AN IMMERSIVE MULTIMEDIA DANCE PERFORMANCE BY
‘MANAI’ ALLELUIA PANIS
An exploration of generational trauma inflicted by the American justice system on immigrant
families and how traumatic experiences blur the line between memory and nightmare.
WEEKEND 1:
Friday, April 17 at 7:00 PM
Saturday, April 18 at 7:00 PM
Sunday, April 19 at 3:00 PM
WEEKEND 2:
Friday, April 24 at 7:00 PM
Saturday, April 25 at 7:00 PM
Sunday, April 26 at 3:00 PM
Bindlestiff Studio
185 6th St,
San Francisco, CA 94103
Featuring dance artist from left to right:
Poko “Dre” Devis, Jenelle Gaerlan, and Johan Raymundo Casal.
Photo by Alyssa Cortez “Burden of Proof Work In Progress 2025 Performance”
Featuring dance artist from left to right: Jenelle Gaerlan, Jonathan Micheal Mercado, Johan Raymundo Casal, Poko “Dre” Devis.
Photo by Alyssa Cortez “Burden of Proof Work In Progress 2025 Performance”
Featuring dance artist from left to right: Jonathan Micheal Mercado, Poko “Dre” Devis. Jess DeFranco, and Johan Raymundo Casal,
Photo by Alyssa Cortez “Burden of Proof Work In Progress 2025 Performance”
Johan Raymundo Casal as “DC”
Photo by Alyssa Cortez “Burden of Proof Work In Progress 2025 Performance”
Jenelle Gaerlan as “Lin Lin”
Photo by Alyssa Cortez “Burden of Proof Work In Progress 2025 Performance”
Jess De Franco as “The Kapre”
Photo by Alyssa Cortez “Burden of Proof Work In Progress 2025 Performance”
Photo by Alyssa Cortez “Burden of Proof Work In Progress 2025 Performance”
Photo by Alyssa Cortez “Burden of Proof Work In Progress 2025 Performance”
Photo by Alyssa Cortez “Burden of Proof Work In Progress 2025 Performance”
Photo by Alyssa Cortez “Burden of Proof Work In Progress 2025 Performance”
Photo by Alyssa Cortez “Burden of Proof Work In Progress 2025 Performance”
KULARTS presents the latest project by “Manai” Alleluia Panis, the world premiere performance for Burden of Proof.
Inspired by the true story of Pilipina nurses Leonora Perez and Filipina Narciso, who were wrongfully convicted and incarcerated for the 1975 deaths of patients at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan, until a judge ordered their release due to the prosecutor’s “overwhelming prejudice.”
Burden of Proof delves into the generational trauma inflicted by the American justice system and how traumatic experiences blur the line between memory and nightmare, told through the lens of the fictional Calinao immigrant family. Original sound score features text drawn from the diary of Leonora Magabo Perez and the writings of her son, Jason Magabo Perez, 2024 San Diego Poet Laureate.
This production is created with funding from the San Francisco Arts Commission, Map Fund, Zellerbach Family Foundation, New England Foundation for the Arts, Phyllis C. Wattis Foundation, California Arts Council, and SF Grants for the Arts.
Building the Burden of Proof
𝘌𝘱𝘪𝘴𝘰𝘥𝘦 1 “𝘊𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘯 𝘛𝘪𝘯𝘰𝘭𝘢”
In January 2025, Alleluia Panis, along with dance artist Jenelle Gaerlan, Jess DeFranco, Johan Casal, and KULARTS managing director Hana Sun Lee, spent a week in Hawaii to begin the narrative and movement exploration process for Burden of Proof. Experience a glimpse of the first night as the team learned more about the history of the project, all while cooking Chicken Tinola for the first dinner of the retreat.
