UC DAVIS PRESENTS

Community Outreach Program

2001-2002 School Matinee Series

BAYANIHAN PHILIPPINE NATIONAL

DANCE COMPANY
Tuesday, September 18, 2001
Sacramento Community Center Theater, 11:00am
Dear Teachers:
We hope you will find this Teachers Guide helpful in preparing your students for what
they will see and hear at the Bayanihan Philippine National Dance Company performance matinee.
The Guide provides background information on the dance company, the tradition of folkloric
performance in the Philippines, a brief country profile and a review of theater conventions and
audience protocol. The Bayanihan Philippine National Dance Company matinee, which is specially
designed for student audiences, will introduce the unique dance tradition of the Philippines,
colorfully inflected by native, Chinese, Spanish, and Islamic influences.
UC Davis Presents gratefully acknowledges the corporate sponsors supporting the
Community Outreach Program during the 2001-2002 Season of Performing Arts:

With additional support provided by UC Davis School/University Partnerships and WESTAF.

BAYANIHAN PHILIPPINE NATIONAL DANCE COMPANY

Demonstrating all the charm and grace of the nation of 7,000 islands, Bayanihan Philippine
National Dance Company presents a taste of one of the richest music and dance traditions in the
world. With brightly costumed and energetic performances inspired by the Philippines' diverse

indigenous, Chinese, Spanish and Islamic influences, the 45-performers of Bayanihan have
delighted audiences and critics around the world for more than 43 years. Applauded as "one of the
best" (Los Angeles Times) ethnic dance ensembles, Bayanihan was designated the official national
dance company by the Philippine government.
Bayanihan (pronounced by-an-EE-an) Philippine National Dance Company takes its name
from an ancient Filipino tradition that signifies working together for the common good. The
company was founded in 1957 by Dr. Helena Z. Benitez to research ethnic rites, tribal folklore and
regional customs; to collect indigenous art forms as expressed in music, dance, literature, arts and
crafts; to distill and transform these cultural traditions into theatrical presentations; and to promote
international understanding through cultural exchange and performances abroad. Its initial
appearances at the 1958 Brussels World's Fair and Sol Hurok's International Dance Festival paved
the way for a sensational U.S. Broadway debut where the company earned the name "Cinderella of
Dance Theater."
Now in its 44th year, the company has appeared in international events and festivals in 55
countries and was the first non-American dance company to take the stage at New York's Lincoln
Center for the Performing Arts and the first Philippine group to perform in Russia. The company
has inspired the growth of numerous folk dance companies in the Philippines and has encouraged
other countries to showcase their own folk tradition on the international stage.

PHILIPPINE ETHNIC DANCE

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Ancient in origin but contemporaneous, ethnic dance lives on in the Philippines. The forms
and functions are many, performed by a variety of ethnic groups over the 7,000-plus islands. Often,
ethnic dance is inspired by nature and community life and helps to maintain the rituals that keep an
ethnolinguistic group (or a convergence of several) spirited and cohesive. Dancing as such is a form
of survival as much as it is spiritual and social expression.
With its islands, mountains, hills, plains, and miles of shoreline, the Philippines is veritably an
aviary and an aquarium. Understandably, birds became the inspiration for various ethnic dances -from the more familiar tikling (rice-preying birds interpreted into the dance Tinikling), itik (ducks,
inspiring the Itik-itik), kalapati (doves, into Kalapati and Sinalampati), and kilingkingan (swift,
clicking birds, into a dance of the same name). There are also the fierce hawk-inspired dances of
many southern groups that are complemented by courtship dances performed in the Cordillera.
Aquatic life and the exotic land animals (squirrels, snakes, monkeys and fireflies) also found their
way into the choreography of various ethnic dances. Such dances enliven the games and feasts of
the people, from those of the spare Negrito or Aeta to that of the richly dressed up Maranaw,
Maguindanao, Bagobo, Manobo, T'boli of Mindanao and Tausug and Badjaw of Sulu. These latter
groups perform a panoply of dances that also show off their musical skill (playing the kulintang
gongs, bamboo xylophone gabbang, boat-shaped guitar haglong, carved jaws harp kubing, and
various drums like the goblet-shaped dabakan) and their ornate clothes and ornamentation (which
are sometimes also musical in design, like chiming bells).
Many old rituals are still observed, often a composite of expressive forms and religious
orientations. The people fear and revere the spirits that dwell in nature (diwatas) including ancestors
(anitos). A community gathers around a babaylan, shaman, who officiates at rituals. They honor
spirits, ask for their blessings at planting or harvest time, at birth or at dying, and plead that they
deflect any ills that may befall a member of the community.
The people's life-cycle is also enacted through dance: blessing a child; a girls coming of
age (culminating in a deathly combat between suitors); courtship dances inspired by the local birds;
and marriages. In the Idudo, the Itneg men raise up their babies with singing and dancing, while
their women till the fields. A musical log called udol of the Tagkaolo is beaten and around it they
dance to call on the dead spirits to come home from a distance or battle. Likewise, planting,
harvesting, fishing, and hunting have also been adapted into various choreographies.
Significantly, ethnic dance has also been a resource for contemporary ballet. Filipino
traditional music and dance have inspired National Artists Leonor Orosa Goquinco and Lucrecia
Reyes Urtula, Alice Reyes, Tony Fabella, Basilio, Agnes Locsin, Denisa Reyes, Kristin Jackson and
many more to stage their folkloric or modern ballets. Either in its pristine or translated forms, ethnic
dance still forms part of the ritual, social and theatrical fabric of Filipinos today.
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Consult additional essays on Filipino music and dance by author Basilio Esteban S. Villaruz at the
following web address:
http://www.ncca.gov.ph/phil._culture/arts/dance/dance_contem.htm
SUGGESTED RECORDINGS
Bayanihan Dance Company, Vol. 1
Traditional Music from the Philippines, Filipina Fiesta

