The Pasinaya Open House Festival of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) is still an effective platform in showcasing various cultures in the Philippines that have been made more beautiful and vibrant because of folk dances and music.
The colorful Mindanao culture again took center stage through dances like Pangalay and Kadal Tahu.
Commonly referred to as the fingernail dance, the Pangalay is a dance traditionally performed by the Tausug people during weddings and other festive celebrations.
It is characterized by hand movements that resemble the movement of ocean waves, enhanced by long, metal fingernails (janggay) worn by the dancers.
Dancers must have dexterity and flexibility of the shoulders, elbows, and wrists as the dance is performed to the music of the kulintangan, gandang, agong and gabang.
The hands are flexed at the wrists and fingers hyperflexed backward. The body is bent slightly at the hips and the knees and, viewed laterally, resembles the shape of the letter “S.”
Two men carry two bamboo poles on their shoulders with a solo female dancer keeping her balance on top of the two bamboo poles.
One amazing part of the show by the Tambuli Dance Troupe of Tawi Tawi was when the main female dancer gradually transferred from two horizontal bamboo poles to one pole that is in a vertical position.
With dancers wearing Malong and salakut (hat), the T’boli tribal dance Kadal Tahu mimics the hopping and flying behavior of the Tahaw bird to welcome a bountiful harvest during harvesting season.
Tagum City’s Kuntaw Mindanao is a group of music artists known for popularizing indigenous music through its songs that fuses the indigenous sounds with various musical genres. Through their music, the group hopes to share their advocacy of promoting awareness and protection of the indigenous peoples’ rights and culture, as well as environmental protection.
The Pangalay and Kadal Tahu movements were also incorporated in the choreography of the musical play Anak Datu, whose excerpts were shown during the People’s Gala.
It follows the historic lives and struggles of the Tausugs based on a short story for children by National Artist for Visual Arts Abdulmari Imao in 1968 in anticipation of the birth of his first son, Abdulmari Jr. (Toym) Imao.
It is a story about the son of a village chieftain in Muslim Mindanao during pre-colonial Philippines. Before the son was born, their village was raided by pirates. His mother gives birth under captivity. He grew up with the knowledge that his father was a former pirate from the land of the Tausug. When the old man dies, only then did the son learn of the truth about his real father.
The play is a collaboration of Chris Millado and Rody Vera that expands its narrative to two other timelines: the socio-political milieu of the Imao family; and the formation of the Muslim resistance in Mindanao, intertwined with incidents such as the Jabidah and Palimbang massacres.
The play is peppered with Toym’s artworks that showed the Japanese cartoon “Voltes V,” which is inseparable from the discussion on Martial Law and the Marcos regime.
In 1979, shortly before the series finale, Marcos issued a directive banning Voltes V and other similarly themed anime series due to concerns about “excessive violence.”
The directive also led to speculations at the time that the series was also taken off the air due to its revolutionary undertones.
“Pasinaya” means an inauguration or a grand opening of the many arts and cultural presentations offered by CCP.
Since 2004, Pasinaya also aims to provide a platform for artists and cultural groups from different fields such as music, theater, dance, spoken word, and visual arts. It seeks to showcase talents while nurturing the broadest public and creating new audiences through interactions and performances.
With the “experience-all-you-can, pay-what-you-can” scheme, the largest multi-arts festival in the country once again filled various venues of CCP such as the Front Lawn, Liwasang Kalikasan, Tanghalang Ignacio Gimenez and its surroundings, and the parade ground of Vicente Sotto Street.
The theaters inside the CCP were not used due to the closing of the iconic 53-year-old main building in January for a three-year renovation project.
This year’s theme is “Piglas Sining,” which CCP Artistic Director Dennis Marasigan explained: “We are breaking away from the notion that the CCP is just the building. We are emphasizing that CCP can be anywhere.”
Pasinaya returned onsite on February 3 to 5, 2023 after being cancelled as a face-to-face gathering for three years because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
At least 3,000 artists participated in the 75 performances of 89 groups from Baguio to Tawi-tawi with an audience of more than 21,000.
Peyups is the moniker of University of the Philippines. Atty. Dennis R. Gorecho heads the seafarers’ division of the Sapalo Velez Bundang Bulilan law offices. For comments, e-mail info@sapalovelez.com, or call 0917-5025808 or 0908-8665786.