Opening Celebration: Mountain Spirits

Celebrate the opening of Mountain Spirits: Rice and Indigeneity in the Northern Luzon Highlands, Philippines.

Celebrate the opening of Mountain Spirits: Rice and Indigeneity in the Northern Luzon Highlands, Philippines, with an evening of music and dance honoring cultural pride and the enduring connections between the Philippines and Los Angeles.

Celebrate the opening of Mountain Spirits: Rice and Indigeneity in the Northern Luzon Highlands, Philippines with an evening of music and dance honoring cultural pride and the enduring connections between the Philippines and Los Angeles.The program features "Echoes of the Cordillera Mountains," a dynamic performance by Malaya Filipino American Dance Arts and BIMAK (Benguet, Ifugao, Mountain Province, Apayao and Kalinga) in collaboration with community artists. Curated by Peter de Guzman and Michael Wandag, the performance explores music and dance traditions deeply rooted in the highland cultures of Luzon. Drawing inspiration from everyday life, courtship rituals, and thanksgiving celebrations for a bountiful harvest, it highlights expressive movement and musical forms shaped by generations of Indigenous knowledge. Audiences will encounter dances influenced by the traditions of the Ifugao and neighboring communities, accompanied by the resonant sounds of bamboo instruments and gongs central to Cordillera ceremonial and social life. By honoring these living artistic practices, "Echoes of the Cordillera Mountains" brings the vibrant cultural heritage of the Cordillera to life, fostering understanding, connection, and cultural pride.

About the exhibition

For generations, the Ifugao of northern Luzon have transformed steep mountainsides into rice terraces—astonishing feats of engineering that are also sacred landscapes shaped by ritual, community, and a profound connection to land.

Mountain Spirits immerses visitors in this world through carved guardians, ritual bowls, woven blankets, farming tools, soundscapes, and video installations. Together, these works reveal how sustenance and spirituality are entwined, and how generosity, labor, and environmental care nurture Ifugao life.

Recognized by UNESCO for embodying ancestral knowledge and sustainable practices, the terraces remain enduring testaments to human ingenuity and ecological balance. They are not monuments to the past, but living sites where memory, work, and spirit continue to converge.

Co-sponsored by the Asian Pacific Alumni Association of UCLA, UCLA Division of Social Sciences, UCLA Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, the Philippine Consulate General in Los Angeles, and the Office of Senator Loren Legarda (Senate of the Philippines)