About Novy Bereber

01 Beginnings Iloilo, and the road to the national company

Bereber began dancing in his mid-teens with the Dagyaw Theatre Dance Company in Iloilo, under its founder Edwin Duero, and moved to Manila to work. He was trained there by Osias Barroso of Ballet Manila, and in 2000 joined Ballet Philippines — the national company, resident at the Cultural Center of the Philippines — where he danced as a soloist and taught on the faculty of the CCP Dance School.

In 2004 he began making work for the company and left it to choreograph freelance. The next year he created the first Opening and Closing Ceremonies of Cinemalaya, the Philippine independent film festival. He has kept making work for the national company since — among it Inamorata in 2011, and the piece he is still best known for, To Whom It May Concern, nominated for Outstanding Choreography at the third Gawad Buhay awards in 2010.

Asked in 2010 who had shaped him most, he named the choreographer Agnes Locsin.

“As a choreographer, she was the one who made the strongest impression in my life.”

To Boy Abunda, the Philippine Star, 2010

Every work, year by year

03 Australia Sydney

Bereber moved to Australia in 2011 and was invited straight into the Sydney Mardi Gras: his Black Swan Apotheosis was chosen to close the Southern Hemisphere’s largest community event. That same year he won a scholarship to the International Physical Theatre Laboratory (IUGTE, Austria) to work with the Russian director Sergei Ostrenko.

He danced in Opera Australia and John Frost’s The King and I through 2014 — QPAC, the Princess Theatre, and the Joan Sutherland Theatre at the Sydney Opera House — and returned to Mardi Gras in 2015 for both the opening segment of the Parade and its Taylor Square finale.

In 2016 he choreographed Laser-Dragon Water-Theatre for the Darling Harbour precinct of Vivid Sydney — dancers projected across four water screens — which was nominated for Best Live Animation and Special Effects. He was head choreographer of Taronga Zoo’s centenary parade the same year, and taught modern dance and ballet for Sydney Dance Company.

In 2019 he choreographed Noli Me Tangere, the new musical drawn from the magnum opus of the Philippine national hero José Rizal, for its premiere season at the Riverside Theatres in Parramatta.

The King and I, in the press

05 Design #StilettoNB, the art-shoe

“The frantic claquetty-racket of heels against polished mahogany” is how Bereber describes his first memory, brought up by five aunts and a grandmother in Iloilo. The shoes became a body of work: with Ignatius Jones he ran the Stiletto Parties in Surry Hills — no stilettos, no entry — and out of them came the art-shoe.

He took a Certificate IV in Fashion Design at FBI Fashion College in Sydney, and in February 2019, on a commission from Mardi Gras, showed Stiletto NB as an installation and performance at the Art Gallery of New South Wales for Queer Art After Hours. He exhibited it again that November at the Courtyard by Marriott in Iloilo City.

See the shoes

08 The record Selected milestones

• 2000Ballet PhilippinesJoins the national company as a full scholar; dances as a soloist and teaches at the CCP Dance School
• 2004First choreography for Ballet PhilippinesLeaves the company to work freelance
• 2005CinemalayaCreates the film festival’s first Opening and Closing Ceremonies
• 2006Doha Asian GamesPerforms in the Opening and Closing Ceremonies
• 2010Vancouver Olympic Winter GamesFeatured dancer in the Opening Ceremony — the first Filipino to perform at a Winter Olympics
• Shanghai World ExpoConsultant Observer, Opening Ceremony
• ‘Pulpo’ and ‘To Whom It May Concern’Grand Prize, National Music Competition for Young Artists; nominated for Outstanding Choreography, 3rd Gawad Buhay Awards
• 2011Moves to Sydney‘Black Swan Apotheosis’ closes the Sydney Mardi Gras; wins a scholarship to the International Physical Theatre Laboratory (IUGTE, Austria)
• 2014The King and IOpera Australia and John Frost — QPAC, the Princess Theatre and the Sydney Opera House
• 2015Sydney Mardi GrasOpening segment of the Parade and the Taylor Square finale march
• 2016Vivid SydneyLaser-Dragon Water-Theatre, Darling Harbour — nominated for Best Live Animation and Special Effects
• Taronga Zoo centenary paradeHead choreographer, ‘The 100 Years’
• Young Filipino Artist of the YearFilipino Communities Council of Australia (FILCCA)
• Dance Manila Festival‘To Whom It May Concern’ opens the inaugural DANCE.MNL
• 2017‘Fugue’World premiere, Neo-Filipino, Cultural Center of the Philippines
• Outstanding Achievement as a Performing ArtistFACCES
• 2019#StilettoNBArt Gallery of New South Wales, Queer Art After Hours, February
• Noli Me TangereChoreographer, the new musical after José Rizal — Riverside Theatres, Parramatta
• Sinag: Festival of RadianceOne hundred dancers for the CCP’s 50th anniversary, September
• CinderellaGuest artist with Ballet Philippines, as the Widow Brunhilda, December
• 2020Hala Bira BaileChoreographer and creative director, Dinagyang Arts Festival, Iloilo City
• 2025Filipino Communities Council of AustraliaFILCCA Awardee, presented 10 October 2025
• 2026Manila International Performing Arts MarketIloilo Bereber Dance Company at the Cultural Center of the Philippines, with an early preview of LUBID
• Lubid: Untangling Misconceptions and Resilience in Parkinson’s DiseaseWorld premiere — director and choreographer, Rose Memorial Hall, Iloilo City, 11 November
• 2027AFC Asian Cup Saudi ArabiaStage Director — the continental championship, 7 January to 5 February 2027

Full choreography creditsAwards & certificates