the uplb filipiniana dance troupe in "Banyuhay"

Tonight, I watched this season's last performance of Banyuhay: Katutubong Sayaw sa Makabagong Pananaw (Ang Muling Pag-Indak). It is a concert that placed a modern twist to Philippine traditional dances.

As I entered the confines of UPLB's Baker Hall, I was surprised that premium seats meant sitting on the floor right by the stage. The audience was sitting in a circle, waiting eagerly as the lights dimmed and fog slowly seeped around. As I took in the atmosphere and as the UPLB Filipiniana Dance Troupe took their places, I realized that I had entered a dream, a collective image tightly woven by rhythm and by dance: the performers as the dreamcatchers; we (the audience) as the dreamers.

The dream sequence opened in the mountain strongholds of the Cordilleras. The sound of gongs resonated as the male dancers swirled with their headgear and the rich textiles flying in the air. The female dancers then entered carrying the banga (earthen pots). Audible gasps were heard in the audience as the music hit a fever pitch and a tall pile of banga was assembled and then placed on the head of one of the female dancers. She must have a very strong neck to balance more than ten banga on top of her head.

The music then transported us to Southern Philippines with dances adapted from the tribal dances of Mindanao. The familiar beats of Kapa Malong Malong echoed in the building as the male dancers demonstrated the different ways of wearing the malong, a traditional tube skirt. Suggestions of Pamansak were in the music as the princess and the prince danced on top of bamboo poles on men's shoulders. Female dancers with colorful and feathery headpieces danced to the beat of bells tied to their ankles to ward off bad spirits in a dance that appeared to be Dugso.

As the fog cleared, we found that we had moved onto the flatlands of Luzon, in the midst of a lively wedding, to be more precise. The groom had gone missing and so the dancers plucked a guy at random from the audience to play the part! During the wedding after-party, the rest of the audience were encouraged to go center-stage to pin paper money (props provided by the dancers) on the groom's and the brides' clothes. Female dancers performed snippets of Binasuan while guys climbed the palasebo. Two dancers then started sprinkling the audience with water, as if too drunk to be decent at the wedding reception. Other dancers distributed rice cakes to the audience too.

After the festive mood, the dance became solemn, sorrowful even; the aroma of incense and dried palm fronds filled the room as fog covered the stage once more. Perhaps we were getting near waking time as what looked like a contemporary or interpretative dance was performed. To me, at least, the character in the modern dance was facing his demons... or maybe he was being treated by pompom-carrying dancers from a voodoo spell as he writhed in pain. What was he suffering from? Was this act a symbol of ails in modern society? the lack of connection to the richness of the past? loneliness in the midst of modern technology?

Or did he represent the unwillingness to let go of sleep and to return to wakefulness?

I would never know. Because at the flick of the light switch, the dream sequence was gone.