The Conservatory
Guam Conservatory of Arts is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to providing comprehensive performing arts training to the communities of Guam. Through tuition, fundraising efforts and grants, we aim to make professional-level training accessible to all who are dedicated to learning a classical art. Presently, we are concentrating our efforts on building out our ballet program. Developing our music and drama programs will follow.
Guam Conservatory of Arts is governed by its board of directors. It is the policy of the organization not to discriminate on the basis of race, creed, ancestry, marital status, gender, sexual orientation, age, physical disability, veteran’s status, political service or affiliation, color, religion, or national origin.
Public Documents & Disclosures: You may view our public organizing documents and disclosures by clicking HERE:
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
EUGENE BOB BORDALLO
President & Artistic Director
Eugene is a former professional dancer with the San Francisco Opera Ballet, Peninsula Ballet Theatre and San Francisco Dance Theater. He has taught various forms of dance throughout California and New York. He worked on the original New York City production of Hedwig & the Angry Inch and his work was featured on the David Letterman and Rosie O’Donnell shows, in magazine and in book form. Mr. Bordallo is also a musician who has composed, staged and directed two full-length musicals for churches in San Francisco. He is a current member of the International Dance Council (CID) and a former member of the American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA). Mr. Bordallo is overjoyed to return to the island of his youth and the homeland of his parents and ancestors.
REBECCA Z. GRUNZKE
Treasurer
Rebecca, an anthropologist and assistant professor of education at University of Guam, developed her appreciation of the arts while performing as a horn player in marching and jazz bands, wind ensembles, and orchestras. While serving as a dropout prevention teacher in the public school system, she earned both her M.Ed. in social foundations of education and her Ph.D. in anthropology at the University of Florida. Before moving to Guam in 2021, she was a parent performer and costume mistress for the Atlanta Festival Ballet Company and Gwinnett Ballet Theatre. Dr. Grunzke is married with three children: one, a visual artist with a B.A. in music; another, a talented guitarist and martial artist who attends UOG; and her youngest, a classically trained performing artist who teaches ballet at the Conservatory.
MICHAEL A. PANGELINAN
Secretary
Mike has been a business lawyer for 25 years but he's been involved in the performing arts all of his life. Growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area, Mike danced tap at an east bay dance studio and received extensive training on the saxophone from private instructors and summer music clinics. As a young adult, Mike won jazz competitions in California and Washington and played in Bay Area concerts with some jazz legends. He has a philosophy degree from U.C. Berkeley and a law degree from Loyola Law School. Mike moved back to Guam in 1995. He is now a partner in a law firm and regularly plays in Guam bands. He is married with two daughters. One is a dancer. The other is a drummer.
MARILYN A. MANIBUSAN
Director
Marilyn served as a senator in the Guam Legislature in the 17th through the 21st Guam Legislatures and was a member of the National Conference of State Legislators, American-Pacific Island Legislatures, and Asian-Pacific Parliamentarians Union.
As an indigenous activist who served in Guam’s Commission on Self-Determination for more than twelve years, Marilyn testified before the US Congress and the United Nations on Guam’s quest for decolonization. As an environmental activist, she spoke in protest against nuclear waste dumping in the Marianas Trench and against the transshipment of plutonium.
Marilyn is the oldest child of four born to the late Judge Joaquin V.E. Manibusan, Sr. and Alejandrina Atoigue Manibusan. Her father was an avid singer and musician. Marilyn, her siblings and her son are all musically talented. Marilyn’s son and grandaughter keep her young and fulfilled. Manibusan remains peaceful and hopeful, attributing her strength and love for service to her faith in God – volunteering at Kamalen Karidat Feed the Hungry Fundraisers, KOLG 90.9 FM Catholic Educational Radio, and other civic organizations. She currently is a business consultant.
JUDY NICHOLSON
Director
Judy began studying piano at age 6. She then took up a love for the cello and studied the instrument throughout her college years. Judy has enjoyed playing as part of ensembles and orchestras ever since. She is a freelance writer, an Oregon-certified substitute teacher and a music instructor. She is married to a traveling veterinarian and considers both Oregon and Guam her home.
Past Board Members
KRISTINA F.W. MANIBUSAN
Treasurer
Tina Manibusan is a teacher at CDR William C. McCool EMS, located on Naval Base Guam. She holds bachelor's degrees in Environmental Studies and Japanese and a master's degree in Early Childhood Education. She is a current Ph.D. candidate in Philosophy in Education, Educational Management. Tina is married and has three children, one who can do the splits.
MIA PEREZ
Director
Mia is an educator and a curriculum designer with a passion for working with children. She received her bachelor's in English from the University of Washington and her master's in Education from the University of California, Berkeley, where her program focused on teaching for social justice and integrating the arts. Mia worked as an educator in Seattle, Washington and Oakland, California. She was a part of the founding faculty for California's first public K-8 Mandarin Immersion Charter School and served in many roles including English Language Coordinator. Most recently, Mia worked as a curriculum designer for Education.com, a Bay Area-based website that provides learning resources for parents and teachers. Mia returned home to Guam in 2016 with her family. Through her work with the Conservatory, she is excited to reconnect and contribute to her island community.
ANDREW T. PEREZ
Director
Andrew was the Deputy Attorney General of the Child Support Enforcement Division of the Office of the Attorney General of Guam. He previously served as the Assistant Attorney General at the Guam Department of Education. Prior to his legal career, Andrew was a speech therapist with the Division of Special Education at the Guam Department of Education. He attended high school at Father Duenas Memorial School, graduated and majored in Speech and Hearing Sciences at the University of Washington, and obtained a Juris Doctorate at Western Michigan University – Thomas M. Cooley Law School. He is an admirer of the arts in all its forms. Moreover, he is an amateur artist interested in sketching and painting in modern and abstract styles and enjoys researching new techniques and applying them to his projects.
