Kim C. Nique Philarts1 - MN

Kim C.
Nique
PhilArts1 – MN
WEEK 3
Interdisciplinary Approaches to Philippine Arts
In the critical discussion of Ms. Sally, being culturally irresponsible is the main issue raised
on her validation of Ms. Locsin’s work. Her discussion partly addresses the issues of cultural
responsibility in the neo-ethnic choreography of Locsin on the Philippine national ballet, the Igorot,
which is mainly inspired by the cultural dance of the ethnolinguistic community residing on the
highlands of the Cordillera region. In her subsequent analysis of the choreographic structure of Igorot,
she mentioned that the ballet merely presents culturally marked dancing bodies but the indication of
the storyline is inconsistently clear. She then pointed out that Igorot may have the cultural vision in it
but there is an absolute absence of cultural memory. Thus, she may not state it directly but it simply
implies an idea against her conditions of being culturally responsible.
Moreover, she also discussed how unpeaceful the Gran Cordillera region is. She thinks that
the cultural support of the government to the aesthetic discourse does not help but the recession
continues to be widespread. That is to say, she questions the contribution of the Igorot to the
development of the region. I find it bothersome if this is one of her conditions in declaring a culturally
responsible artwork. If that is the case, then we should be seeing now movements against the Igorot
ballet for not doing its “said so” responsibility.
However, I don’t think the work is culturally irresponsible. As far as I can tell, the work of
Agnes Locsin does not necessarily represent the culture of the Igorot in contrast with the idea of Sally
Ness that there is an absence of cultural memory in it which is not the purpose of the work. Instead,
Agnes Locsin was simply trying to incorporate elements of the culture with western staging
techniques to invent her neo-ethnic work. In fact, I didn’t read anything explicitly stating that neo-
ethnic works are purposefully made to represent cultural communities under chapter 2 of the book of
Agnes entitled “Philippine Neo-Ethnic Choreography: A Creative Process”. Additionally, there were
senior Philippine dance scholars that opposed the idea of Ness. One of which is Esteban Villaruz who
remarks that Igorot was nothing but an abstraction. When he referred it to the word “abstraction”, he
means that the work does not represent any cultural communities so it must be free from any
misinterpretation. Another dance scholar that supported this idea was Ramon Obusan. He described
Igorot as a collage of cultural communities while supporting the idea of abstraction. From these
Filipino dance scholars themselves, I was also convinced that Sally Ness is not totally correct in her
analysis. Furthermore, as she pointed out in her discussion, Locsin’s Igorot successfully Filipinizes
classical ballet which is more than enough to praise Locsin rather than questioning its cultural
responsibility that is actually non-existent because she is not obliged in doing so as the Igorot do not
represent any cultural communities. Lastly, it may be her curiosity to find out how Igorot people
would react to the Igorot of Locsin. One Igorot named Biag Gaongen who joined Ballet Philippines
was able to experience dance the Igorot by himself. He has recognized that the Igorot does not appear
as the Igorot dance. He appreciated how the work respects their culture. He also stated that if his
community sees Igorot, they would feel mixed emotions. “The world is constantly changing and so
does a culture. It evolves. As long as the core values remain, then one must not be afraid to alter some
of these pre-existing practices and traditions”, he added.
References
Villaruz, B. (1994). The CCP Encyclopedia of Philippine Art (N. Tiongson, Ed.). Manila: Cultural
Center of the Philippines.
Locsin, A. (2012). Philippine Neo-Ethnic Choreography: A Creative Process. Manila: University of

Santo Tomas Publishing House.
Ness, S. (1997). Originality in the Postcolony: Choreographing the Neoethnic Body of Philippine
Ballet. Cultural Anthropology, 12(1), 64-108.

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Locsin, A. (2012). Philippine Neo-Ethnic Choreography: A Creative Process. Manila: University of

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