STS San Antonio: Teaching Poetry + Violin Concert + Anawangin Beach + Rollicking Boat Rides + Santacruzan

Mayo 29-30, 2010: Pagtuturo namin ng tula sa mga guro ng San Antonio, Zambales. One of the best STS trips ever, for the reasons cited in this post's title.

Sponsored ng CASA San Miguel at ng tanyag na maestro ng biyolin, si ginoong Coke Bolipata ang accommodations, food & excursions. Todo kung todo sa hospitality. (Maraming, maraming salamat, sir Coke!)

Ang STS San Antonio ang 3rd leg ng Sining ng Tugma at Sukat 2010 project ng LIRA & NCCA na ginagabayan ko bilang Direktor. Nauna dito ang STS San Fabian at STS Baguio.

In lieu of the full album, heto muna ang ilang patikim piks mula sa aming trip:

Ynna sa aming van stop sa Subic.

Ang CASA San Miguel sa San Antonio, Zambales.

Debbie, miss Beng, and Ynna conversing with sir Coke Bolipata. 

Ako sa art gallery.

Sir Mike Coroza, sinusubukan ang piano sa teatro.

Coke Bolipata training one of his students.

Ako sa entrada ng CASA San Miguel.

Debbie sa San Miguel beach, na nalalakad lang mula sa CASA.

Kid posing with his catch.

Corsarius, balik-dagat.

Sir Mike under the shade of the century-old tree (which might be even older -- I forget!).

The rollickin' boat ride to Anawangin from San Miguel, as ably managed by Mang Nestor (in pink).

The destination: Anawangin Beach Cove.

Me, Mikael, miss Beng, and Debbie at Anawangin. (Photo taken by Ynna.)

Auburn-haired mermaid Ynna...and her Datu Puti vinegar! (Nadale kasi ng dikya.)

Miss Eilene, sir Mike, National Artist Virgilio S. Almario (a.k.a. Rio Alma), Ynna, yours truly, Debbie, Mikael at San Miguel beach. (Photo taken by miss Beng.)  

Celebrities spotted in San Antonio's Santacruzan parade! Hehe. Sir Mike and Debbie with some of the town's youth.

The next day (STS program proper): Dr. Coroza with the early-bird delegates.

Upstairs, a budding violin virtuosa tries her skill with the cello.

Coke Bolipata and the Pundaquit Virtuosi serenade the National Artist for Literature.

Grandest venue ever in the STS's two-year history?

Dr. Coroza commanding the delegates' attention.

Wall art in the grounds of the CASA.

Ynna guides a delegate in writing her own tanaga.

Ako kasama sina sir Mike at sir Coke.

Free concert by Coke Bolipata and the Pundaquit Virtuosi.

* * * * *

Heto naman ang press release namin:

National Series of Poetry Seminar-Workshops Visits Zambales

The National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) and the celebrated Filipino poetry group Linangan sa Imahen, Retorika, at Anyo (LIRA) held the third leg of the nationwide “Sining ng Tugma at Sukat (STS; Art of Rhyme and Meter) 2010” in CASA San Miguel, San Antonio, Zambales last May 30, 2010.

Violin virtuoso Coke Bolipata of the CASA San Miguel was the event’s host. Teachers from different public and private schools from Zambales attended the day-long seminar-workshop presided over by award-winning poet and professor Dr. Michael M. Coroza of LIRA and Ateneo de Manila University.

In the morning, Dr. Coroza, along with the young LIRA poets who facilitated the event, taught the basics of rhyme and meter and the traditional forms of Filipino poetry. Along the way, the delegates were informed of the misconceptions being promulgated by errant textbooks.

National Artist for Literature Virgilio S. Almario (a.k.a. Rio Alma) was the guest of honor of the event. The afternoon saw the delegates crafting short poems of their own in the traditional tanaga and awit forms.

After the workshop, Bolipata, Coroza, and LIRA President Phillip Kimpo Jr. awarded the certificates to the delegates.

The STS is a series of free seminar-workshops on poetry in Filipino to be held in nine towns across nine provinces of Luzon from March to December 2010. It is on its second year, with the first edition being held in 2008 when LIRA and the NCCA taught poetry to around 430 delegates in ten towns across Luzon.

For 2010, the first beneficiaries were San Fabian in Pangasinan and Baguio City. The STS is also scheduled to make the rounds of Vigan City, Ilocos Sur; Lucban, Quezon; Bataan province; Naga City, Camarines Sur; City of San Fernando, Pampanga; and Tuguegarao City, Cagayan.

The STS 2010 is one of the fifteen projects for LIRA’s year-long 25th anniversary celebrations. Founded in 1985 by the National Artist for Literature Virgilio S. Almario (alias Rio Alma), LIRA is the premier institute of poets in Filipino.

The programme.