(NOV. 15)—Fellowship was the name of game last Nov. 14 at the UP Asian Center as the College of Arts and Letters Department of Speech Communication and Theatre Arts (DSCTA) and the Japan Foundation, Manila Inc. hosted a gathering of performing artists from all over Asia, “Rhetoric of Creative Partnership: Conversations on Cross-Cultural Artistic Exchanges.”

Over 200 participants showed up for the 2-day conference which consisted of six plenary sessions: “Asian Performing Arts Farm 2019,” “Practices of Embodiments and Pedagogy,” “Practices of Devise and Dramaturgy,” “Collaborative Platforms,” “Contemporary Scenography” and “Arts and Culture Leadership.”

The conference about performance featured actual performances from guest artists UP Tugtugang Musika Asyatika (UP Tugma), Mia Cabalfin and Rhosam Prudenciado Jr. and the Asian Performing Arts Farm 2019.

Japanese theater producer, critic and dramaturg Kentaro Matsui’s opening keynote lecture delved on his experiences while collaborating with artists from countries like Malaysia and Korea and how their differing perspectives of history influenced the final production as well as his own art.

According to DSCTA, the conference “aimed to provide a venue for a dialogue on creative and artistic collaboration in the performing arts” which arose from a “lack of space for artists to talk about their artistic processes that gave life to some of the most meaningful performances.”—Anna Regidor, photo from the DSCTA Facebook page