Leonor Orosa-Goquingco (July 24, 1917 – July 15, 2005) was a Filipino national artist in creative

dance.[1] She played the piano, drew art, designed scenery and costumes, sculpted, acted, directed,
danced and choreographed. Her pen name was Cristina Luna and she was known as Trailblazer,
Mother of Philippine Theater Dance and Dean of Filipino Performing Arts Critics. She died on July
15, 2005 of cardiac arrest following a cerebro-vascular accident at the age of 87.

Family[edit]
Leonor Orosa-Goquingco was born on July 24, 1917 in Jolo, Sulu. Her parents were Sixto
Orosa and Severina Luna, both doctors who graduated from the University of the Philippines. She
was married to Benjamin Goquinco and had three children: Benjamin, Jr., Rachelle and Regina.[2]

Education[edit]
Goquingco graduated Elementary in 1929 at Central Philippine University and as the top of her class
as valedictorian in Negros Occidental Provincial High School. She moved to Manila and entered
the Philippine Women's University (PWU) where she took an ACS course. She earned a diploma in
education, majoring in English Literature from St. Scholastica's College Manila and
graduated summa cum laude. The famous national artist also took graduate courses in theatre craft,
drama and music at Columbia University and Teachers College in New York City, USA. She also
took professional and teacher courses at the Ballet de Monte Carlo.

Accomplishments[edit]
In 1939, Leonor Orosa-Goquingco was the only dancer sent on the first cultural mission to Japan, at
the age of 19. She produced Circling the Globe (1939) and Dance Panorama in the same year. She
created The Elements in 1940, the first ballet choreographed by a Filipino to commissioned music.
She also created Sports during the same year, featuring cheerleaders, a tennis match and a
basketball game. The first Philippine folkloric ballet, Trend: Return to the Native, was choreographed
by Goquingco in 1941. After the Second World War, she organized the Philippine Ballet and brought
the famous Filipino novel, Noli Me Tángere, to life. The Noli Dance Suite consisted of several
dances. Maria Clara and the Leper, Salome and Elias, Sisa, Asalto for Maria Clara and The
Gossips are some of the dances found in the Noli Dance Suite.[2]
Leonor Orosa-Goquingco also danced during her early years. She danced at the American Museum
of Natural History, Theresa Kaufmann Auditorium, The International House and Rockefeller Plaza,
just to name a few. She appeared in War Dance and Planting Rice. Other works she choreographed
were "Circling the Globe", "Dance Panorama", "Current events", "Vinta!", "Morolandia", "Festival in
Maguindanao", "Eons Ago: The Creation", "Filipinescas: Philippine Life, Legend, and Lore in Dance",
"Miner's Song", "The Bird and the Planters", "Tribal", "Ang Antipos" (The Flagellant), "Salubong",
"Pabasa" (Reading of the Pasyon) and "Easter Sunday Fiesta".
She founded the Filipinescas Dance Company in 1958,[2] and took it on a world tour in 1961, 1962,
1964, 1966, 1968 and 1970.
She was also a writer, and her articles were published in Dance Magazine (New York
City), Enciclopedia Della Spettacolo (Rome), Grove's Dictionary of Music and
Musicians (London), Arts of Asia (Hong Kong) and the Philippine Cultural Foundation. She
wrote Dances of the Emerald Isles and Filipinescas: Philippine Life, Legend and Lore in Dance.[2]
Leonor Orosa-Goquingco also wrote a poem on the Japanese occupation, Lifted the Smoke of
Battle. She is famous for her one-act play, Her Son, Jose Rizal which is set during the time Rizal
was imprisoned and awaiting his execution. It reveals the emotions going through Rizal's mother at
that time and the similarities between Rizal's life and that of Jesus Christ.
Goquinco was also a critic who wrote reviews. She critiqued works like Tony Perez' Oktubre, Ligaya
Amilbangsa's Stillness and Tanghalang Pilipino's Aguinaldo: 1898.

Awards[edit]
 Patnubay ng Sining at Kalinangan Award in 1969 and 1964[2]
 Rizal Centennial Award in 1962[2]
 Republic Cultural Heritage Award in 1964[2]
 Presidential Award of Merit in 1970[2]
 Tandang Sora Award and the Columbia University Alumni Association Award in 1975[2]
 National Artist for Dance on March 27, 1976[2]

Positions[edit]
She was an Honorary Chairman of the Association of Ballet Academies of the Philippines, the
founding member of the Philippine Ballet Theatre (PBT) and was known as a Zontian and a
performing arts critic and columnist of the Manila Bulletin.[1]

References[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has
media related to Leonor
Orosa-Goquingco.

