User:Dcapadocia/Asuncion "Sonia" Capadocia

Asuncion Capadocia (known as Sonia) was a teacher, Philippine folk dance choreographer, and founder of one of  Los Angeles'  well-known and first culturally-specific arts organizations - the Silayan Philippine-American Dance Company. Silayan (pronounced see-lie-yan) is a Philippine word for "reflection" as in a ray of light diffusing into many different directions and creating patterns of shadows and color.

Personal/Career
Christened Maria Asuncion Estuche, Sonia was the daughter of Esteban Estuche, a school principal and Concordia Evicner, a school teacher;  both were natives of Igbaras, a province outside of Iloilo City in the [[Visayan Islands].  A Bachelor of Science in Education with majors in English and Physical Education, Sonia’s Alma Mater is the Philippine Women’s University (the institution that launched the renown Bayanihan Dance Company).  She was a public school teacher in the Philippines where she directed and received major awards in Folk Dancing, both on the high school and college levels.  She was the choreographer of the Sumakwelan Dance Troupe composed of 60 dancers, singers and rondalla members - all public school teachers of the Antique Division, Philippines.  For a number of years, she was called upon to judge many folk dance, music and literary competitions.

Sonia married Santos Capadocia in 1960. Both met while employed as teachers at Saint Anthony’s College in Antique. The son of a politically prominent family in San Jose Antique, Santos was a teacher and professor of the Spanish language. A gifted tenor, he had a penchant for opera and music. In the 60's, he was chosen to represent one of the country’s top scholars and sent to the University of Madrid, Spain on a cross-cultural exchange program;    he studied and completed his Master’s Degree in Spanish. He visited Los Angeles upon the completion of his studies in Europe and met a near fatal car accident. With an emergency visa, Sonia sailed to Los Angeles on a ship to nurse him back to health. Santos became impaired. In 1974, their only daughter Dulce immigrated from Iloilo City to Los Angeles to join them; the family made Los Angeles their home.

Sonia made her living as an elementary school teacher at Precious Blood Elementary School and later on, at Alexandria Elementary School in the Los Angeles Unified School District where she worked for many years until her death in February 2001. She studied Modern Dance at Cal Poly Tech and took ballet lessons under Russian masters Nicholas Tarnowsky and Tamara Maxinova. She later earned her Master’s Degree in Education at the University of San Francisco in 1980. Her dissertation involves a handbook of Philippine Folk Dances to fit the multi-ethnic students of the the Los Angeles Unified School District. She received many awards and recognition for her teaching work including “Outstanding Teacher of the Year” by the Filipino-American Educators Association as well as a nomination for the Music Center’s coveted Bravo Award given to a teacher with outstanding achievements in the performing arts. While at Alexandria, she carefully selected gifted students and trained them to become part of her Silayan Dance Company.

Silayan, her brainchild, served as a diversion to the tragedy of her husband’s accident. As a distraction, she invited young Philippine-American inner city youth from her neighborhood, pushed away the livingroom chairs, created a dance studio and offered free lessons on arts and culture. Most of her students were American born Filipinos. Unknowingly, she created (in the 70's)one of the city’s first Philippine-American Dance companies.

In recognition for her efforts to promote the arts through an ethnic group, the National Endowment for the Arts awarded her with a prestigious choreography fellowship to continue her work in showcasing Filipino culture through Dance in the United States. She used her award to prepare Silayan for its professional debut at the Dorothy Chandler Pavillion of the Los Angeles Music Center in 1976. Under the auspices of Consuelo Rania and the support of influential community members, Silayan and its 75 member dance group (composed of a live rondalla and orchestra) performed to a packed and sold-out house. Since then, the well- known ensemble has performed in numerous theatres, prominent festivals, schools, universities as well as in unconventional venues,  parades and street fairs. Its presentations of Philippine dance have been seen throughout Los Angeles, the state of California and in the East Coast. The company completed its third tour of Europe in 1990 performing in concert venues and on television throughout France and the Basque regions of Spain. Well received by European audiences, Silayan brought home many accolades and awards for its participation in international folk dance festivals.

Silayan Dance Company is honored today by the Los Angeles Dance Resource Center as one of the city’s important “Milestone Dance Companies” for over 25 years of participation, leadership, performance, and service to Los Angeles. A recipient of multiple organizational grants from the Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department, the Los Angeles County Arts Commission,, and the California Arts Council http://www.cac.ca.gov/. It remains one of the city’s acclaimed multi-ethnic ensembles composed of trained arts professionals under the helm of Sonia’s daughter Dulce Capadocia. A distinguished award-winning choreographer, she is known for her powerful and visually arresting repertoire of original contemporary dance dramas drawn from native folklore, history, field work and personal stories of the Philippine-American experience.