Alleluia Panis tells the story of 20th-century Filipino migration through dance

By Jeneé Darden

Published October 26, 2023 at 11:00 AM PDT

KulArts' John Nguyen, Jose Abad, Jonathan Mercado, Jazlynn Pastor and Tino Lagahid in Belly of the Eagle: Man@ng is Deity

This story originally aired in Crosscurrentson March 18, 2019 and it most recently aired for the October 26, 2023 episode of Crosscurrents.

For over 40 years choreographer Alleluia Panis has been presenting her dance theatre works on Bay Area stages. After immigrating to San Francisco from the Philippines in the mid-1960s, Alleluia became a fixture in the South of Market Filipino arts community.

"For a lot of folks who know Filipino dance, they will say, oh... But for a lot of folks, it's just movement."

Since 1985, her non-profit KulArts has been a platform for Filipino artists to share their experiences and traditions through contemporary and tribal arts.

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Jeneé Darden

Jeneé Darden is an award-winning journalist, author, public speaker and proud Oakland native. She is the executive producer and host of the weekly arts segment Sights & Sounds as well as the series Sights + Sounds Magazine. Jeneé also covers East Oakland for KALW. Jeneé has reported for NPR, Marketplace, KQED, KPCC, The Los Angeles Times, Ebony magazine, Refinery29 and other outlets. In 2005, she reported on the London transit bombings for Time magazine. Prior to coming to KALW, she hosted the podcast Mental Health and Wellness Radio.

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Alleluia Panis tells the story of 20th-century Filipino migration through dance

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