‘Sayaw Pinoy’ wows audiences in Luzon, Visayas
The flagship project of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) is “Sayaw Pinoy,” a youth-propelled cavalcade of dance—folk, modern, contemporary rap, and classical—heightened by appropriate music. This year, the performances were held in San Juan in Batangas, Lucena in Quezon province, and Kalibo and Caticlan both in Aklan.
The participating dance companies were mostly school-based, with a professional company here and there. Most of the time you couldn’t tell the difference, because the impact on the student audiences (especially in the Aklan leg) was tremendous. The companies have performed in their local communities and also in Manila and even abroad, adding to their exposure to different cultures. The venues for the recent tour were sports centers and gymnasiums.
Participating schools
Guest companies came from University of Santo Tomas (UST) and University of the East (UE) in Manila, while classical (and also modern) ballet was represented by two dancers from Philippine Ballet Theatre, a resident company of the Cultural Center of the Philippines, in a pas de deux. From Malabon City in Metro Manila came the Tanghalang Bagong Sibol Theater Dance Collective.
There were so many names, but these included UST’s Salinggawi Dance Troupe, UE’s Silanganan Dance Troupe, SayawJuan San Juan Performing Arts Group, Halili-Cruz Dance Company, Sindaw Philippines Performing Arts Guild, JDC JITV Dance Company, Sonata Company of Dancers, Choreo’N Cream, Western Visayas State University’s (WSVU) Irong-Irong Dance Company, and Annie Divinagracia-Sartorio Dance Company.
There were some changes in the repertoire but the shows presented were basically the same in all four venues in Luzon and the Visayas.
Challenging performances
The dances covered a wide spectrum from rural to urban, from Christian to Muslim culture, and folk and traditional to modern and indigenous. There were comic, serious, Spanish-influenced, American-influenced, jazz, rap, gymnastics, and what-have-you. Often the choreographers offered challenges to the young performers.
Singkil requires strength, stamina, and timing from the boys, and great balance on the part of the girls. Salinggawi performed a curious novelty number, a threesome with two females fighting over a male, with the latter shoving the dancer he didn’t like, drawing gasps from the audience for the ungentlemanly move. The two lovers then exit, leaving the rejected female dancing alone, angry but triumphant.
The Sonata Company of Dancers came out with bravura dancing, which elicited shouts of approval from the students. “Spectacular,” exclaimed the program host. Their second number was wild and comic, with a woman and a flamboyant transgender in a blond wig fighting over a handsome man, who turned out to be gay!
Bravura dancing
A Mindanao-inspired all-male number showcased dancers with precise movements that vowed the audience, while another presentation dramatized the fervor of the Nazarene devotees, the males wearing black crosses.
Choreo’N Cream opened up with a rap all-male number, the performers dancing con brio, grimacing with the effort. It was very modern, very “in” and cool. The WSVU Irong-Irong Company presented another pas de deux, a tango with frenzied movements.
Tanghalang Bagong Sibol’s “Love Is in the Air” featured the whole ensemble, but attention was focused on two couples—a man and a woman, and a straight man and a gay character. Their leaps, twirls, somersaults, and provocative clinches almost brought the house down.
At the end of the final show at the Caticlan Civic Center, the audience, including neighborhood children, was persuaded to join the NCCA’s Unity Dance, which always ends these events. And then all who could, whether adults or children, clambered on the stage for one grand, final photo op.
Dance has always been one of the liveliest and loveliest of art forms, a key to self expression and, more importantly, to expressing the soul of a country.
