with Honolulu State Museum.
Visit their website at convergencedance.org
or
@convergence_dance_theatre
