LCB-PACF: Celebrating 25 years of touching lives through musical theater

“LCB-PACF: Celebrating 25 years of touching lives through musical theater”
SunStar Davao, August 3, 2024

What began as two people's vision has become a notable performing arts legacy for the next generation.

The LCB Performing Arts Center (LCB-PAC) Foundation Inc., founded by entrepreneur Lu Chin Bon and choreographer/artistic director Lourdes "Bing" Locsin, recently celebrated its 25th anniversary in the field of performing arts and musical theater at the Davao Christian High School Auditorium, Davao City.

Legacy Showcase

The Legacy Showcase began with a visual documentary featuring its talented dance teachers, choreographers, and scholars, ranging in age from 2 to 75. All shared a passion and love for dance and musical theater, which consequently resulted in technique training at LCB-PACF, a dancer’s haven that provided them with a second home and family.

      

The choir’s opening song, "A Million Dreams" from the movie The Greatest Showman, was a perfect fit. Its message successfully conveyed every homegrown talent's desire to perform most creatively.

The overwhelming applause after the vocal rendition was a great jump start, followed by adaptations of excerpts from Broadway, Disney, and movie musicals.

The video documentary and stage performances clearly showed that the dancers were all in it together, pushing each other to do better, go further, and achieve success in their performances.

The goal of the Legacy Showcase, and all musicals staged by LCB-PACF, has been and continues to be to give life to a variety of dance forms, including tap, jazz, hip-hop, ballet, belly dancing, and creative movement for children.

Excerpts interpreted included pieces from Disney, Mamma Mia, Oliver, 42nd Street, Mary Poppins, Grease, and Motown.

Milestones: Every Year is Worth Celebrating

The participation of LCB-PACF alumni in this silver anniversary showcase gave Executive Director Karen Diane Lu Alcaraz a deep sense of nostalgia.

              

"Sharing the stage with them again is deeply nostalgic and heartwarming,” she said, adding that it brought back memories of their shared passion for dancing.

For the past 25 years, LCB-PACF has never wavered in its mission to use the wonderful realm of the performing arts to connect people and impact the diverse lives of Dabawenyos, particularly the Filipino-Chinese community. The vision of its founders, Lu Chin Bon and Bing Locsin, has been passed on to the third generation.

Starting with just one dance teacher/choreographer, Bing Locsin, and one studio, the LCB-PACF was launched in May 1998. Since then, the foundation has exposed Dabawenyos to the art of musical theater.

The first-ever song and dance recital was "Look at Me Now" in 1999, followed by “The Great White Way”, its first musical theater production, in 2000. This was then followed by a string of fifty-five more successful productions, some of which were in collaboration with other performing arts organizations in Davao, Manila, and the United States.

Founder Lu Chin Bon, along with the directors, teachers, choreographers, and dancers, spared no effort in bringing LCB-PACF to where it is today for musical theater lovers in Davao City.

The LCB-PACF aspires to preserve its legacy accordingly, "into what God has destined it to be" – a center where local talents are fostered and developed into performing artists for musical theater as an integral part of the goal of growing the performing arts community in Davao City.

Credits to Lyka Perandos for the official LCB-PACF 25th anniversary write-up and Mark Perandos for the photos.