Category: Culture

Home » Culture » Page 3
Post

There’s more than dance in ‘Juan Tamad’ by Alice Reyes Dance Philippines

Near the rear of the Metropolitan Theater as you turn left from Dr. Basa Street in Ermita, Manila, there’s a long, wide studio with open windows facing a wall of mirrors. The dancers of Alice Reyes Dance Philippines (ARDP) are trying on their animal costumes for the first time. Krislynne Buri, playing Paboreal (peacock), gets...

Post

‘Gatilyo: Tatlong Dula ng Pag-alala’ is ‘tokhang’ revisited

The period from June 2016 to June 2022 will always be considered among the darkest days in contemporary Philippine history. According to government figures, at least 6,252 persons were felled during the “war on drugs,” but human rights organizations put the number between 12,000 and 30,000. Small wonder that “tokhang” (or when cops knock on...

Post

Grayscale pessimism

If drawings lend themselves to the world as an artistic medium for one to experience discovery, an insight drawn from the radically hopeful imagination of John Berger, the drawings of the artist Lyra Garcellano in her just-concluded show at Finale Art File, titled Land, Labor, Life: Tracing ‘Progress’ in Selected Notes, expresses political despair, which,...

Post

Discovering Clyfford Still, bold, brave, pioneering abstract expressionist

DENVER, COLORADO—As a fine arts graduate, I must confess that it was my first time to hear Clyfford Still’s name. Yes, I know the stalwarts of the Abstract Expressionist movement from Jackson Pollock to Mark Rothko to Helen Frankenthaler. But Still escaped my radar. And yet here he was, spoken with such ardor and respect...

Post

Some difficulty with Patricia Evangelista’s ‘Some People Need Killing’

More than two months have passed, and I still catch myself thinking of Patricia Evangelista’s book launch at Aldaba Recital Hall at the University of the Philippines Diliman. The event was dubbed as her homecoming, Evangelista being an alumnus of UP’s Department of Speech Communication and Theater Arts.  She and her book, “Some People Need...

Post

Pia Wurtzbach urges ‘allies’ to help fight for LGBTQIA+ rights

Pia Wurtzbach has been a staunch ally of the LGBTQIA+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual, and others) community since her much-celebrated journey into pageantry. And nine years after she was crowned Miss Universe in 2015, the actress and global influencer is still advocating its cause. In welcoming Pride Month this June, Wurtzbach gallantly...

Post

A fresh look at Graciano Lopez Jaena’s heroic legacy

ILOILO CITY—On Independence Day on Wednesday (June 12), our thoughts dwell on the valor and dedication of heroes who fought for our freedom. For Ilonggos, among those who stand out is Graciano Lopez Jaena, not just as a revolutionary figure but a beacon of eloquence and intellect as well.  As a tribute to the propagandist’s...

Post

First Filipino of African American descent takes 2024 Miss Universe Philippines title

The prevailing beauty standards in the country were challenged and ultimately shattered at the 2024 Miss Universe Philippines pageant, which took all of five hours at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City and ended early morning of May 23. Chelsea Manalo, a 24-year-old model from Bulacan, bested 52 other aspirants to inherit the...

Post

Leonardo da Vinci in overwhelming view

MELBOURNE—These excerpts are from what is believed to be the world’s first résumé on record: “I have plans for light, strong and easily portable bridges… I can give complete satisfaction…in architecture and the construction of buildings public and private; and in conducting water from one place to another…. In case of need I will make...