Dance is a discipline that stays with you for life—and dance opens up a world of culture to those who engage in it, and those who watch dance performances.
Suzie Moya Benitez sat down with Tony & Nick to talk about dance and how it expresses one’s culture and prepares one for life. Benitez is the associate vice president of the Philippine Women’s University (PWU) and the executive director of the Bayanihan Folk Arts Foundation—better known to the public as the Bayanihan dance troupe. She is also the project director of the Fiesta & Choreography competition and chairman for Asia of the Federation for International Dance Festivals (FIDAF).
The Bayanihan dancers have long been hailed as the national dance company of the Philippines, and with good reason: Their performances are full of disciplined grace and choreography innovations that simply steal one’s breath away. The dance troupe has also done solid work as the Philippines’ cultural ambassadors, traveling around the world to bring our country’s many folk dances to appreciative audiences who otherwise would not see these performances live and in person.
“Dance exposes you to discipline and culture simultaneously,” Benitez said in an interview at the Bayanihan Folk Arts Foundation’s offices in PWU along Manila’s storied Taft Avenue. “I was a college student when I joined the Bayanihan troupe and I learned how to balance my studies with rehearsals and performances. I learned professionalism through dance.”
Benitez herself danced with the storied Bayanihan troupe, and her memories of this part of her life are within reach as the interview unfolds: Beside us is a small room where costumes, props and gifts given to the Bayanihan troupe sit, each with their own fascinating story.
One particular object in Benitez’s small museum of Bayanihan memorabilia is a chair given to the troupe by a Mindanao datu, a chair he loved sitting in. Another is a piece of carved wood from the roof of a traditional Mindanao house, also given to the Bayanihan by a datu. These items, she said, “were given to us because they appreciated the dances we brought to them.”
In a country of diverse multiple cultures, the possibilities for sharing dances across the islands is endless. Yet the Bayanihan dancers are not limited by the archipelago’s borders. They also bring our folk dances overseas, and welcome dance troupes from other countries here with the signature Philippine smile and warmth—they do this with the Fiesta Folkoriada celebration.
The Bayanihan’s Fiesta Folkloriada has just finished its 13th annual performance from Dec. 16-21 and, as Benitez said in the interview, it brings “culture and education together through music and dances.” This fiesta according to her “is Bayanihan’s contribution to strengthening peace and respect for other nations’ customs and traditions, thereby encouraging unity in diversity.”
This project of the Bayanihan Folk Arts Foundation “was initially called Lawiswis and presented mainly in the City of Manila, hosted by then Mayor Lito Atienza.”
It began as an event hosting the 10 top dance companies to seek inclusion in the festival from all over the world, bringing these dance troupes’ unique cultural traditions onstage in a grand finale with the Bayanihan. Now it is a full-grown festival that fosters cultural exchanges among its participants, as well as the audiences they wow.
In 2008, Fiesta Folkoriada was “fully supported” by the Department of Tourism under then Tourism Secretary Ace Durano, as well as the Ambassador Alfonso T. Yuchengco Foundation, the Bayanihan Folk Arts Foundation, several universities, public and private organizations and the Bayanihan’s local government partners. That year, the festival was renamed Fiesta Folkloriada. “Bayanihan successfully brought together five top dance companies from around the globe to continue sharing their culture and unique traditional art with the Philippine audience,” Benitez said. “Fiesta is held every December of each year in various settings or destinations and it culminates in a grand finale at the Cultural Center of the Philippines.”
The cultural exchanges have enriched the Bayanihan troupe’s own choreography, Benitez said. “This ongoing culture exchange/public relations program is now under the auspices of the FIDAF, thereby giving it a significant presence in the world market, as top international groups vie to come to the Philippines one year before the event.”
“Selected for the strength of their track records in the international scene and done on a first-come first-served basis, the visiting groups willingly perform, teach and share their performances for free in all performance venues,” she said. “Bayanihan has received repeat visits from the foreign groups. This is a wonderful signal of the satisfaction they derive from the Philippine visit and the enjoyment they take in their cultural exchanges and sharing new ideas with us.”
This year, dance companies from Korea, Poland, Indonesia and Mexico participated in the one week dance fiesta—groups that will regale local and foreign guests in the days leading to Christmas. The official opening was hosted by the PWU as part of its centennial year celebration on December 17.
The grand finale featured these troupes in a back-to-back performance with the Bayanihan at the main theater of the Cultural Center of the Philippines.
“Dance is a wonderful way of sharing our culture, of partaking in other cultures,” Benitez said. “It fosters discipline and broadens your horizons to include other cultures.”