Operation STOM: Octopussy Dinagyang Field Report

Written by Lestari Hairul

Photographs by Lestari Hairul and Emily Choong (collage)

     The Octopussy team was assigned to cover the Dinagyang Festival on the ground over the two days we were there. We were a roving team of one videographer, Anis, impromptu photographer, Emily and a motley crew of girls and a guy excited to experience the festival (Andrea, Tracey, Gwyn, Paolo and myself).

   We walked to our chosen spot by the Iloilo Grand Hotel intending to spend our morning there documenting the performances and interviewing the spectators but we were blocked on each attempt either by the exorbitantly expensive seat fee (one was asking for PHP 1000 each) or because most of the party simply could not see anything, on account of our height.

    Eventually, we decided to roam about and experience the festival on foot to give the footage we took a more in-the-crowd sort of feel.

By the drums? Not a good place to stand.

He offered PHP 200 for the seats but it was still being built so we walked.

Kids play with marbles on the 5-foot-way while the festival is just warming up.

A procession of colourful Volkswagen beetles. 

    As we’d left the Gender Building pretty early in the day, the temperature was still alright for everyone and with high spirits some of us decided to try out balut (at least those of us who hadn't tried it already). We visited our ‘favourite haunt’, so named as we’ve been there thrice already, leading the proprietor to recognise us walking towards her from metres away.

     That bit of excitement done, we had a look at the various vendors hawking their wares, noting that the prices tended to be steeper closer to the grandstands where more and more people were congregating to catch the dance performances.

The festival in the morning

     We settled in for a spot of henna tattooing as we watched the procession of colourfully dressed dancers, giant artwork and even our mascot (a gigantic octopus), all set to the most wonderful repetitive rendition of the Dinagyang theme song, “Hala Bira Iloilo”.

Festival sights. Photographs by Emily Choong

     We interviewed the tattoo artists and they told us that they’ve been plying their trade for years during the festival circuit. When asked about the ingredients of the tattoo ink, we were told vaguely that it was bought from a Chinese shop. When I was walking about the area earlier looking for people to interview, I’d spotted empty bottles of black and dark brown conventional hair dye.

    The next day’s program was essentially the same as we wandered about interviewing the tourists and locals who would speak to us. We encountered a trio of American ladies, teachers working in China, joining the parade and dancing enthusiastically to the theme song; an old German couple who have retired to Boracay and absolutely refused to have a go at the delicious balut and several enthusiastic Korean tourists who elicited “Anyong Haseyo” from the local crowd much as we did throughout our stay in Iloilo.

    Half of us, Anis, Tracey and myself, went off to the Chinese-Filipino Friendship Arch to catch the street dancing.

An arachnid cruising the streets is a normal sight, among many other animals

     After witnessing the other tribes dancing through, we were disappointed with the prospect that we might have missed the tribe us travelers have come to call our own, the Tribu Panayanon. But of course we didn’t, and so the three of us managed to catch an up close and personal performance of their award-winning dance, minus the larger-scale theatrics more suitable for the grandstand.

     Through the street dancing, several tourists caused the procession to halt and proceed at an annoying crawl as they hurried to pose with the elaborately-dressed performers. One could only imagine the level of frustration felt by the dancers as they have to walk, stop and pose each time in the sweltering heat under layers of body paint, make-up and heavy costume between performing at the various judging stages. Still, they gave each tourist a winning smile and carried on as if it was the best job in the world to humor tourists.

    We left by mid-day on both days as the heat got unbearable and our skin turned several shades closer to sunburn. We’d do it all over again; if the weather was more forgiving. All kidding aside, no one should miss the street festival for an ersatz experience through the television screen because to truly experience Dinagyang, one needs to be on the ground, smelling the aromas of roasting meat and human sweat; pushing and cheering with everyone else as another spectacularly dressed tribe marches and dances by and of course, getting the best shots one could ever get close to the spirit of the festival. This is the Octopussy team leader, concluding our field report. Over and out.

The kids carrying the sponsors' banners stopped and rested as the tourists clamoured for photographs.

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Lestari just completed her first year and is determined to make her second year even more exciting and interesting. Lestari also likes reading, writing and 'rithmetic.