Traditional Ati Dance Performance

Written by Lestari Hairul 

Photographs by Melissa Chia 

An Ati man in full costume

     When we visited the Ati community of Guimaras Island on Tuesday, the village chief had told us of a presentation of authentic Ati culture at the Dinagyang festival when we related our experience of a ‘tribe’ rehearsal at the Freedom Grandstand. The chief was emphatic that the tribal dance competition portrayed nothing of true Ati culture and wanted us to witness what they truly have to offer in performance. Thus we were invited to watch the dance presentation on Friday.

     The grandstand was set in front of the Iloilo Grand Hotel and the area was cordoned off to traffic. Gigantic speakers blared pop music before settling on the official Dinagyang Festival theme song set on auto-repeat. All of the members of the Ati community present were already decked out in their traditional costumes but had to wait quite a while more for the presentation to start. 

    A sponsors’ parade marched past with their drums and cymbals, waving flags proclaiming the support of the “Iloilo Society Commercial Inc.” and there was a brief reprieve from “Hala bira Iloilo! Padumpadumpadum” but soon the music blared again and the spectators waited some more, munching on taho and peanuts. 

Ati women preparing to perform

     The dance presentation started out with several long speeches by various members of the political community in the Filipino language but the most pertinent part of these speeches was a statement by the Iloilo City tourism officer. 

“We have now accepted the Ati as the original natives of Iloilo.” 

     This was definitely welcoming news for the marginalised Ati groups, and the crowd cheered as the officer continued to proclaim that they were being recognised for the first time in the festival, presenting them “to the mainstream”. 

The stall the Ati set up with their traditional goods for sale

     The Ati set up for their performance carrying bundles of what appeared to be straw rushes and bamboo. The men were dressed in loincloths called bahak while the women wore red and white plaid costumes called patadyong. Some of them also wore costumes made of coconut fibre called ginit and all wore braided necklaces, circlets and bracelets called puksong which beautifully symbolises unity. 

Ma'am Perla sings a song

     A song by Ma’am Perla, one of the elders of the Guimaras Ati, kicked off the performance as she sang of the history of the Panay Island. The song performances by the other Ati groups much later were similar to this in that they were in the minor key lending all of them a very sad, lamenting quality. 

The Ati boys depicting a hunt

     The musicians used a mix of traditional bamboo instruments and the guitar to accompany the later dances. With bows, arrows, spears and wooden machetes, the male youth of the Ati performed a lively dance depicting their hunting lifestyle while the female youth performed with flat baskets, sashes and walking sticks representing farming, gathering and foraging in the forests. 

The men wore loinclothes

     Contrary to the depictions of the Ati in the main Dinagyang Festival, the true Ati performed dances that portray their pacifist and peaceful characters. There were several performances by the elders of the community who danced cheery and sanguine folk dances that involved skipping, hopping and clapping. A lot of the dance movements revolved around simulating practical work like pounding and threshing rice. They were a world of a difference from the aggressive stances adopted by the tribal dancers in the main competition. 

The tribe girls

     We interviewed 4 young dancers, Sherilyn, a 21 year old with a lovely voice who sang for us before in Guimaras, the chatty teenagers Leslie, 16 years old, Desiree, 14 years old and Margaret, a quieter 16 year old who only interjected a few times during the interview to confirm some facts. 

   The girls said that they were very happy and enjoyed their very first Dinagyang Festival performance, and that it took them 1 week to rehearse though they had performed at the SM Mall and a few hotels before. They told us that the dances are a part of their living culture in that they are always performed at fiestas and Indigenous People events. 

    When asked if they had to miss school to attend the presentation, we were told that the school had a PTA meeting so they had no classes. They had to leave as soon as the dance presentation was over however so they could all make the trip back to their island by 5 o’clock, making it all a very short visit to the city as they’d only arrived at 1 in the afternoon. 

     Once again we were reminded of the talk we heard at the Ati community on Guimaras Island about the festival not being a true representation of their culture while still profiting and capitalising on their name. It was no surprise then that they were not staying although they have elected a representative to attend the festival. 

Posing for a picture with the girls

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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.