Director, Editor, and Director of Photography: Johan Raymundo Casal
Camera Operator: Hana Sun Lee
Building the Burden of Proof
𝘌𝘱𝘪𝘴𝘰𝘥𝘦 2 “𝘉𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘋𝘢𝘺”
In January 2025, Alleluia Panis, along with dance artist Jenelle Gaerlan, Jess DeFranco, Johan Casal, and KULARTS managing director Hana Sun Lee, spent a week in Hawaii to begin the narrative and movement exploration process for Burden of Proof. Experience the movement develop and unfold as they convene and converse on the island of Oahu.
Director, Editor, and Director of Photography: Johan Raymundo Casal
Camera Operator: Hana Sun Lee
Building the Burden of Proof
𝘌𝘱𝘪𝘴𝘰𝘥𝘦 3 “𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘒𝘢𝘱𝘳𝘦”
The Kapre is a deity of the Tagalog people, a protector of the forest usually portrayed as a tobacco smoking trickster.
Explore how Burden of Proof offers a new perspective on a classic Tagalog myth and utilize it as an embodiment of culture to empower to ones spirit.
Director, Editor, and Director of Photography: Johan Raymundo Casal
Camera Operator: Hana Sun Lee
ALLELUIA PANIS
DIRECTOR & CHOREOGRAPHER
Alleluia Panis, Artistic & Executive Director, is the driving force behind KULARTS and respected elder artist in the US and the Philippines. She has created 20 full-length dance theater works since 1985. She was awarded the prestigious 2017 SFAC Artist Legacy, 2019-20 Gerbode Special Artist Award, 2019-2020 Dance USA Artist Fellow, and 2020 Hewlett 50 Arts Commission.
RAF SALAZAR
ILLUSTRATOR
Rafael ‘Raf"‘ Salazar (@rafsalazart) is a Bay Area artist, who by day focuses his talents in illustration and design, and by night perched on rooftops as this city’s ally of justice. Taking his passion for comics he decided to get off the sidelines and started making his own. Alongside his brother they started their webcomic ReGrBl back in 2009. He has since joined up with like-minded individuals to form In Hiatus Studios to continue to create comics.
JASON MAGOBO PEREZ, PHD
POET LAUREATE
Jason Magabo Perez is a writer, performer, and teacher. Perez is the author of the hybrid collection of poetry and prose This is for the mostless (WordTech Editions, 2017). Perez serves as Assistant Professor of Ethnic Studies at CSU Marcos and is the current AIR at the Center for Art + Thought and Arts Fellow at Bulosan Center.
LADISLAO ‘JUNE’ ARELLANO
COSTUME DESIGNER
Ladislao ‘June’ Arellano was born in Bataan, Philippines. He trained at the Philippine Women’s University and New York’s Broadway Dance School. He is a lead dancer in Parangal Dance Company since 2008 and performed in works by Alleluia Panis and Sydney Loyola.
WILFRED GALILA
TECHNICAL DIRECTOR & MEDIA ARTIST
Wilfred Galila is a multimedia artist and writer who lives and runs trails in the San Francisco Bay Area. His films were screened at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival and the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco and his art installations were exhibited at several venues in San Francisco. He is a 2018 nominee for the Isadora Duncan Dance Award for Outstanding Achievement in Visual Design for the KULARTS production, Incarcerated 6×9.
HANA SUN LEE
PRODUCTION MANAGER
Hana Sun Lee is an arts organizer and administrator based in San Francisco/Bay Area. She is currently serving as the Managing Director at KULARTS. She has over 8 years of experience in multidisciplinary arts programming, administration, and project management. Prior to KULARTS, she was at the de Young Museum/Legion of Honor and Luggage Store Gallery in San Francisco.
JOSHUA ICBAN
COMPOSER
Joshua Icban is a musician, sound designer, and composer based in Vallejo, CA, and worked with prestigious talents and organizations such as Grammy winner Fantastic Negrito, KULARTS under the direction of Alleluia Panis, Oakland Hip Hop Collective Grand Nationxl and The SF Symphony orchestra with Michael Tilson Thomas.
