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

creative dance. She could play the piano, draw, design scenery and costumes, sculpt, act,
direct, dance and choreograph. 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 secondary to cerebro-vascular accident" at the age
of 87.
Family
Leonor Orosa-Goquingco was born on July 24, 1917 at Jolo, Sulu. Her parents were Sixto
Orosa and Severina Luna, both doctors who graduated from theUniversity of the Philippines.
She was married to Benjamin Goquinco and had three children: Benjamin, Jr., Rachelle and
Regina.
Education
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.

Leonor Orosa-Goquinco a.k.a. Cristina Luna

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 novelNoli 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. OrosaGoquingco is also remembered for her transmutation into dance theater of the cockfight,
theasalto, 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.
Accomplishment
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) andDance Panorama in the
same year. She created The Elements in 1940, the first ballet choreographed by a Filipino to
commissioned music. She also created Sportsduring 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 Tngere, 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.
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 took the Filipinescas Dance Company 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.
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

Patnubay ng Sining at Kalinangan Award in 1961 and 1964

Rizal Centennial Award in 1962

Republic Cultural Heritage Award in 1964

Presidential Award of Merit in 1970

Tandang Sora Award and the Columbia University Alumni Association Award in 1975

National Artist for Dance on March 27, 1976

Major Works

Trend: Return to Native, 1941

Filipinescas: Philippine Life, Legend and Lore in Dance, 1961

Philippine Youth in Ballet

Noli Dance Suite

The Magic Garden

Sabong

VINTA!

The Clowns

Firebird

The Flagellant

The Creation