Filipino dancers delight

By Shannon Devine

Bright colours, rich textures and a little fancy footwork came together on stage on Saturday, Jan. 31, for Fiesta, a showcase of arts and talents hosted by the Filipino Organization of Concordia University Students.

The variety show included a whirlwind traditional dance and song, comedy, martial arts and contemporary rock and rap music. “It’s a little like a buffet table of Filipino culture,” said Sharon Montealegre, an English literature student and FOCUS member.

Members of the Montreal Filipino community were invited to perform, but it was the children who stole the show. Dozens of young guests from the Salinggawi Canada Philippine Arts Association, all under the age of 12, performed three traditional dances involving brilliantly shaded silk scarves and bamboo sticks.

“It is great to have children involved,” said Patrick Magallanes, FOCUS secretary and an independent student. “They can learn about their culture and where they came from.”

The choral ensemble Panday Tinig performed Filipino folksongs and the Canadian and Filipino national anthems. Members of the Doces Pares Filipino Martial Arts Montreal Association and the Philippine Ati-Atihan of Montreal performed the closing masquerade dance.

Fiesta was the finale of a four-day Filipino cultural expo that included displays on the Hall Building mezzanine of Filipino clothing and artifacts, and a tourism workshop followed by a traditional Filipino meal. The events corresponded to the month-long Santa Nino festival in the Philippines, a festival celebrating the birth of Christ.

When the group first started planning the event back in late summer, it looked like they might not have enough acts to fill the show, so FOCUS members stepped up to learn new dances and songs.

Marvin Magalang had never danced in public before Saturday night. Since November he has been learning the habanera, a traditional wedding dance, which he performed with five other FOCUS members.

“Filipinos are exposed to dancing and performing in front of our families and friends at a young age,” said Magalang, now a Concordia alumnus, “but dancing was never really a priority for me.”

Other members of group were more experienced in traditional dance, such as Montealegre, who began dancing seven years ago on a trip back to the Philippines.

During the show, she performed the intricate katsudoratan fan dance, wielding two silver half moons with speed and agility. She also performed the malong dance, a traditional Filipino Muslim dance demonstrating how to wear the long piece of fabric of the same name.

The event was a fundraiser for both the club, newly formed in May, and the Filipino charity Gawad Kalinga, which builds houses for the poor in the Philippines.

The expo and fiesta were the first major projects for the group, which plans to hold the cultural festival again next year. The club was formed to unite the Filipino community at Concordia and educate other students about culture in the Philippines.