Careers come and go. It is how one makes or breaks it.
As a prelude to
the forthcoming silver linings of her career in the arts next year,
multi-talented artist Banaue Miclat-Janssen has been connecting her heart, mind
and soul into a wholistic process as part of her time capsule in order to
become a much more meaningful artist.
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| as Ms. Julia for Dulaang UP's Laboratoryo |
Having worked
with many co-artists over the past two decades in Manila and New York, Banaue
has been praised for her openness to communicate thoughts, views and ideas by explaining
the purposes of her goals. With her high level of intelligence, excellent
memory, charming mannerisms, sensitivity, innovativeness, imaginativeness and
loving temperament, Banaue’s career will surely fall properly into its place spelling
more successes in the near future.
But even while
others seem to have perceived Banaue for keeping a low profile in her career
path, she has actually a very keen interest in its advancement. Quiet
competence and consistency, that’s what she adheres to. In fact, Banaue’s closest circle of friends swear by
her skills on time management. She combines her duties as a wife, mother,
teacher and actor in many thousand ways.
Banaue is a pure
Filipino born in Beijing, China. She credits her heritage to make her heir to a
unique tradition that provides intensity to her craft as an artist. The high
sense of cultural awareness in China, with its constant drilling in the
importance of fundamentals, and a history that goes back thousands of years,
opened her senses to the ancient world of the arts. Enriching this is her claim
to the Filipino culture—molded and shaped by years of colonialism, of cultural
diversity, of political ruptures, and a resilience and steadfastness of spirit.
It is this Filipino spirit that empowers her with the creativity that compels
her to be immediate and unburdened as an artist.
Banaue’s first
stage performance was as a nine year old ballet dancer in Collezioné
’89, a recital with Philippine National Artist for Dance, Leonor
Orosa-Goquingco’s “Ben-Lor Ballet”. She was introduced to the Asian
performing arts of dance, song, and spoken word through the Philippine
Educational Theater Association’s workshop production of Ramayana/Radiya
Mangandiri in 1992. That, at twelve years of age, was when Banaue
decided she wants to live the life of a performance artist.
Banaue went on to
obtain a B.A. in Theater Arts under the tutelage of Professor Emeritus, Tony
Mabesa, at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, and a Master of Fine
Arts in Acting (MFA in Acting, a terminal degree) at the Brooklyn College of
the City University of New York (Brooklyn College-CUNY). She is currently an
Assistant Professor at the Department of Speech Communication and Theatre Arts,
College of Arts and Letters in UP Diliman.
As a professional
performer, Banaue has won an Aliw Award for Best Performance for a New Concept
Production for “Ginugunita Kita” in 2015, a Best Actress Award for the
Metropolitan Opera Getty Awards for Supernumeraries for “Salome” in 2009, and a
Best Actress citation for NYU’s First Run Film Festival for Clarissa de los
Reyes’ “Giving Care.” Banaue has released “Ginugunita Kita,” the album with
Jesse Lucas on iTunes and Spotify.
She has also done
plays in various languages—English, Filipino, Spanish, Japanese, and some
Filipino dialects. She has performed in different countries including Germany,
Japan, and has done performances off-Broadway and at the acclaimed Metropolitan
Opera, Lincoln Center in New York. Some of the films she has acted in have been
shown in international film festivals in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles,
Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, Japan, Korea, France, Italy, the Netherlands,
Canada, and many more.
As a director,
Banaue has worked with UP’s Dulaang Laboratoryo, Musical Theater Philippines,
and most recently, for the first Fringe Manila in 2015, Joshua Lim So’s Palanca
Award winning play, “Tungkol kay Angela” under Destiyero Theater Commune.
Lastly, Banaue
loves to share the most precious bonding moments of time with husband Dom and four-year
old son Raj.
A Cancer-born
lady, Banaue sits alongside the likes of legendary and famous personalities
namely Ernest Hemingway, Marshall McLuhan, Princess Diana, Meryll Streep, Robin
Williams, Frida Kahlo, Carly Simon, Estee Lauder, Barbra Cartland, Cat Stevens,
Cyndi Lauper, and Malala Yousafai.
In 2017, as
Banaue’s silver lining salvo continues, she will be honored to share the
cultural diversity of her career path with many more
surprises.
Congratulations Banaue
!!!!!
Pet Week is not
complete without a celebration of man’s best friend. Which breed was JFK Junior’s best friend?
Which spaniel is known for clearing counters? Which herding dog climbs on the
backs of sheep? Which is the only breed native to Argentina? Find out the
answers on this episode of 
Besides being the
furriest, without a doubt, pets are also the cutest members of the family. See
all these adorable creatures in
