What Pilipino Culture Night (PCN) is:

Every year, the students of the UC Berkeley Pilipino community come together to create a show that strives to express and celebrate history, identity and community views through performance arts. UC Berkeley’s PCN is the longest running cultural show at the UC campus, and the 2^nd longest running PCN of any campus. This year will be UC Berkeley’s 32^nd production. Through music, dance, and skits, PCN communicates stories and perspectives, aiming to empower and educate not only the Pilipino community, but communities around us.

Adrien Salazar has more scoop on Pilipino Cultural Night, which usually takes place in Zellerbach Hall. This year, pilipino folks will own Berkeley’s resident opera/ballet/bougie house for one night only on Sunday April 20, 2008.

an ahistorical
HISTORY OF UC BERKELEY PCN

by Adrien Salazar

1965
The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 abolishes national-origins quotas for immigration into the US. The act shifts immigration policy to give preferences to family reunification, skilled professionals, and refugees.

1969
Third World Liberation Front (TWLF) and Ethnic Studies established. Filipino Student Association (FSA) forms and later becomes registered as Pilipino American Alliance (PAA).

1970s
Pilipino Cultural Days occur at SF State. (anecdotal)

PCNs emerge across West Coast Campuses in a variety of forms, including variety-style shows, revues, dances, short plays, and mixed-media installations.

Some of the first PCNs are little more than dinner and a slideshow. (anecdotal)

1976
UC Berkeley holds its first Pilipino Cultural Night.

1982
The Pilipino Cultural Night at UC Berkeley takes place in Pauley Ballroom. The event consists of a dinner served to the guests, a fashion show of Pilipino evening wear, songs, traditional and jazz dances, and a martial arts demonstration. Family members helped to put on the program. (Bibler, 1983)

1980s & 1990s
Pilipino Cultural Nights solidify into a distinct genre (Jacinto) with regular structural elements, consisting namely of 1. folkloric forms, and 2. theatrical narration. (Gonzalves, 2005)

1993
“Cultural Evidence”, PACE at SF State’s PCN differed sharply from the traditional PCN model. The 3-day event showcases original works, focusing each day on 1. Spoken word, 2. Hip Hop, and 3. Traditional dances and skits.
(Gonzalves, 2000)

2000
UC Berkeley’s 25th Annual PCN, “Home”, locally breaks from the traditional model by restructuring the theatrical narrative into several vignettes rather than a single continuous narrative, and this PCN also does not contain any traditional dances.

PCNs at UC Berkeley hereafter adhere to a vignette form for the scripted narrative portion of the show.

Resources

Bibler, Susan. “The Functions of the Pilipino American Alliance for its Members.” Senior honors thesis in Anthropology at UC Berkeley. March 15, 1983. Pp. 30-32.

Gaerlan, Barbara. “In the Court of the Sultan: Orientalism, Nationalism, and Modernity in the Philippine and Filipino-American Dance.” Journal of Asian American Studies. The John Hopkins University Press, 1999.

Gonzalves, Theodore. “Dancing into Oblivion–the Pilipino Cultural NIght and the Narration of Contemporary Filipina/o America.” Kritika Kultura. Issue 6. Department of English, Ateneo de Manila University. Quezon City: November 2005. .

Gonzalves, Theodore. “The Day the Dancers Stayed: Expressive Forms of Culture in the United States.” Filipino Americans: Transformations and Identites. Maria P. P. Root, ed. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, 2000. Pp. 163-182.

“Pinoy Pod: Pilipino Cultural Night a “right of passage” for students.” San Francisco Chronicle.