Cher Anabo

I am a native Tagalog from the Laguna Province, Philippines. I am a multidisciplinary artist+choreographer, educator, collaborator, and hand-panist. I have an MFA in Dance from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. I studied with the Iyengar Institute for seven years focusing on injury rehabilitation, structural alignment, and hindu philosophy - eventually the practice and healing redirected my training in the Berkshires where I earned a certification as a Kripalu Yoga Teacher and an ayurvedic practitioner.

As a transplant, 8 out of the 11 countries of Southeast Asia are spaces where I gained my access and training opportunities in shadow puppetry, mask work, fingernail dances, and dance drama in Thailand (khon), Cambodia (lakhon), and Indonesia (gambuh/dramatari). I held teaching positions+residencies at the School of the Arts Singapore, Damansara Performing Arts Centre, Rimbun Dahan, and Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris. In Bali, I studied/trained under Pak Tut (I Ketut Wirtawan of Kakul Mas), specifically topeng while participating/training in bebanchihan and tari balinese with Ibu Arini (Ni Ketut Arini),I Made Widana, Annie Reynolds, and Casey Lee Sims.

As a multidisciplinary artist and collaborator, I performed with Balinese Gamelan Segara Madu, Convergence Dance Theatre, Monkey Waterfall Dance Theatre Company, and Zany Umbrella Circus where my training in physical theatre and clowning became a part of my creative DNA. A few of my neutral mask work was showcased at the Mattress Factory in Pittsburg.

As a performer/choreographer, I am a seasonal member of Contemporary Dance/Fort Worth Company. My recent work at The Modern in 2023 was a collaborative endeavor highlighting Robert Motherwell’s Elegies to the Spanish Republic. ab/SENSE of color was conceived for three performers and one musician to visibilize their BIPOC presence and to unarchive the imprints of the Spanish Empire in the Philippines, Peru, and Texas.

As an educator, I have held various teaching appointments in twelve U.S. States. It was Cathy Davalos’s leadership of Saint Mary’s College of California in Moraga who provided me with space and a voice as a faculty of color to deconstruct my syllabi and to center the imprints of colonialism in all my lecture-studio based Undergraduate courses. I started centering the teacher-student relationship as collaborators as well. In 2022, I mentored two MFA dance candidates and chaired their theses projects. Transparent mentoring came out organically from this experience which I aim to continue at UCSD. 

As a scholar with my decolonial praxis, I investigate the imprints of colonialism and imperialism in the Philippines and in Southeast Asia surrounding un/archiving, erasure, and commodification of (id)entities in dance-tradition making.