20 October 2016 –The Philippine Embassy in Moscow, in cooperation with the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) of the Philippines, organized a lecture-demonstration on Philippine folk dances at the Institute of Asian and African Studies of the Moscow State University on October 14 to promote Philippine dances and culture.

The lecture-demo was conducted by Mr. Ronnie B. Mirabuena of the Cultural Center of the Philippines for MSU students specializing in Filipino and other Southeast Asian languages. Also in attendance were Prof. Elena Frolova, Senior Professor on Philippine Philology, and Prof. Evgenia Kukushkina, Head of the Philology Department for Southeast Asia, South Korea, and Mongolia.

Mr. Mirabuena’s lecture titled“The Filipino Character as Portrayed in Philippine Dances”provided an overview of the history of Philippine dance with special focus on folk dances ranging from ethnic to foreign-influenced.  The highlight was a demonstration of thetinikling,one of the most popular and iconic Philippine folk dances from the province of Leyte.

Mr. Mirabuena is a teacher, performer, choreographer, artistic director, and cultural educator. In 2008, he won the best choreography award for his work “Panata” during the Douglas Nieras Choreography Clinic in Manila.  He is a member of the Philippine Folk Dance Society and was recently appointed as an ex-officio member of the NCCA Cultural Education Committee. 

The lecture-demonstration was organized in support of the Philippine Studies Program of the IAAS-MSU and in celebration of forty years of Philippines-Russia diplomatic relations. END