An Afternoon Treat of Cultural Dances

Wow! Today we attended the much prepared for "Handog" Cultural Dance of MunSci partly sponsored by the MAPEH Department. It was the first time for me to see the inside of the Fresnedi Sports Center. It is cavernous! Here's a pic of the inside:


Che's section did the Bendian and Kandingan dances. Che was in the Kandingan group. The Kandingan is a slow and solemn-like Muslim dance. It's so slow that it looked like slow-motion which must've been hard on the legs. Here's a snapshot from the Kandingan video.


Here's Che and her classmates before the dance at the classroom.


There was an intermission number by the Rondalla group. The only numbers I recognized were "Looking through the Eyes of Love" and "It Might be You". There just weren't enough microphones for the instruments.


Karen's group did a rather fun dance called the Kalapati (pigeon). The movements were lively and imitated the flutters of a pigeon. Here's a snapshot from the Kalapati video:


Here's Karen and the gang while waiting for their turn.


Here's Sandra cheering on her Ate Karen during Karen's dance. That's Che the "muslim" girl. Che's classmates cheered for Karen too. Sandra and Renz thoroughly enjoyed the dances. Corz they didn't care much for the speeches and neither did I.


The mayor, Mr. Fresnedi, was there along with his wife and some school officials. I think the good mayor has done a great job with Muntinlupa like this sports center which the MunSci kids will definitely benefit from. The mayor's wife, Lor, even shook my hand as she was going out. She probly mistook me for a member of the delegates. If it wasn't for the numerous and overly long speeches, I'd say the programme wouldn've been perfect.

The event was simply awesome. I've NEVER ever seen those folk dances before. Never! The only ones my ignorant brain could recognize were the Maglalatik, Singkil, Itik-itik, Banga and the Tinikling. There were so many more! So, it was truly a spectacle - the costumes, the dances. I enjoyed the afternoon and early evening very much. Kudos to all those who prepared. I could only imagine the amount of effort and time put into it. That was a S-U-P-E-R-B presentation, girls! Congratulations!

There were more than 20 Philippine Folk Dances: The first two were the Bendian and Banga. Then there were the Maria Clara Dances: Miligoy de Cebu, La Jota Isabela, La Jota Gumaquena, Sayaw sa Cuyo, La Jota Moncadena, Polkabal, Jota Quirino, Habahera Botolena. Then came the Muslim Dances: Kandingan, Kappa Malong Malong, Kinikin, Pigapir, Kasanduayan, Singkil. Then the Rural Dances: Itik-itik, Lapay Bantigue, Kalapati, Inalimango, Maglalatik, Salakot, Subil, Binuyogan, Polka sa Nayon, Pastores, Esperanza, Bulaklakan, Karatong, Tinikling, Kuratsa, Konan, Sayaw sa Bangko and Valse de Muntinlupa.

Here are some pics of the rest of the dances in no particular order.




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