1. ^ Jump up to:a b Leonor Orosa Goquingco. ncca.gov.ph (June 3, 2015)

2. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f g h i j Enriquez, M. Leonor Orosa-Goquinco a.k.a. Cristina Luna. orosa.org

Further reqading[edit]
 Orosa, Rosalinda L. Above the Throng: Portraits and Profiles, Sketches and Silhouettes. 1980.
 Orosa, Rosalinda L. "My Sister Leonor.", The Philippine Star. July 23, 2005.
 Roces, Alejandro R. "Leonor Orosa Goquingco: National Artist in Dance.", The Philippine Star.
July 19, 2005.
 "Farewell to National Artist Leonor Orosa-Goquingco"., Manila Bulletin. July 18, 2005.
 Leonor Orosa-Goquinco a.k.a. Cristina Luna

Born : July 24, 1917, Jolo, Sulu

She is the second child of pioneer physicians Sixto Orosa and Sevedna
Luna, and the elder sister of critic Rosalinda Orosa. She is married to
Benjamin Goquingco. They have three children, two of whom-Rachelle
and Regina-are both dancers. Orosa-Goquingco graduated
valedictorian of her high school class, and finished bachelor of science
in education, summa cum laude, at St. Scholastica's College. She took
graduate courses in theater craft, drama, and music at Columbia
University and Teachers College in New York City, USA.

Her early ballet training was under Lilia Lopez, Epifania Rodriguez, and
Luva Adameit. She took professional and teacher's courses at the Ballet
Russe de Monte Carlo, coming under the tutelage of Ifilda Butsova,
Thalia Mara, Anatole Vilzak, and Madame Ludmilla. National Artist in
Dance Francisca Reyes-Aquino was also once her mentor.

In 1934, at the age of 17, she started her major dance experiments and,
in 1939, was the only dancer on the First Cultural Mission to Japan.
That same year, she produced Circling the Globe, and a year later,
Dance Panorama. In 1940 she created The Elements, the first ballet
choreographed by a Filipino to commissioned music, and Sports,
featuring cheerleaders, a tennis match, and a basketball game. A year
later, she choreographed the first Philippine folkloric ballet, Trend:
Return to the Native.

After World War II, she organized the Philippine Ballet where she
brought to life Maria Clara, the leper, Sisa, Elias, and Salome-all
characters in Rizal 's novel Noli Me Tangere (Touch Me Not). In 1958
she founded the Filipinesca Dance Company.

Orosa-Goquingco was inclined not only to classical ballet but also to

Indian and Spanish, as well as modern, dance. She is noted for her
courage in breaking traditions in dance despite public indifference. Her
other important works include Vinta!, Morolandia (choreographed in
1938), Festival in Maguindanao (depicting a Muslim royal wedding),
Eons Ago: The Creation (depicting Philippine legends of the creation of
the world and of the first man and woman), Filipinescas: Philippine Life,
Legend, and Lore in Dance, and Miner's Song. Inevitably her
innovations revolutionized the folk dances. The Bird and the Planters is
the first weaving together of the various rice-planting sequences,
climaxed by a new version of the tinikling where the dancer personifies
the tikling bird. It was the first to utilize bamboo poles to catch the bird,
the first to use a double-time finale and breathtakingly rapid turns while
the dancer hops in and out of the bamboo poles. Orosa-Goquingco's
Tribal, about the death of a warrior, is the first dance composition in the
Mountain Province-dance style. Other works along the same line are
"Ang Antipos" (The Flagellant), " Salubong ", (Meeting), "Pabasa"
(Reading of the Pasyon)--all dance sequences celebrating Philippine
lenten practices. Philippine games such as palo sebo, sipa, and juego
 de anillo were depicted in Easter Sunday Fiesta. Orosa-Goquingco is
also remembered for her transmutation into dance theater of the
cockfight, the asalto, and the fiestas.

Additionally, under her own name and pen name (Cristina Luna), she
has been published by the Philippine Cultural Foundation and Philippine
periodicals, by Arts of Asia (Hong Kong), Enciclopedia dello Spettacolo
(Rome, Italy), and Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians. She is
the author of a history of Philippine dance, Dances of the Emerald Isles
1980, and of the popular one-act play, Her Son, Jose Rizal.

Orosa-Goquingco has received numerous awards, among them the

Patnubay ng Sining at Kalinangan Award, 1961; the Rizal Centennial
Award, 1962; Patnubay ng Sining at Kalinangan award and Republic
Cultural Heritage Award, 1964; Presidential Award of Merit, 1970;
Tandang Sora Award, 1975; and the Columbia University Alumni
Association Award, 1975.

She was proclaimed National Artist in Dance on 27 March 1976. . M.

Enriquez
 9 hours ago
 Leandro Jose Espelimbergo Tagros
 National Artist for Dance
(July 24, 1917 – July 15, 2005)

Dubbed the “Trailblazer”, “Mother of Philippine Theater Dance” and

“Dean of Filipino Performing Arts Critics”, Leonor Orosa Goquingco,
pioneer Filipino choreographer in balletic folkloric and Asian styles,
produced for over 50 years highly original, first-of-a-kind
choreographies, mostly to her own storylines. These include “TREND:
Return to Native,” “In a Javanese Garden,” “Sports,” “VINTA!,” “In a
Concentration Camp,” “The Magic Garden,” “The Clowns,” “Firebird,”
“Noli Dance Suite,” “The Flagellant,” “The Creation…” Seen as her most
ambitious work is the dance epic “Filipinescas: Philippine Life, Legend
and Lore.” With it, Orosa brought native folk dance, mirroring Philippine
culture from pagan to modern times, to its highest stage of
development.

She was the Honorary Chair of the Association of Ballet Academies of

the Philippines (ABAP), and was a founding member of the Philippine
Ballet Theater.