SAMPLE PROGRAM
I CORDILLERA
The opening set of dances, Cordillera, displays celebratory rituals practiced by the tribal peoples
who inhabit the northern-most island of Luzon. Their dances celebrate victories, festivals, rituals and
thanksgiving.

Banga/Salidsid: Kalinga women carry jars (banga) on their heads in a ritual representing
the fetching of water. The main dancer must skillfully balance several jars while executing
her footwork. This is followed by a traditional wedding dance.

Banawol-Banawe; Inspired by the Banawol hawk (that preys on chickens), this is a

rousing festival dance honoring guests with crowns of bright plumage.
II AIRES DE VERBENA
The pervasive echo of four centuries of Spanish colonial influence is typified by this cycle of songs
and dances.
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Cancion
Senoritas: Young girls dance the Habenara waltz, enhanced by their swirling skirts and
graceful Spanish fans.
Mantones de Seda: Accompanied by the banduria and guitar, the dancers execute
traditional Castillian footwork and play bamboo castanets.

III MINDANAO MOSAIC

In the southern Philippines, on the vast island of Mindanao and on adjacent islands of the Sulu
archipelago, live Filipinos whose ancestors embraced Islam as early as the 14th century. Their
music, dance and costumes reflect Arabian and Indo-Malayan influences while capturing more
contemporary Muslim Filipino culture.

Kappaggonor: This instrumental interlude highlights the ancient manner of playing the
Maranaw kulintang gong and dabakan.

Kuntao: The Sultan displays his martial skills to his son, in a choreography of jumps,
kicks and deep knee-bends.

Singkil: This is Bayanihans signature number featuring the Maranao princess as she is
pursued by a prince amidst the clapping of cris-crossed bamboo in syncopated rhythm.

IV PHILIPPINE PANORAMA
The concluding set of dances captures the rhythm of country life.
ltik ltik: This dance caricaturizes and imitates the movements of ducks waddling in short choppy
steps and splashing water over their bodies while calling for their mates. It derives its name from the
word itik which means duck.
Subli: Romping dancers gymnastically compete for prizes, accompanied by the brisk tempo of
clicking bamboo castanets.
Tiniking: The best known of Philippine dances, this selection celebrates the skill of the performers
as they dance in and out of rapidly-clapped bamboo poles. The dance comes from Leyte Island
where farmers struggle to stem the antics of the long-legged tikling birds making havoc in rice
paddy fields.

