BARRETTO ONG
On stage, Patricia has worked with a wide range of Bay Area companies and leaders in the field of dance and theater, including Alleluia Panis Dance Theater, Sean San José and Campo Santo, Kendra Kimbrough Dance Ensemble, Parangal Dance Company, Erika Shuch Performance Project, Malia Movement Company, Sydney Loyola Dance, and Musician/Composer, Rachel Lastimosa. Her recent credits include movement direction for The Travelers and Aztlán by Luis Alfaro, Richard II at Magic Theatre and as Choreographer and Dancer in collaboration with Sean San José and Rachel Lastimosa in the performance ritual, Dugo.
Patricia’s work honors ancestry, the environment and the intuitive intelligence of the body, while shaping spaces of liberation through embodied cultural practice. She creates and lives from this gratitude through the movement of her body. She carries this spirit collaboratively to create experiences that facilitate collective healing. By accessing her source, she is serving those who call on her to activate and channel this wisdom toward liberation and power.
Artist Statement
I am a lifelong movement artist uniquely informed by a rich life as a student, educator, birth keeper, bodyworker, and single mother. And, as an integral part of the Bay Area’s vital Pilipinx diaspora arts community, my passion lies in creating material and curating space for culturally relevant movement within theatrical plays, choreography pieces, and community workshops. I enjoy carrying a deep sense of curiosity in my projects by responding to the environment– the natural world and urban landscapes alike, the spectrum of human emotions, and real and imagined stories. In this way, I am guided by the creations of my ancestors and Pilipinx indigenous artists (past and present) whose movement practices include, but are not limited to, reflecting the elements and processes of nature, celebrating life transitions and gifts from the earth, and communicating with supernatural powers. I create bridges extending across the psychic oceans between motherland and current home, ancestors and descendants, and the world of spirits and the human experience.
The art I birth is an expression that heals psychic ruptures between our bodies and the land.
My mentors, community and collaborators have guided me in recovering ancestral movement as a source for healing myself.
At the crossroads of DANCE and BIRTH + BODY WORK, there is HEALING
I create and live from this gratitude through the movement of my body. I carry this spirit collaboratively to create experiences that facilitate collective healing.
By accessing my source, I'm serving those who call on me to activate and channel this wisdom toward liberation and power.
By accessing my source, I'm serving those who call on me to activate and channel this wisdom toward liberation and power.
My Practices
Dancer + Performer
Patricia Marie Barretto Ong is a lifelong dancer. A resident of the SF Bay since 1999, she arrived from UC Santa Cruz after earning a BA in Theater Arts with a dance and choreography emphasis.
She has worked locally with the Kendra Kimbrough Dance Ensemble, Alleluia Panis Dance Theater, Erika Shuch Performance Project, Malia Movement Company, Sydney Loyola Dance, Parangal Dance Company and collaborative projects with musician/composer Rachel Lastimosa, writer/actor/director Sean San Jose, and painter Cece Carpio.
Movement Director + Choreographer
As well as a dancer + perfomer, Patricia is a movement director + choreographer with a creative practice rooted in culture, healing and community. Her work spans through genres from dance theater, dance film, to theatrical plays. Most recently, she directed movement + choreography in Aztlán, a Campo Santo production at The Magic Theater, written by renowned playwright, Luis Alfaro, and directed by Kinan Valdez of Teatro Campesino.
Birthkeeper + Bodyworker
For the last 15 years, Patricia has cultivated a practice within birthkeeping and body work with an intention to care for the body, mind, and spirit of the whole person. Her intuitive approach allows her to faciltiate folks to tuning into their bodies. Offerings within body work include: Shiatsu, deep tissue, jin shin do, and cupping.
When it comes to Patricia’s approach to birthkeeping: she wants the experience to feel both empowering and nurturing. Her intention is to support the family through this new life transformation. She holds this sacred space from pre-natal to labor + birth to post-partum– supporting families navigating the many shifts to come.
Educator
With all these practices, Patricia is passionate about bringing these artforms into the communities she’s a part of. She is a collaborator in Agasan, a multi-disciplinary arts collective, making spaces for healing through creative expression in movement, sound and visual arts.
She is a co-founder of Sama Sama, a family cooperative that brings together the cultural resources of the Pilipinx and Pilipinx-American community of the Bay Area to create a fun, engaging, and creative space for our children to cultivate and understand their unique identity as Pilipinx-Americans.