The panel on Music and Dance has provided insights on how to shape the UP General Education program in terms of providing students with a foundation that will broaden not just their intellectual and cultural horizons, but move their experience of gaining knowledge to that of being involved in the broader thrust of the university toward nationalism and social justice.

In this GE conference, the panel started their discussion by giving an inside story on how their departments crafted the GE courses, their spaces for exchange, and developing the courses to its full fruition. Dr. Patricia Brillantes-Silvestre explained on the evolution of World Music as a GE course, earlier taught by senior professors and later handed down to her to teach, particularly at the onset of the Revitalized Graduate Education Programs (RGEP). This provided the impetus on expanding the GE course to include popular music and other genres that would interest students of today. On the other hand, Professor Angela Baguilat on “Reading Dance” told the audience that dance is truly a breather to students who are deeply immersed in hard sciences. Being able to move their bodies and express themselves opens up their world to enjoy learning.

All papers have apparently dwelt on the focus of providing students with a sense of nationalism. With this, the moderator raised the question on another thrust of the GE conference, which is on fostering “social justice”: “How can you, through your GE courses, bring consciousness on social justice?” Dr. Raul Navarro explicated on the importance of protest songs that open issues and expression of public sentiment. Dance professor Angela Baguilat added that concepts such as nationalism and social justice can be expressed through dance. However, the practice of relating with each other as huma beings is significant. Human relationship is a necessary element in dance, performance, and interpretation, and through performing this through the body, raises concerns and other issues that are otherwise confined to the edges.

They were asked to critically reflect on the fulfillment of the GE mandate amidst national and global crises. With the question on the challenges confronting the changing medium of instruction given the pandemic’s “virtual and face2face” limitations, the panel shared that they have tested time and again the fluctuating “alert levels” and the adjustment between online and face-to-face learning. They have seen the effectivity of students who from different parts of the globe can participate and be versatile. As to the dance course, the issue of not being able to meet person-to-person is indeed a challenge to the faculty and also to students who will enroll. However, this provides the avenue for creative means to virtually present their movements and choreography and be able to reflect on lessons learned.

On the other hand, as the GE direction leans toward Liberal Education, students are made to integrate courses with other subjects of their interests. Dr. Raul Navarro shared that his GE course on songs of the Martial Law can interweave with courses on “Political Science” and other Social Sciences. Dance faculty Angela Baguilat sees the aspect of reading dance as partly an interpretation of conformity as well as protest, bringing in theatre (as added by Raul Navarro). The globalizing scope of GE courses that incorporate or bringing in liberal education to the forefront of our institution makes students more dynamic and adaptable to the reality of whatever jobs they may land to someday. The discussion on inter-disciplines and intra-disciplines motivated a suggestion from the audience to expose Basic Education and Tertiarly level teachers to GE courses of music and dance. Such exposures open up their world to the interdisciplinarity of GE creative courses and make their teaching more interesting and fun!