JOHAN RAYMUNDO
CASAL
REHEARSAL DIRECTOR &
SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER
Johan Raymundo Casal currently serves as the Program Coordinator of KULARTS. In addition to being a dance artist, he also serves as director and editor of the “Building: Burden of Proof” behind-the-scenes video series.
DRE ‘POKO’ DEVIS
Dre ‘Poko’ Devis is a multidisciplinary movement artist of boholano and ilokano lineage, hailing from daly city. their movement draws from gymnastics, muay thai, house dance, hip hop, vogue, and pilipinx folkloric forms, channeling ancestral memory and embodied storytelling through rhythm, ritual and dance.
JESS DEFRANCO
Jess DeFranco grew up in the Bay Area and is a San Francisco based dancer. After receiving her Bachelor of Arts in Dance and Asian American Studies from San Francisco State University, she began working as a freelance performing artist and dance educator. Her first collaboration with KULARTS was in 2022 and 2023 with “Nursing these Wounds”, followed by the “AntingAnting Project” and presenting her choreography in “Queering Pilipinx Aesthetics” in 2024.
JOHAN RAYMUNDO
CASAL
Johan Raymundo Casal is a multidisciplinary artist, performing internationally across the Philippines, New York, and California. He has performed in Netflix’s The Queen’s Ball: A Bridgerton Live Experience in San Francisco, Cats at Berkeley Playhouse, Peter Pan Panto in the Presidio and has danced with Alleluia Panis Dance Theatre of KULARTS, Joe Goode Performance Group, and Megan Lowe Dances. Through his production company, Kuya Johan Productions, his independent films have screened at festivals across California, and has choreographed and directed concert dance works and musical workshops.
FRANCIS “SENSES” AQUINO
Francis Eric Cabrera Aquino (he/they) is a Filipino multidisciplinary artist in the bay area who specializes in storytelling through dance, heavily influenced by the art of Krump, Contemporary, popping, and Animation. He strives to be a voice for his ancestors who didn’t really have a chance to speak up and express their human experience in a healthy way. Through their Gender Fluidity, Francis sees dance as a way to grasp the meaning of human experience.
GENEVIE DELA CRUZ
Genevie Dela Cruz (she/her) is a San Diego-born, San Francisco-based dance artist, choreographer, and arts administrator who has performed with MPWRD Collective, KULARTS, and various Bay Area choreographers. She holds degrees in Dance Performance and Kinesiology (Exercise and Movement Science) from San Francisco State University, which influence her approach to movement and the body-mind connection.
JENELLE GAERLAN
Jenelle Gaerlan (she/they) is a Filipinx-American dancer, teaching artist, and choreographer based in San Francisco by way of Portland, Oregon. This is their third season dancing with Alleluia Panis Dance Theater, with a perspective informed by her deep study of Jazz, Classical Concert Dance, American Vernacular Street Dance styles, and Filipino Folk and Indigenous Tribal Dances. Jenelle has also performed works by DarVejon Jones, BodyVox Dance Company, Robert Moses, Nicole Klaymoon, the San Francisco Symphony, and Emmy Award-winning choreographer Natasha Adorlee. Jenelle currently serves as the Co-Artistic Director of ODC Seeds Dance Company and has recently done work for Ailey Arts In Education & Community Programs as an AileyCamp instructor at UC Berkeley.
ROSIKA DATER-MERTON
Rosika Dater-Merton is a dancer, teaching artist, and arts administrator. She grew up on the east coast studying classical ballet and then attended the LINES/Dominican University BFA program. She's grateful to be a part of the Bay Area dance community and has had the opportunity to work with companies such as Kambara+, eMotion Arts, Joe Landini Dance, Piñata Dance Collective, A Pulso Dance Project and others. She currently teaches for the LINES Community Program, Berkeley Ballet School, and the ODC School. Rosika is excited to dance with KULARTS and be a part of this project!
