by Honey B. Navasca
PANABO CITY – To give students a platform to develop their artistic skills and in support of the National Arts Month Celebration, Davao del Norte State College mounted the second Gaani Katuonan Annual Arts Festival last February 27 – 28, 2023. The festival featured the maiden presentation of the DNSC Sugura Teatro, a theater group for student artists and performers.
On the first day, the Sociocultural Office hosted a workshop for theater and multimedia arts. The resource speakers and workshop masters were Mr. Edmund Telmo, founder of Illustrado Films and young filmmaker from Ozamiz City, and Mr. Norman “Noi” Narciso, a multidisciplinary artist from Davao City. There were sixty participants in total.
On the second day, the Davao Reef relaunched its podcast; DRi sa DNSC! The pilot episode went live at one o’clock in the afternoon, preempting the Gaani Katuonan concert at four. The guests were Precious Ann Arcena, creative director of the DNSC theater group, Justine Paula Arriesgado, the main actress in the theater concert, Ra Ashni Aram Piloto, representative from the multimedia arts participants, and Mr. Edmund Telmo, one of the resource speakers. The show also featured a special performance from Daryl Valiente, president of the DNSC chorale, who performed two of his original compositions.
The concert’s line-up were intermission numbers from the DNSC chorale and dance troupe, and the presentation of workshop outputs from the two artistic groups. The theme; Unang Hugna: Ang Sinugdanan, marks the official launching of the theater group and restart of the Gaani Katuonan, after missing a year of presentation due to COVID-19 restrictions.
