Nearly a century after his debut in Liwayway, the Filipino comic icon gets a new life through dance, theater and contemporary movement
By Harold C. de Mesa | The Profiler
NEWS
MANILA — From the pages of a 1929 comic strip to the center of a contemporary dance stage, Kenkoy is getting a new life.
Alice Reyes Dance Philippines (ARDP) brings the iconic Filipino comic character into the world of professional dance through KENKOY, a new dance-theater production that combines ballet, contemporary movement, jazz, social dance, theatricality and Filipino satire.
Directed and choreographed by ARDP Artistic Director Ronelson Yadao, the production reimagines Kenkoy, the character created by Filipino cartoonist Tony Velasquez and first introduced in Liwayway magazine in 1929.
Rather than translating the comic character into a conventional ballet, Yadao’s production draws from different movement traditions to capture Kenkoy’s exaggerated personality and comic world.
The production uses dance and theater to engage with themes of Filipino identity, colonial influence, popular culture and resilience.
Yadao developed the work through research into original Kenkoy materials, including consultation with the Velasquez family and research at Philippine historical and cultural institutions.
The creative team includes Krina Cayabyab as music director and composer, Guelan Luarca as librettist, Jerry Respeto for dramaturgy, D. Cortezano for production design and Joyce Garcia for projection design.
But KENKOY is not presented in isolation.
ARDP’s program also features Holberg Suite, choreographed by Adam Sage to the music of Edvard Grieg.
The neoclassical work demands a markedly different physical vocabulary, with intricate ensemble passages, turns, jumps and traveling movements that emphasize the dancers’ classical training.
The juxtaposition places the company’s dancers in two contrasting theatrical worlds.
One is rooted in the formal precision of neoclassical ballet.
The other draws from comedy, popular culture and contemporary Filipino theatrical movement.
The ability to move between these styles is central to the program.
Alice Reyes Dance Philippines is a professional dance company associated with the artistic work and influence of National Artist for Dance Alice Reyes.
The company develops and presents classical, modern and contemporary works while also creating and reviving pieces connected to Philippine cultural narratives.
Among its recent projects is the revival of Tales of the Manuvu, Alice Reyes’ landmark 1977 rock-opera ballet based on Manobo narratives.
ARDP’s current work continues to place Filipino stories and cultural references alongside international dance traditions.
For KENKOY, that means taking a character who has been part of Philippine popular culture for generations and placing him in a completely different medium.
A comic strip becomes choreography.
A familiar caricature becomes a stage character.
And a piece of Filipino pop culture becomes material for contemporary dance.
KENKOY is being staged at Hyundai Hall, Areté, Ateneo de Manila University, with performances scheduled for September 18–20 and September 25–26, 2026.
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THE PROFILER COMMENTARY
Kenkoy’s journey from Liwayway to the contemporary stage is more than a change of medium.
It is a reminder that Filipino popular culture can be revisited, reinterpreted and given new artistic forms.
The character was born nearly a century ago. Yet instead of simply reproducing the Kenkoy audiences already know, KENKOY asks what happens when that character is filtered through the physical language of today’s Filipino dancers.
That is where the production becomes particularly intriguing.
Holberg Suite and KENKOY demand different kinds of performance, but they share the same dancers.
The contrast tests not only technical ability but also theatrical adaptability.
A ballet-trained performer must be able to execute demanding movement with precision—and then shift into comedy, character, social dance and contemporary theatrical expression.
That makes the program less about choosing between classical and contemporary dance and more about seeing how the two can coexist.
And perhaps that is the more interesting conversation surrounding Filipino dance today.
Tradition does not always have to remain in the form in which we inherited it.
Sometimes, it can move.
Sometimes, it can laugh.
Sometimes, it can become Kenkoy.
From comic strip to center stage, the character’s transformation demonstrates how an old Filipino cultural icon can enter a new artistic language without necessarily losing the identity that made him recognizable in the first place.
Kenkoy has moved from the printed page to the stage. The next question is where Filipino dance takes him next.
