Sayaw


"Sayaw" (which is Tagalog for "to dance") was the name of the cultural show that hubby and I watched on Saturday. When I first heard that the Kayumanggi Philippine Performing Arts of Manitoba, Canada were going to be in town, I was stoked. Not that I knew of this particular group personally, mind you, but because groups like these visiting MN are far and few between. The show was held at a theater on the Hamline University campus. If I were to compare it to something more Bay Area, it might be close to SFState's Knuth Hall, but definitely much nicer. All in all, the theater holds 311..and it was packed. Yessir, all the Filipinos in the Twin Cities were there. All of them. Lol!


Actually, there was a matinee and a gala show. From what I heard, both shows were sold out. This got me thinking how totally awesome it would be to have Likha come and do a show out here...but more on that later.


My honest opinion? The show itself was good. Of the 20 dancers, mostly all of them were in every dance! Now you know there has got to be some damn quick changes going on in the wings! Lol! There were some dances that I've never seen before (Sayaw sa Palaton and Legend of the Sarimanok)and some of the routines were, I think, a bit too show-style. I thought it was cool that there was a voiceover at the beginning of each suite to describe the people and region of which the dances derived. For example, for the Barrio Suite, there were different scenes silhouetted in the background and when the lights went on, they would portray a group of ladies doing laundry by the river, another group planting rice in the fields, and still another that illustrated the happy and carefree atmosphere of fiesta. The setup was nice. With each suite came different hanging decorations of colorful malongs or other such accoutrements. The costumes, for the most part, were really nice and bright. I especially loved the Tribal costumes. My second favorite are the Muslim costumes, but this time around, they were just too bright and sequinned out for my taste. And the Spanish costumes? Haha, when the lights went on, there was this ooohhh and aaaahhh from the audience and I remember looking over to hubby and saying, "Those dresses are pretty ugly." And he agreed! Okay, the styles weren't bad, it was more of the patterns they chose. Lol!


Though the show was good, I wasn't highly impressed. I think that after one has spent time in a dance company, you tend to be more critical of other dancers. It's as if our eyes are trained to spot those who are late or whose movements are a bit more exaggerated than others. It would've been a GREAT show had there been more precision. Precision in their foot stomping, their arm movements, their head placements...to me, it's about precision, accuracy, and attitude. You know, even if people mess up, it's all in the way deal with the mistakes. I do have to give certain dancers credit for being really slick. They kept on going despite the lil' mishaps they had. Good for them! The show must go on.

Not that the show dragged on or anything, but I found myself being really interested in the Tribal and Barrio suites, which coincidentally were the last two in the repertoire. The Tribal suite is one of my favorite and the Barrio suite was just plain fun to watch. They did an awesome job at the "background" making it seem like we really were in the middle of a fiesta! As hubby mentioned in his blog, their version of the Tinikling was dope and made for a great grand finale.


It was so great to watch a show like this. It really made me miss dancing and performing. As I watched, it was as if I could call the next figure or movement. The lineup and some of the routines were oddly familiar! Of course I realize that all dance companies have their own interpretation of certain dances, but there were some in particular that had more of a get-your-freak-on-at-the-club feel. There are some dances that require the women to use their hips. The hip movements that I saw were more like hip-grinding almost nasty style! I was constantly having my "Hmmm...that's different" moments.


All in all, I was glad we were able to see this group. It brought back a lot of good memories. Now seeing that this group was sponsored from Canada, that got me thinking how possible it would be to get Likha to the Twin Cities. I will definitely have to look into it. One things for sure though. If the Filipinos were impressed by this Canada group, they are going to be knocked off their feet by Likha! Honestly, they may not be ready for it 'cuz Likha is 10x better!


Hmmm...let's see what resources I can pool and make contact with my peoples back home. It would be SO dope! Stay tuned...