Maribeth Manalaysay Tabanera

Founder of Kilusan Productions

Maribeth Manalaysay Tabanera, MEd aka Kilusan (siya/sanda/they/she) is a Tagalog Bisaya Filipinx queer non-binary multi-disciplinary artist, educator, and community organizer. Kilusan is a chosen Tagalog name that means movement of an individual and/or group. A child of Filipino immigrants, born, raised, and based in Winnipeg on Treaty 1 Territory. Maribeth has been a full-time public school educator and artist facilitator for over a decade. They have presented their work as an educator, dancer, and DJ at events all over Turtle Island.

A dancer for over 25 years, Maribeth’s training background includes breaking, hip hop, house, voguing, waacking, dancehall and afro beats. Maribeth has danced with Magdaragat Inc (1996-2001), Define Movement (2006-2013), Project Dance Company (2015), and B.O.S.S. Dance Team (2016-2020). Since 2018, Kilusan has DJed alongside artists such as Cupcakke, Kimmortal, Begonia, Skratch Bastid, and DJ Maseo of De La Soul.

In 2022, Maribeth was chosen as Canadian Alliance of Dance Artists/West Chapter – BIPOC Dance Resident, and was a recipient of the Manitoba Arts Council Support Arts Leaders Grant. Some of Maribeth’s most notable projects include presenting ‘Into Our World’ at Art Holm no 8 (2023) in Winnipeg and producing a video for CBC Manitoba’s Creators Network “Unlocked” series. In November 2023, Maribeth became a published author, contributing “Pagpapasok sa sarili ko/Coming Into Myself” to Magdaragat: An Anthology of Filipino-Canadian Writing published by Cormorant Books.