AFT-NRC's "Dance of Freedom": Truly World Class!

Posted by Administrator Monday, 05 July 2010 10:18

While the new President of the Philippines, “Noynoy” Aquino, was being proclaimed as the 15th President of the Philippines back home on July 1st, the Association of Filipinos in Thailand-Northern Region Chapter (AFT-NRC), in partnership with Maejo University in Chiang Mai, celebrated our Philippine Independence with a Filipino Cultural Dance and Dinner, titled “Dance of Freedom”, at the San Pra Nate Room of the Lotus Hotel Pang Suan Kaew in Chiang Mai.

The 17 dancers, along with their Artistic Director/Choreographer, Jennifer Taylan- de Jesus, are from the Central Luzon State University (CLSU) in the Philippines. They are guests to the Maejo University in Chiang Mai, and are scheduled to visit another branch of Maejo University in the south of Thailand at the end of this week to do another performance.

The AFT-NRC, under the leadership of Roxanne Oddie, had less than a week to book the venue, send out invitations and sell seats for the show. But with dedication and focused action, the AFT-NRC team was able to achieve their objectives, for the show was well attended, with more than 150 guests made up of Filipinos, Thais, as well as other nationals. And the guests thoroughly enjoyed the performances and they left awed by the spectacle they had the privilege to enjoy that evening.

The dance, according to the foreign guests whom Siam Pinoy interviewed, was “beautifully choreographed”, was “spectacular”, was “refreshingly upbeat, energetic and cheerful”, was one with “gorgeous costumes” and a cause for one guest “to watch out for more Filipino performances” from now on!

For a Filipino, who craves for a taste of one’s rich culture in dance and music, it was like a delicious assault to the senses. The costumes were so vividly colorful, the dancers were so lively in their movements, and the whole experience bordered on the emotional, what with the presentation of the flag in the beginning, and two classic Pinoy songs in between dances, “Ako ay Pilipino” and “Gaano Ko Ikaw Kamahal”, sang by Dr. Zenaida Zerna, the Cultural Adviser of CLSU.

A few of the highlights that evening include the breath-taking dance of the “Banga”, a tribal suite dance, with one female dancer balancing as many as 9 pots on her head, and dancing at the same time! A few more that drew gasps and thunderous claps from the crowd were two dances where the dancers balanced drinking glasses, with either lighted candles or colored water inside, on their hands, heads, foreheads and elbows, while performing difficult movements, some of them requiring dancers to almost lie down on the floor, and come back up again, with the glasses still balanced on different parts of their bodies. This was greeted with much delight from the audience, both Filipino and foreign.

The Dance Troupe of the CLSU reminded the Filipino audience of how great Filipino dances are to watch, how lovely and charming the Filipina of the bygone Spanish era is, and that in all aspects of our lives, whether at work or at play, the Filipino always knows how to celebrate life itself. The CLSU Dance Troupe, with their dances, celebrated the rural life of fishermen and of pearl hunters, the bravery and dignity of the royalty in the Muslim areas of the Philippines, and most important of all, the Troupe showed us all how diverse and rich our cultural heritage is as a people.

Towards the end of the evening, the dancers danced with much skill, precision and grace as they performed our national dance, the “Tinikling”. And they finished by inviting some of the guests to dance with them, to which the guests responded with enthusiasm.

Thanks to the efforts of the AFT-NRC, the talents of the CLSU Dance Troupe, and the cooperation of Maejo University, audiences of the Dance of Freedom went home with satisfied smiles on their faces, from an evening of good food, good company, and a spectacular performance that was truly world-class!

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