The FEU Dance Company, then named "FEU Folk Dance Group" was formed and conceptualized in 1957 by Alejandro Roces, National Artist for Literature and then Dean of the Institute of Arts and Sciences in response to an invitation for schools to present Philippine folk dances at the Brussels World Fair of 1958. Though the trip did not materialize initially, 100 dancers were recruited from the entire P
hysical Education Department under Alfredo Reyes, son of FEU Founder, Dr. Nicanor Reyes. Corazon Iñigo, a member of the faculty, became the dance coach. The group made its debut in the Philippine Folk Dance Festival at the Rizal Coliseum on October 1, 1957. The FEU Folk Dance Group finally made it to Europe in 1959 and became the first Philippine university based group to compete and win in Caceres, Spain. They even extended their stay to accept a prolonged
engagement at the Sarah Bernhard Theater in Paris. They also got to have an audience with Pope John XXIII, now a Saint. They received a red carpet welcome when they landed in Manila. After the FDC performed an all Muslim Suite during the Eid'l Fitre celebration in SM The Block, the late Senator Santanina Rasul commented that they were "the best non-Muslim group to perform Muslim dances." They have won those sponsored by the ACTS Dance and Arts Academy, Lyceum of the Philippines, the University of Makati, San Beda College and the Rizal Technological University. They competed in tandem with the FEU Drum & Bugle Corps, winning 1st Runner Up positions in the 1st Drum & Bugle Nationwide Competition at the Quirino Grandstand and in the Tejeros DBC Competition. Together with the DBC, they were the 2011 champions in The Q Filipino Festival Dance Competition to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the University of Santo Tomas. The FDC won the 2014 Folk Dance Competition sponsored by the Bayanihan National Folk Dance Company in the Cultural Center of the Philippines which paved the way for their participating and winning third place in the Cheonan World Folk Dance Competition in Korea in October, 2015. In 2017, they were the Grand Champions in the Dance Supremacy Dance Competition and 1st Runner up in the Ego Dance Competition. In 2018, the FDC Street Alliance won the UAAP Street Dance Competition. In 2019, they were the 1st Runner up in the UAAP Street Dance Competition. In the same year, they ranked 2nd Runner Up representing the country in the prestigious Andong Mask Festival and World Mask Play Competition in South Korea. The FDC has collaborated in performances with Ballet Philippines, the Flamenco group of Clara Ramona & Company, ethnic artists Grace Nono and Bob Aves, the STEPS Dance Studio, the Cho Nam Gyu Song Jong Eun Dance Company from South Korea and dancers from the School of the Arts from Singapore. Company dancers have performed with GMA 7’s Billy Crawford’s Movers and QTV’s May Trabaho Ka “Game Girls.”
The FEU Dance Company is under the Artistic Directorship of Edward Malagkit, a former stalwart dancer of Ballet Philippines and the first ever male to dance the role of Peter Pan. The FDC is one of the cultural groups under the supervision of the FEU Center for the Arts. Artistic Directors of the FDC have included Cora Iñigo, Rosalie Santos, Josie Sison, Milagros Miguel, Rebecca Morales, Asuncion Alzona-Henry, Tony Bermudez, Yek Borlongan, Irma Lopez-Escobia, Cherissa Rodriguez-Chastain, Rob Villaroya and Gigi Felix Velarde. At present, the FEU Dance Company’s (FDC) goal is to provide students a venue where they can express and develop their artistic talents in dancing. They are the only Collegiate Dance Company doing all dance genres namely Classical & Modern Ballet, Contemporary and Jazz disciplines, Folk dance, Street dance and Dance Sport.