THE PHILIPPINES
STATISTICS
Official Name: Republic of the Philippines
Area: 115,831 sq mi
Population: 66,117,284 (1990)
Term for Citizens: Filipinos
Capital: Manila (pop. 1,876,000)
Ethnic groups: 91.5% Christian Malay, 5% Muslim Malay, 1% Chinese, and 3% other,
mainly upland tribal groups.
Language: Pilipino (based on Tagalog) and English (official languages). Eleven languages and 87
dialects indigenous to archipelago
Religion: 82% Roman Catholic, 9% various Protestant denominations, 5% Muslim, remainder
Buddhist, Taoist, or other religions (1989)
Religious groups: Roman Catholic, Muslim
Economy: Agriculture: rice, corn, coconuts, sugarcane, fruit; Industry: food processing,
textiles, chemicals, wood products, electronics, minerals, oil refining, fishing
Currency: Philippine peso
Described as a piece of Latin America in the Pacific, the Philippines is unique in Southeast
Asia. Claimed for Spain in 1521 by Ferdinand Magellan and named after King Philip II, the
Philippines spent 333 years as a Spanish colony. Because of this heritage, almost 85% of the people
are Roman Catholic.
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The islands are tropical and mountainous with narrow coastal plains. The archipelago
numbers some 7,100 islands but only 1,000 or so are populated. The islands of Luzon, Mindanao,
and the Visayan cluster represent the three principal regions of the archipelago that are identified by
the three stars on the Philippine flag. Most Filipinos live on or near the coast, where they can easily
supplement their diet from approximately 2,000 species of fish. The rain forests offer prime habitat
for more than 500 species of birds, 800 species of orchids, and 8,500 species of flowering plants. The
Philippines often endure natures destructive forces. Typhoon season can bring storms packing winds
of 185 miles an hour; volcanoes erupt, creating havoc.
Negrito and Malay peoples were the original inhabitants of the Philippine archipelago. The
Negritos are believed to have migrated by land bridges some 30,000 years ago, during the last glacial
period. Later migrations were by water and took place over several thousand years in repeated
movements before and after the start of the Christian era. The basic unit of settlement was the
barangay, originally a kinship group headed by a chief. Within the barangay, the broad social
divisions consisted of nobles, freemen, and dependents: landless agricultural workers, debtors,
criminals, and enslaved war captives.
Islam was brought to the Philippines by traders and zealots from the Indonesian islands and
was well established by the 16th century. Separate sultanates developed on Mindanao, the Sulu
Archipelago and Manila.
The first recorded sighting of the Philippines by Europeans was on March 16, 1521, during
Ferdinand Magellan's circumnavigation of the globe. Magellan landed and claimed the land for
Spain, but was killed one month later by a local chief. Permanent Spanish settlement was finally
established in 1571 when Miguel Lpez de Legazpi, the first royal governor, defeated a local Muslim
ruler and established his capital at Manila, which became the center of Spanish civil, military,
religious, and commercial activity in the islands.
Church and state were inseparably linked in the Spanish colony. Dominican, Franciscan,
Augustinian, and Jesuit missionaries set out to convert and subdue the native population. Over the
centuries, these orders acquired huge landed estates and became wealthy, sometimes corrupt, and very
powerful. Eventually, their estates were acquired by principales (a term for the indigenous local
elite) and Chinese mestizos eager to take advantage of expanding opportunities in agriculture and
commerce. The children of these new entrepreneurs and landlords were provided education
opportunities not available to the general populace and formed the nucleus of an emerging, largely
provincially based, sociocultural elite--the ilustrados--who dominated almost all aspects of national
life in later generations. One of the most significant repercussions of Spanish rule was that the
Filipino idea of communal use and ownership of land was replaced with the concept of private,
individual ownership and the conferring of titles on members of the evolving upperclass.
The Philippine colony supported a lucrative export economy based on sugar, indigo, tea, silk,
opium poppies, abaca (hemp), and tobacco. Growing numbers of foreign merchants in Manila
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spurred the integration of the Philippines into an international commercial system linking
industrialized Europe and North America with sources of raw materials and markets in the Americas
and Asia.
Spain's rule in the Philippines came to an end as a result of United States involvement with
Spain's other major colony, Cuba. American business interests were anxious for a resolution--with or
without Spain--of an insurrection that had broken out in Cuba in February 1895. When the United
States declared war on Spain on April 25, 1898, Theodore Roosevelt ordered Commodore George
Dewey, commander of the Asiatic Squadron, to sail to the Philippines and destroy the Spanish fleet
anchored in Manila Bay. The Spanish navy suffered a defeat on May 1, 1898, as Spain's antiquated
fleet was sunk by Dewey's warships.
In the eyes of the Filipinos, their relationship with the United States was that of two nations
joined in a common struggle against Spain. On January 20, 1899, President McKinley appointed the
First Philippine Commission to investigate conditions in the islands and make recommendations. The
commissioners acknowledged Filipino aspirations for independence; they declared, however, that the
Philippines was not ready for it. Specific recommendations included the establishment of civilian
government, including establishment of a bicameral legislature, autonomous governments on the
provincial and municipal levels, and a system of free public elementary schools. The TydingsMcDuffie Act of 1934 provided for a ten-year transition period to independence, during which the
Commonwealth of the Philippines would be established. The commonwealth would have its own
constitution and would be self-governing, although foreign policy would be the responsibility of the
United States.
Despite a harsh Japanese occupation during World War II, which inflicted tremendous
suffering on the population, independence was achieved, on schedule, on July 4, 1946. A number of
issues remained unresolved, principally those concerned with trade and security arrangements
between the islands and the United States. Democracy functioned fairly well in the Philippines until
the 1970s. National elections were held regularly under the framework of the 1935 constitution,
which established checks and balances among the principal branches of government. Elections
provided freewheeling, sometimes violent, exchanges between two loosely structured political parties.
Ferdinand Marcos, first elected to the presidency in 1965, was reelected by a large margin in 1969,
the first president since independence to be elected to a second term.
Discontent rooted in economic disparity and religious differences grew in the late 1960s. The
volatile political situation came to a head when grenade explosions in Manila during an opposition
Liberal Party rally in August,1971, killed 9 people and wounded 100. Marcos blamed the leftists and
declared martial law. He moved quickly to shut down Congress and most newspapers, jailed his major
political opponents, assumed dictatorial powers, and ruled by presidential decree.
When Senator Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino, Marcos main opponent and most likely successor,
was assassinated by government forces on August 21, 1983, he became a martyr and the focus of
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popular indignation against the corrupt Marcos regime, a more formidable opponent in death than in
life. Aquino's widow, Corazon "Cory" Aquino stepped in to take over, first symbolically and then
substantively, as leader of the opposition. A popular coup detat forced Marcos into exile in Hawaii
and, in February, 1986, Corazon Aquino assumed power.
Corazon Aquino had been swept into the presidency by the "People's Power" uprising amid
high expectations that she would be able to right all of the wrongs in the Philippine body politic. It
soon became evident, however, that her goals were essentially limited to restoring democratic
institutions. She renounced the dictatorial powers that she had inherited from President Ferdinand E.
Marcos and returned the Philippines to the rule of law, replacing the Marcos constitution with a
democratic, progressive document that won popular approval, and scheduling national legislative and
local elections. But most of the political problems, including widespread corruption, human rights
abuses, and inequitable distribution of wealth and power, remained.
Fidel Ramos succeeded Corazon Aquino as president of the Philippines on June 30, 1992 and
served through June, 1998. Ramos faced the huge task of improving the neglected economy and
initiating a land reform program.

