THE GROUP is one of the cultural arms of the Philippine Normal University established in 1986 by the former Chair of the P.E. Department, Dr. Virginia D. Oyco and was privileged to travel to LIBYA upon the invitation of the then Senator Santanina Rasul in cooperation with the Department of Foreign Affairs.
In 1993, the group was formally transferred to the leadership of Dr. Larry A. Gabao with a new name called PNU Kislap Sining Dance Troupe. The group’s dance repertoire was further enhanced through Dr. Gabao’s researches and folk dance studies as applied into the dance troupe. The group was invited to perform in Singapore during the “Fiesta Filipina” a joint program of the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Filipino Overseas Association of Singapore in 1994.
From then on the group has been performing all over the country and also to the foreign guests of the visiting International Shipping Lines docked at the South Harbor in Manila occasionally. The group’s capability to perform is recognized with praise and appreciation as evidenced by awards given by various institutions such as the Commission on Higher Education, National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), the Department of Education, the Civil Service Commission and others
During the Centennial Celebration of Philippine Independence the dance troupe remarkably participated in the opening of the national grand parade and also made an offering to the nation’s celebration in staging a production at PNU entitled “Akbay Linang”. A total theater show collaboratively joined by all performing groups of the University systems campuses in Isabela, Quezon, Cadiz City and Agusan del Sur.
The group is a participant in the university theater ensemble dubbed “Sa Mahal Kong Bayan” and performed in the United States of America in 1998. No less than the Cultural Center of the Philippines has given the group due recognition during several Pang-alay Folk Dance Festivals later dubbed as “Sari-Saring Galaw: Sari-Saring Sayaw” held at the CCP Main Theater every year and the CCP’s Thirty years (30) Anniversary Presentation in 1999 and the 2002 Arts Month Opening Celebration. In October 2002 the group performed for the NCCA and the Department of Tourism joint project at Intramuros Concert at the Walls.
The PNUKSDT represented the National Capital Region in the 1 st and 2 nd PASUC Cultural Festival and Contest and won First Prize in the folk dance category held at Cebu City and Iloilo City in June 2002 and July 2004, respectively. In celebration of the 2003 National Arts Month, the NCCA Dance Committee’s flagship project was the “Bahagharing Sayaw” (Dance Festival) where the group participated in with among ten other leading dance companies of the country at the CCP Front Lawn on February 9, 2003 and also, the CCP's celebration of “Sari-Saring Galaw, Sama Samang Sayaw” at the Main Theatre on February 14, 2003.
In 2004 Sayaw Pinoy of the NCCA Dance Committee Project for the National Arts Month, PNUKSDT proudly displayed the folk dance traditions to the people of Mandaluyong in Edsa Shangri-La Mall, the people of Pasig, Muñoz, Nueva Ecija and in Cebu City.
The National Commission for Culture and the Arts National Dance Committee invited the group to participate in the International Dance Day Celebration in Koronadal South Cotabato in April 2005 and also was commissioned to perform in the 2005 Philippine Independence Day Celebration at Quirino Grandstand on June 12, 2005.
The group’s active participation in the campaign for folk dance dissemination and preservation exhibit the mission of the dance group in molding the future teachers graduating at PNU equipped with the Filipino values and cultural traditions in the folk dances.