A mixture of dance, culture, and fun

Lights flash; a steady beat fills the air. A voice from the microphone sounded: "Hello...Hello, the Filipino Cultural Society's 7th annual Fiestang Filipina is about to begin."

A silence passed over the crowd and the show commenced. Four couples took the stage and engaged in a mesmerizing dance. Each of the female dancers balanced a glass that held lit candles atop her head with incredible poise and precision.

The dance, called Pandanggo Sa Ilaw, was a testament to the Spanish influence in the region. The name of the dance itself has its origin in the Spanish word, Fandango, a dance that is both rhythmic and animated. This dance, choreographed by J.P Fontelo and Tanya Santos, proved to be a delight to watch and left many in the audience wondering if they too could master the act of balancing glasses on their heads.

As these dancers exited the stage, the vibrant beauty of colored costumes on new dancers entering from the right made a vivid impression on the audience. These young women, a guest group from the Iskwelahang Pilipino school in Bedford, balanced intricately woven baskets on top of their heads and danced in celebration of a marriage. Their motions were meant to mimic walking through rice terraces and the warding off of cold air. The dances each highlighted a unique sense of symbolism, interwoven magnificently with traditional folklore.

The harvest, or season of thanksgiving, provides an occasion for tribal celebration. The dance that followed, Bumayah, choreographed by Aaron Chiu and Marissa Simonelli, was performed with a sense of exotic mysticism in honor of the god Kabunian, for a bountiful crop of rice. The song was playfully animated with several dancers' movements replicating the scratching of the ground by roosters.

Dugso is also a dance performed in honor of the deities. The dance consists of female dancers dressed in colored blue and purple fabrics. The shoes of the dancers provide a steady beat, which accompanies and further accentuates the dancer's movements.

The centerpiece of the night's performance came in the form of Tinikling, the national dance of the Philippines. Tinikling represents the movement of tikling birds as they move amongst grass stems, run over tree branches, or try and skillfully avoid bamboo traps set by rice farmers. The dance featured performers who clapped very long, thin bamboo poles together; these performers did this sitting on their knees while other dancers hopped to and fro between the poles, carefully maneuvering in and out before the poles snapped together again. The dance was skillfully performed, reflecting the deep commitment and practice each of the dancers had given to this unusual art.

Later, in a powerful spoken word piece titled Balikbayan Blues -- written and performed by sophomore Lynda Turet -- the oppression of the Filipino people was powerfully felt. The poem is a narrative of a bittersweet homecoming to the Philippines, one that forces her to balance two identities -- her Filipino and her American self. Here at home, brown faces are "everywhere and everything." What proceeds is an interesting mixture of chaotic anger at being unable to avenge the suffering of her people caused by Western Imperialism and the perplexing fact that she still exists as an American, brand name sneakers and all.

The last dance of the evening was a modern Filipino dance called "Halo-Halo," which was also the theme of this year's show. Halo-halo is a traditional Filipino dessert and is a mixture of fruits, milk, and ice. The word literally means "mix-mix," and aptly describes the diverse Filipino culture and the show itself, especially the last performance. In the last dance, the air became infused with the commanding bass of rap and techno music, including James Beddingfield's "Gotta Get Thru This" and 50 Cent's "In Da Club." Before the audience's eyes a fascinating phenomena unfolded. The complex and evolving identity of each of these students was revealed, an identity, which consists of maintaining the tenuous equilibrium between their Filipino and American identities.