Written by Chrishandra Sebastiampillai
Photographs by Jonathan Lim, Sarah Chong and Melissa Chia
When I first found out that our trip to the Philippines was to see a street festival, the immediate thought I had was food, dancing and music. When I found out that the street festival was in honour of Señor Santo Niño, I found myself struggling to insert the child Jesus into the mix. As a born Catholic raised in a conservative family, attending a conservative church, I had to wonder how Jesus would go with body paint, tribal drums, war cries and San Miguel’s. This three-part story chronicles my journey from polite disbelief to absolute acceptance- in the Philippines, Jesus does come with the works.
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Accordingly, we attended the last public performance of Tribu Panayanon, their opening salvo which was held on the 21st January at Freedom Grandstand. The Grandstand was packed to the rafters, largely because this would be the only chance for ordinary citizens to watch the tribes perform up close- on the day of the competition, the Grandstand would be accessible only to accredited members of the media. For the members of Panayanon, it was vital time given to them to block out their positions for the real performance. Two boys were deployed with a bucket of white paint to mark out positions of both props and dancers.
Team Panayanon practicing their positions at Freedom Grandstand
There was an air of fierce concentration about the performers. All dressed identically in official wear provided by their sponsors, they worked tirelessly in their lines with almost military precision. This is not to say that they appeared to be stressed or tired. On the contrary, their spirits were high, and team unity was palpable. We sat in the Grandstand in a long row, and provided stellar entertainment for local children who clearly believed that the real show was the Malaysian university tour group and sat with their backs to the performers, pulling faces enthusiastically for endless pictures.
We entertained and were entertained
Our popularity with the children was bound to get us noticed sooner or later, and before long, I found myself approached by a shy boy in a Red Cross uniform. “Where are you from?” he asked, barely able to make eye contact with me. I tell him that we’re on a study trip, and that we’ve come to witness the Dinagyang Festival. This seems to reassure him, and very soon, he is cheerfully telling me about his team.
His name is Vincent, and he is a first aider for Tribu Panayanon. When I expressed surprise that Panayanon would have a first aid team, he tells me that by his reckoning, Panayanon has seven different teams: dancers, musicians, prop grips, costumes, first aid, catering and artists. All in all, the Panayanon Dinagyang team consists of about 300 individuals. I was very much surprised by these casually recited facts- 300 students? And catering for them all on every night of practice? To help answer the many questions I had, Vincent produced his teacher, Ma’am Alpha Jave, who was just as proud of Panayanon.
Her role in the team was head of props, which sounds unimpressive if one hasn’t seen how seriously Tribu Panayanon takes their props. Among this year’s props are a 3 meter tall wire cage snake that has multiple “carriages” to make up a sinuous and free moving length of about 10 meters, 7 independently moving wire platforms for dancers, a miniature grandstand with three levels on wheels that is capable of holding about half of the dancers and multiple scenery platforms, each about 3 meters tall. Each of these platforms and wire cages require prop grips to move them about the stage at full running speed.
The snake frame
The dancers' platforms
An overview of the props
The miniature grandstand and background scenery painting boards
That might explain why Ms. Alpha told me that she only had 106 students wrangling the props that night. On the real day, she would need at least 150 boys for the job. Generally, her job is not particularly difficult- she takes down their attendance, assigns them to various props each night, and makes sure they eat.
Tonight, however, Ms. Alpha looks stressed. Loading the props onto seven extra large lorries had been a frazzling and dangerous endeavour earlier in the evening, involving lots of shouting instructions on her part, and sheer brute strength on the boys’ parts. It has gotten so that none of them want to reload the lorries later. The plan as it stands, then, is to push them all the way back to school, a trip which she estimates will take them about an hour and a half.
She must have missed the shock on my face. In my country, getting boys to turn up for extra-curricular activities is nigh near impossible. But here, Tribu Panayanon is 4 months into practices that sometimes go into the wee hours of the morning with 106 willing boys to push home what must be hundreds of kilograms of weight all the way back to their school at 12 am after a long and gruelling day of the same for them.
I turn instead to the other thing she said that had caught my attention: catering. How had the school been feeding their students for these 4 months of practice? The Home Economics department. The teachers (and occasionally students) of the same had been cooking for their team on a budget of PHP 2,000 per night. Simple, nourishing meals, and the occasional snack to perk the students up. It seemed that Tribu Panayanon was well and truly a school affair, with support and contributions coming from all quarters to ensure their wellbeing.
