Pasacat Philippine Performing Arts Company

Full disclosure: I am a current board member for this organization and have been for the last 3 of the 5 years I have been involved with them.
PASACAT has become my home away from home. The relationships that are built here feel more like extended family than just a stuffy dance studio. Opportunities are also afforded for participants to develop leadership, group and problem solving skills in addition to dance, music and vocal skills.
Most people learn about a culture through it’s culinary arts. National City has its fair share of Philippine cuisine. At PASACAT, that cultural awareness and understanding is expanded through Philippine performing arts.
I have learned more about the Philippine culture and history through PASACAT than I could have otherwise.

A vibrant, long-​established, nonprofit organization located within the diverse community of National City.
For the record, I was with the organization for a couple of years, but not have gone for quite some time. But from what I experienced, PASACAT has an extremely solid grounding in its mission of strengthening cultural education, and building bridges across different communities.
The nonprofit is a center where anyone young and old, from the public, can volunteer and join, and learn a variety of Philippine dances and live music (using traditional instruments.) However, be reminded that you’re not learning just for yourself, rather you are being prepared to perform/​promote the Philippine arts for/​to the public! This adds an interesting dimension to the organization, in that many of the traditional dances/​music have been fitted for performance theater. That means, for a purely volunteer-​based organization, the training can be very intense and long. They look for folks who are dedicated the community.
Again, they take their mission very seriously.
However, music and dance isn’t the only activity for PASACAT. The organization is such a respected institution such that their staff/​officers are involved in community development projects, partnering with another nonprofit organization called Jacobs Neighborhood Initiative. This puts many of PASACAT’s high school and college members in great exposure to some of San Diego’s very influential philanthropist, business leaders, and politicos. Yay for Networking!
I encourage anyone interested in getting involved in the community to try out PASACAT.