"C’est la perfection, un moment d’émotion rare, des filles d'une divine beauté et quelle agilité! Déjà remarqué lors du défilé ce groupe a recueilli une immense ovation."
- L'Eveil de la Haute-Loire, France
SILAYAN — Pronounced (see-lie-yan) meaning “reflection” as in a ray of light. When light is reflected, it diffuses into many directions creating patterns of shadows and color.
Daughter & Mother,
Dulce & Sonia Capadocia
Silayan's artistic mission is to produce and present high caliber dance theatre from a Philippine-American perspective. Its repertoire investigates how traditional art forms are preserved, influenced and transformed by today's culture and society.
Honored by the Los Angeles Dance Resource Center as a "Milestone Dance Company" for over 25 years of professional participation in performance, leadership and service to the Los Angeles community, Silayan Dance Company originated as a traditional arts ensemble and remains the first culturally-specific performance group founded in the city of Los Angeles.
Born in the '70s out of the vision of its late founder, Philippine dance authority Sonia Capadocia (Dulce's mother) and motivated by a continuous search for cultural identity in a foreign land, Sonia gathered a handful of young inner city students from her "Temple Street" neighborhood. Being a school teacher by profession, she taught them Filipino folk dances. Fascinated by the exotic rhythms and intricate dance steps, the youngsters wanted to learn more. Armed with a choreographer's grant award from the National Endowment for the Arts, Sonia formed a 50-member performing arts group in 1973. Silayan produced its first major concert debut at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion of the Los Angeles Music Center. Local TV appearances followed and the company traveled to perform throughout California—from Monterey to Desert Hot Springs. By 1990, Silayan completed its third European tour representing the Philippines with awards in international folk dance festivals throughout France and the Basque cities of Spain.
Bestowing culture and creative process from mother to daughter, Dulce works as Silayan's Artistic Director and featured soloist; her original creations borrow from traditional art forms, rituals, oral tales, folklore and history to create new contemporary dance dramas that are meaningful, often personal, stories of the human experience. A multi-nominee and award winner of the coveted Lester Horton Dance Award for artistic excellence, Silayan is a recipient of many multiple organizational grants from the Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department, Los Angeles Arts Commission, California Arts Council and AT and T's Association Rewards Program.
Filipina Fest honored Sonia Capadocia (Founder of Silayan) for Women's History Month 2020. Click thumbnail for larger images.
Dulce Capadocia, Artistic Director of the Silayan Dance Company, delivers her acceptance speech upon receiving the Lester Horton Award for Artistic Excellence (2000). The event was held at the El Portal Theatre in North Hollywood, California. Event footage courtesy of Adrian Ravarour.
