The grant the Philippine Studies Group at York received made it possible for Leo Lorilla and Pamela Corales, core performing artists of Bayanihan: the National Dance Company of the Philippines and faculty members of the Philippine Women’s University (PWU) in Manila, to be artists-in-residents in the Department of Dance at York University from 10 to 21 February 2023.

In this capacity, they accomplished the following:

• performed the dance “Paseo de Iloilo” during the Department’s Annual Showcase, Cardinal Points, at the Sandra Faire and Ivan Fecan Theatre from 15 to 17 February;
• delivered a folk dance workshop for the Filipino community in the Greater Toronto Area at the Kalayaan Cultural Community Centre on 13 February;
• gave a courtesy call to Consul General Orontes V. Castro at the Philippine Consulate General in Toronto on 13 February; and
• assisted in organizing a choreographic dialogue with members of the Benguet diasporic community at the Accolade East Building, Studio E at York University.

To enrich their transnational cultural exchange, Lorilla and Corales participated in a series educational activities and exposures that would benefit both the Bayanihan as a professional dance company and PWU as an institution that is known for its dance education. These activities were: an educational tour with cultural anthropologist Dr. Lynne Milgram on how to care for fragile costumes held at the Textile Museum of Canada on February 12; observation of studio dance classes in and the auditions process of York’s Department of Dance from February 16 to 17; and another educational tour this time with archivist Amy Bowring on best practices in preserving dance on video, stills, and print at the Dance Collection Danse on February 21.