MAP

THINK ABOUT IT!

Talking with your teacher, friends, and family about a performance after attending the theater is part
of the experience. When you share what you saw and felt you learn more about the performance.
You can now compare ideas and ask questions and find out how to learn even more. Here are some
questions to think about:

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1) How would you describe the Bayanihan Philippine National Dance Company performance to a
friend?
2) What feelings did you have while you listened to the music and watched the colorful dances?
3) What did you like best about the performance and why? Was the program different from what you
expected? How?

Additional reading
Continue your exploration of Philippine ethnic dance by consulting the following books:

Alejandros Philippine Dance (1978)

Leonor Orosa Goquingcos Dances of the Emerald Isles (1980)

Doreen Fernandez and Rudy Vidads In Performance (1981)

Doreen Yus Ballet Philippines: 20 Years of Dance (1991)

A Sound of Rambours: An ASEAN Tapestry (1991)

Fifth volume of the CCP Encyclopedia of Philippine Art (1994)

ATTENDING THE THEATER

What is expected of student audiences at the matinee:

Enter the auditorium quietly and take seats immediately (note that all matinees for 2001-2002
have reserved seating);

Show courtesy to the artist and other guests at all times;

Demonstrate appreciation for the artists work by applauding at the appropriate times;

Refrain from making unnecessary noise or movements;

Please eat lunch before or after the performance to avoid disruption;

Relate any information acquired from the pre-matinee discussion to the new information gained
from the matinee.

What you can expect of your experience in a performing arts theater:

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A theater is a charged space, full of energy and anticipation. When the house lights (the lights that
illuminate the audience seating) go down, the excitement level goes up! Theaters are designed so that
the voices of the singers and actors and the music of the musicians can be heard. But this also means
that any sound in the audience: whispering, rustling of papers, speaking and moving about, can be
heard by other audience members and by the performers. Distractions like these upset everyones
concentration and can spoil a performance.
The performers on stage show respect for their art form and for the audience by doing their very
best work. The audience shows respect for the performers by watching attentively. Applause is the
best way for audience members to share their enthusiasm and to show their appreciation for the
performers. Applaud at the end of a performance! Sometimes the audience will clap during a
performance, as after a featured solo. Audience members may feel like laughing if the action on
stage is funny, crying if the action is sad, or sighing if something is seen or heard that is beautiful.
Appreciation can be shown in many different ways, depending upon the art form and the culture(s)
of the people in the audience. While the audience at a dance performance will sit quietly, other types
of performance invite audience participation.

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