Leonor Orosa Goquingco: National Artist in Dance

We were thoroughly depressed when we were informed about the death of National Artist for Dance Leonor Orosa Goquingco. As far as we are concerned, she is the greatest national artist that we have produced. In the book The National Artists of the Philippines, National Artist in Literature Nick Joaquin paid her the ultimate tribute. Print is the art eternalism of all arts. Dance is bodily motion in rhythm with music. How do you perpetuate or immortalize motion? The only way we know is through film and it is a very poor substitute for the live dance.

We said that we considered Leonor Orosa Goquingco as the greatest of all our national artists. This is because, first, she dedicated her entire life to dance; second, she covered the topic thoroughly and she has recorded it in her book The Dances of the Emerald Isles. Our biggest regret is that it was not she who choreographed the legend that I recorded on why roosters fight one another. But she did choreograph a cockfight in her Cuadros Filipinos and you could see that there were two types of fighting roosters. One fights from the ground, the other is a flyer.

The reason why Leonor Orosa Goquingco was such a great choreographer is because she knew the Philippines thoroughly. She was born in Jolo, Sulu and was such a brilliant child that at the age of four, she was already enrolled in the first grade and all her classmates were Moros. She grew up to be not only a dancer and choreographer, but also a poet and playwright. Her poem on the Japanese occupation entitled Lifted the Smoke of Battle was considered as "one of the most caustic to have come out of World War II." Her play, Her Son, Jose Rizal was highly praised by all critics including two national artists – Lamberto Avellana and Wilfredo Maria Guerrero. Literary critic Isagani R. Cruz said, "Even on paper the play breathes with theatrical life." Nick Joaquin thought she belonged to the Renaissance times.

We hope that there are enough films about her choreographed work. There is no aspect of Philippine life that she had not interpreted in dance. Even our religious Lenten practices were translated into dance. Sad to say, her choreography cannot be fully preserved. But her book The Dances of the Emerald Isles and her poems and play will always serve to give us a measure of her dedication and creative talent.

In our estimate, she is the greatest of all our national artists. Perhaps it is because dance is the oldest form of prayer and to her every dance was a prayer.