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DEPARTMENT
OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
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DEPARTMENT
OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
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SFA-AGR-432-08 |
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PHILIPPINE EMBASSY BRINGS BACK THE BAYANIHAN TO BRUSSELS |
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Performing for more than 600 diplomats, government officials and members of the Filipino community, the Bayanihan returns to Brussels for a special gala performance celebrating the golden anniversary of their first performance abroad.
Bayanihan’s gala performance on 9 June at the Woluwe Centre Culturel St. Pierre in Brussels was the highlight of the 110th Philippine Independence celebration hosted by Philippine Ambassador to Belgium Cristina G. Ortega. Prior to the two-hour show, Ambassador Ortega hosted a reception for hundreds of diplomats, officials and members of the private sector, academe, think tanks and the media. Almost two hundred Filipinos who supported Embassy projects for the past two years also enjoyed the Bayanihan performance.
The enthralling repertoire covered a wide spectrum of Filipino dances: Sakuting, Bakya, Jota, Madal Soyon, Tiruray, Tanggonggo, Madal Tahaw, Bagobo, Tiboli, Valse de Marikina Habanera Japonesa, Danza, Habanera Botolena, Tambourines, Mantones de Seda, Kappagonor, Linggisan, Tutup, Paunjalay, Kazilimut-Malong, Kuntao, Vinta, Overture, Pandanngo Oasiwas, Lerion Lerion, Maglalatik, Itik-itik, Subli, Antipolo, Bangko, Tinikling and Singkil.
The Dance
Company brought all the guests to their feet in a standing ovation that lasted
ten (10) minutes. The momentous event marked the Bayanihan’s 50th
anniversary since its first international performance on 27th of May
1958 during the Brussels Universal Exposition.
Since its formal organization in 1956, the company has mounted 14 major world tours (of six months to a year in duration) to Asia, Australia, Africa, Europe, the Middle East and the Americas and over a hundred short tours to foreign countries. In half a century Bayanihan has performed in six continents, sixty-six counties and 700 cities worldwide.
Through the years, the company has continually surged to the crest of success. It was the first Filipino group to break into Broadway and the first non-American dance company to perform at the New York State Theater of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. It is a recipient of the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay award for international understanding, the Asian equivalent of the Nobel Prize.
In 2002, they won the Gold Temple Award during the 57th Sagra del Mandorio in Fiore and 47th Festival Internationale del Folklore of Italy.
In 2005, they repeated the feat, winning their second Gold Temple Award in the 60th Sagra del Mandorio in Fiore and the 50th anniversary of the Festival Internazionale del Folklore.
Last year, the Bayanihan won the Primer Premi Mundial (World Prize Winner) in the 55-nation World Folk Dance Festival at La Palma de Mallorca, Spain; and the 7th Gold Bridge Folk Dance competition during the 8th International Buyukcekmece Culture and Art Festival in Istanbul, Turkey.
Bayanihan has indeed awakened a renewed pride among Filipinos in Belgium and Luxembourg in their cultural heritage and has built a rich reserve of international goodwill.
The June 9 event in Brussels was made possible with the support of the Philippine National Commission for Culture and Arts, the Filipino Community in Belgium and Luxembourg and the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs. END
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