MARC CUNANAN CHAPPELLE
Marc Cunanan Chappelle is a performer and choreographer who cultivates versatility across contemporary, hip-hop, house, Filipino, South Asian, and West African idioms, treating the body as a site of knowing, resistance, and connection. Marc is a company artist with PUSH Dance Company, Duniya Dance & Drum, and Embodiment Project. He recently debuted his pieces “Loretta” at Dance Mission Theater and “Exequel” at SAFEhouse Arts. Credits: AASC’s Cinderella, KULARTS’ “Lakbai Diwa,” SFBATCO’s I, Too, Sing America, and Sign My Name To Freedom, and works by Amy Lewis, amara tabor-smith, and Ronnie Reddick. He graduated from Stanford University.
JONATHAN M. MERCADO
Jonathan Michael Mercado is an interdisciplinary Filipino-American artist in the Bay Area. His movement is inspired through his experiences of hip-hop/urban choreography and Filipino folk dancing. He currently dances with KULARTS under director Alleluia Panis and Parangal Dance Company under director Eric Solano.
FRANCIS ANTHONY CAILLES
Francis Anthony Cailles is a San Francisco Bay Area native that has grown into dance artistry as a movement across life. He first approached his movement practice as a scientist/athlete before embarking on this more holistic journey in understanding the body as artistic medium and created a deeper spiritual practice meditating on the social implications of dance. This practice became a healing modality in Francis’s life leading with the mantra, “life is a dance.”
ATTENDEE GUIDELINES
The box office and doors will open 30 minutes before showtime.
The performance will begin promptly at 7:00 PM. Seating is first come, first served, so we recommend arriving 15–30 minutes early to ensure you have time to find your seat.
The show runs approximately 75 minutes with no intermission.
The performance will begin outdoors, where you’ll be briefly guided through the space before moving indoors for the remainder of the show. Participation in the outdoor portion is optional—you may choose to remain inside.
Face masks are not required, but are encouraged if you are recovering from illness or are immunocompromised.
Food and beverages are not allowed inside the theater, with the exception of water bottles.
BOX OFFICE TICKET SALES
Tickets may be purchased at the door, pending availability, for an additional $5 plus order and transaction fees (fees waived for cash payments).
WAITLIST POLICY
If the event is sold out, you may join the waitlist in person at the box office. If a ticket holder does not arrive, you may have the opportunity to purchase a ticket. Please note that joining the waitlist does not guarantee a seat, and tickets will be released based on availability and order of sign-up.
MOBILITY & WHEELCHAIR ACCESS
Bindlestiff Studio is wheelchair accessible, including for those using wheeled mobility devices. Designated seating areas for audience members using wheelchairs are available and clearly marked. To reserve a spot or request additional support, please contact us at program@kularts-sf.org.
REFUND AND EXCHANGE POLICY
We are able to offer ticket refunds (minus handling fees) for medical emergencies or COVID-related concerns, provided the request is made at least 24 hours before showtime. For all other situations, tickets are non-refundable, but can be converted into a donation to KULARTS. Ticket exchanges may be possible depending on availability, with a $5.00 exchange fee per ticket.
For assistance, please contact us at program@kularts-sf.org.
THEATER LOCATION
Bindlestiff Studio
185 6th Street San Francisco, CA 94103
PARKING
Fifth & Mission / Yerba Buena Parking Garage - The theater is a seven minute walk from the garage.
970 Howard Street Parking - The theater is a two minute walk from the parking lot.
Street parking on Howard St. and/or 6th St.
PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION (Recommended)
BART — The theater is a ten to eleven minute walk from the Powell BART Station and/or Civic Center BART Station.
MUNI — Bus lines 14 Mission, 12 Folsom, 27 Bryant all pass within 1-2 blocks of the theater.
RESTROOMS
ADA-compliant restrooms are available onsite. We encourage attendees to use the facilities before the performance begins.
