Leonor Orosa-Goquingco

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.

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 the University of the Philippines. She was married to Benjamin Goquinco and had three children: Benjamin, Jr., Rachelle and Regina.

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.

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) and Dance Panorama in the same year. She created The Elements in 1940, the first ballet choreographed by a Filipino to commissioned music. She also created Sports during 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 Tángere, 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.

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