I ask Ms. Alpha about the school’s history of competition. They were the runners up last year, but have high hopes of winning this year. This is in part because of their new principal, Dr. Blesilda V. Floro, who took over less than a year ago. She comes from the school of the previous champion, and came to Iloilo National High School determined to win the Dinagyang Ati-ati competition again. To this end, she brought with her the choreographer she had worked with, Mr. Rommel Flogen. Rommel has been pacing up and down in front of his team, issuing instructions, fixing positions and generally in perpetual motion in front of us. Spotting a lull in his activities, I go up to him to speak to him about his team.
Mr. Rommel Flogen, choreographer of Team Panayanon
He tells me that he carefully selects his dancers and team members in auditions, prizing those with good attitudes and strong discipline. Dancing techniques are important of course, but without the right attitude, the team would struggle. They are here today primarily for the purpose of blocking out the dancers position, but will also give the crowd a treat of their full performance, but minus costuming and full props. Rommel reckons at this stage that they have been practicing for about six months- two months dedicated to dancing boot camp, and the other four necessary the time and repetition required for mounting a production of this scale.
I ask him about the big wire cage snake. He tells me that it is the bakunawa, a Filipino myth that explains lunar eclipses. The story goes that there was a sea serpent which, attracted by their beauty, would come to eat the seven moons of the ancient Philippines. This it did successfully for six of the seven moons. Not willing to lose their last one, ancient villagers decided that they would make a racket by banging on pots and pans to make the snake go away. This year’s dance (appropriately inspired by the Chinese lunar year of the water snake) will retell that story.
This year, the winners are slated to perform in Singapore
The wire cage snake remains naked for the present- the surprise unveiling will come on the competition morning, but its construction appears to be sturdy, and expensive. Rommel agrees, estimating the current expenditure of the team at PHP 2 million. He tells me that the competition will be fierce. On the line is school team spirit, bragging rights for the winners, and the chance to take their dance to a wider audience. If they win, Panayanon will go to Manila to compete in the national rounds. There is also the possibility of performing overseas. This year, Singapore appears to be on the horizon for the winning team. Last year, he took his team to Guam for a street dance parade.
Despite the hullabaloo, Rommel appears calm and focused. He tells me he has been dancing since elementary school, and that this will be his 21st year at Dinagyang. He enjoys realizing the potential of his students, and tells me that his favourite part of teaching young people is not so much dancing technique, but helping them develop themselves in terms of self-discipline, motivation, time management and all aspects of personal development. I let him get back to the fray, and off he goes, telling us to wait some 15 minutes, at which point they will perform a full run through of their dance for the patient crowd.
Dr. Blesilda V. Floro, Principal of Iloilo City National High School
I spot the principal, Dr Blesilda, and have a word with her. She confirms that 300 of her students are participating in the endeavour as dancers, prop grips, musicians and other departments. She also has high hopes for the team, noting that in the past, her teams in prior schools had the opportunity to travel to New York and Guam. The role of sponsors is not to be taken lightly- without the sponsors, the props and costumes would not be possible. The sponsors are wooed by the track records of the teams- what was their position in previous competitions, and how well did they do last year?
Dr. Blesilda believes that the competition is an important experience for her students as it teaches them not just dancing skills, but discipline and team spirit. Without these things, it would be impossible to win. She tells me that they are about to start their full performance, and that the best spot for recording it is high up in the grandstand. I thank her, and retreat to the middle section of the grandstand to sit back and watch.
The dancers in position
The music is basically percussive- drums and cymbals form a pulsating beat which the dancers whirl to with an almost manic energy. I cannot quite believe that they have been out here practicing for an hour, and even longer all day at school. The crowd is ecstatic. The entire Monash group sit with their mouths hanging open, utterly entranced. I have simply never seen anything like it by professional troupes, let alone from students. This is our first taste of what is to come at the competition, and we are not disappointed. The stage is never static- there is always movement and change, whether it be props spinning around the dancers, or the dancers themselves, executing deft costume changes and completely unified movements. The performance lasts for 8 minutes, and at the end of it, the crowd erupts with thunderous applause.
Then the dancers leave, and the crowd also begins to disperse. We stand together and discuss what we have seen, all amazed and energized by the performance. After some time we leave, deciding to walk to the main road to catch a jeepney. We stroll along in the cool night breeze, and upon turning a corner, come across the prop grips shoving their main stage along the dark road. At the rear is Ms. Alpha, issuing instructions over a small hand held speaker. Her voice is raised now, urging them to really put their backs into it as they sprint across a busy junction.
They have begun their long trek home with their stage props.
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Chrishandra graduated from Monash University’s School of Arts and Social Sciences in November 2012, determined to go far in life. She made it exactly three floors downstairs to the Advancement department where she is currently working till starting Honours in an office called ‘Relationship Management’. Yes. Stop sniggering.
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