Ramon Obusan
Filipino artist (1938–2006)

Ramon Arevalo Obusan (June 16, 1938 – December 21, 2006) was a Filipino dancer, choreographer, stage designer and artistic director. Obusan is credited for his work in promoting Philippine traditional dance and cultural work. He is also an acclaimed archivist, researcher and documentary filmmaker who focused on Philippine culture. He also founded Ramon Obusan Folkloric Group in 1972. Among the awards Obusan received was the Patnubay ng Kalinangan award by the City of Manila in 1992, the Gawad CCP Para sa Sining award in 1993 and the prestigious National Artist of the Philippines for dance in May 2006.
Works
Among Obusan's notable works are the following:
Vamos a Belen! Series (1998-2004) Philippine Dances Tradition
Noon Po sa Amin, tableaux of Philippine History in song, drama and dance
Obra Maestra, a collection of Ramon Obusan's dance masterpieces
Unpublished Dances of the Philippines, Series I-IV
Water, Fire and Life, Philippine Dances and Music--A Celebration of Life
Saludo sa Sentenyal
Glimpses of ASEAN, Dances and Music of the ASEAN-Member Countries
MJ (Ramon Obusan Folkloric Group): Philippines Costumes in Dance
Death
Obusan died on December 21, 2006, due to cardio-pulmonary arrest at the Makati Medical Center. Up to the time of his death, the annual Christmas program Vamos A Blen at the Cultural Center of the Philippines was at his oversight. Obusan was also preparing for the cultural presentation to be made during the state dinner for the 2007 ASEAN Summit to be hosted by then President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Ramon Obusan” is filipino artist (1938–2006). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Ramon, Obusan and Filipino, not as a finished interpretation.
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The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 13, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1996915. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1938, 2006, 1972 and 1992.
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This entry incorporates text from “Ramon Obusan” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.