One of the things I am most proud of is being able to claim that I danced as part of the Locsin Dance Workshop under National Artist for Dance, Agnes Dakudao Locsin.
My mother wanted me to be a prima ballerina but I did not have the discipline for it so I quit ballet classes when I was about seven years old. But later as an adult working as a super stressed chief-of-staff to the City Mayor of Davao, my friend, Pidot Villocino (bless his soul), had this brilliant idea to register us for evening adult jazz classes at Locsin Dance Workshop “for stress relief.”
I remember telling Pidot then: “Are you sure that will not be additional stress? Agnes Locsin might laugh or worse, scream, at me for ruining her dance and her reputation.”
On our first class, Teacher Agnes surely laughed. But not because she thought I could not dance, but because I was too self-conscious and too hard on myself. She assured me in between her signature Agnes Locsin big laugh: “Of course, you can dance!” Her warm laugh comforted me and gave me the confidence to let go of my inhibitions and fears.
Just when I was getting into the groove dancing to “Move Your Body, Girl,” Teacher Agnes said that I will be joining the class to perform in a grand recital at the old Lanang Golf Country Club. Obviously, I panicked. It was not relieving my stress at all.
Somehow Teacher Agnes got me to dance on stage — in my very late 30s — with her younger, more agile, and more gifted dancers. Just by believing that I can, indeed, move my body whatever its shape may be. And that is another gift she has — aside from her creativity and brilliance — her generosity of spirit that affirms the capacity for dance of every student she teaches.
“I learned that one must listen with one’s heart and express movement with one’s heart no matter what the music is,” Teacher Agnes said.
So if one has heart and is willing to express what is in it, one can dance.
Last Thursday, September 26, the Davao Museum of History and Ethnography opened a special exhibit celebrating the life of Teacher Agnes, our first Dabawenya National Artist.
The exhibit tells her story through old photographs, memorabilia, and videos of her impressive body of work. There is even a barre, a stationary handrail used in ballet training, that people can use to follow ballet warm-up exercises played on the TV screen for an immersive experience.
My favorite piece of the exhibit is the vintage silk ribbon with Marian medal circa 1963 from the Ateneo de Davao which proclaimed kindergartener Agnes Locsin as “Best Dancer.” Beside it is an old photograph of little Agnes in leotards circa 1959, the year she started her dancing career at age two and a half with her mother, Carmen Dakudao Locsin, as her first teacher.
My second favorite is a large black and white photograph of a 23-year old Agnes in perfect form, leaping in the air, face fierce and eyes brimming with passion, aptly captioned: “Dance is my life.”
Teacher Agnes is known as a “pioneer of neo-ethnic Filipino dance” and she credits her musician friend and fellow Dabawenyo Joey Ayala for the “neo-ethnic” adjective that suggests an “interweaving of indigenous movements with modern dance forms.”
A quote from Joey, her favorite collaborator, featured at the exhibit celebrates her “deep integrative dive into the colonial, the indigenous, and the psychological waters of human movement.”
The exhibit explains that she is recognized for “enriching the canon and vocabulary of Philippine dance, for delving into indigenous cultures respectfully, and paying homage to them by reinventing and stylizing movements to shape stories of the past that illuminate the present.”
Davao Museum also sells Teacher Agnes’s book entitled, “Philippine Neo-Ethnic Choreography: A Creative Process,” first published in 2012.
In the book she shares her ten steps to choreography; how to transform ethnic to neo-ethnic; how to choreograph neo-ethnic dances; how to choreograph for competition; and stories about her famous works. It is a treasure trove of learnings and tips not just for choreographers, but for all creators.
In her book, Teacher Agnes reflects on her creative journey.
“If in the 1990s my obsession was the discovery and transformation of ethnic dances, I found that in the turn of the 21st century, it was the ‘urban Filipino’ I was getting to know,” she wrote.
“Neo-ethnic dance is still a part of me but now I seek the ethnic soul of the urban natives — the modern-day Filipino. Movements from the neo-ethnic are now rerouted and released from within the contemporary Filipino soul,” she noted.
In the Postscript chapter of her book, Teacher Agnes shared that it took her years to find the words to describe what she does: “I take inspiration from Philippine ethnic and folk dances. Through choreography, I aim to create movements derived from dances in the history of my beloved country. I am a Filipino who is proud of my heritage, and my work is my tribute to Philippine history.”
At the opening of the exhibit celebrating her life and work, Teacher Agnes shared her favorite quote that she heard from a priest’s sermon when she was in college that she later learned was attributed to St. Augustine: “Pray as though everything depended on God, and work as if everything depended on you.”
Yes, it turns out Teacher Agnes does not just teach dance, she teaches life, too.
And as her student who is now in her mid-fifties, I will follow those wise words she heard from a sermon and the dedication she wrote for me when she signed my copy of her book: “Padayon ta’g sayaw!” (Let’s keep on dancing!)
