Renaisa's Cotillion

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Written on 12:35 AM by DRV

Renaisa's Cotillion was interesting to say the least. I wasn't a guest to the party, but I can safely say that the event was successful.

Mabuhay, mainly the graduating seniors, was invited to perform--so we did three folk dances. Two from the Barrio Fiesta Suite and one from our Southern Islands suite. For Barrio we performed Maglalatik (also known as the "coconut dance") and Sakuting (Mabuhay's trademark dance, done with two sticks to simulate an eskrima war... not really... that's what it's "known for", even though it's known in an incorrect fashion.) Then for the Southern Islands Suite and to close out our performances was Singkil, a Muslim dance -- also known as that one dance with 4 criss-cross bamboo poles with princess and a prince.

It took a lot of preparation to perform such a repertoire for the event. For one thing, to Mabuhay, Maglalatik and Singkil are new dances--and naturally they're more expensive. But seeing as how Mabuhay is both an alumni of Independence and an alumni of Mabuhay, I'm sure we gave her a fatass discount.

My main complaint is that, since we weren't really "guests" per say, we didn't really get treated all that greatly. All the practices for this event were to be at Cataldi Park. Seeing as how I don't drive, I had to take the bus to that park. I wasted more than $10 taking the bus all week. I shouldn't be doing that. I want my fucking car. Anyway, to avoid going off on a tangent, since limited dancers were invited we had to rechoreograph Maglalatik. For those of you who don't really give a damn...CHOREOGRAPHY IS VERY HARD TO PRODUCE. As for Singkil, the last time we performed this dance was April 20th--you got it, PCN.

So when we actually got to the venue, we never really got our own room to dress up in. It's not that big of a deal, but people need to realize how folk dancers work. It's an extremely annoying pet peeve to find your stuff mixed with somebody else's. We organize our equipment by the suite and the dance, but people still mess around with our stuff. I don't see any of us touching any of their fancy barongs, so why should we share a room with people who get touchy anyway? Either way, it wasn't a big deal since we were pretty much locked up in there anyway with nothing to eat. That's pretty much why we filled up on hand food appetizers, because we knew we weren't going to be fed anyway.

When it was time to do Maglalatik, I seriously wasn't ready. I usually have my costume laid out, but that wasn't the case. So when I put my scrubs on, there was a bigass hole in the middle. With Maglalatik, the color of the pants you wear is really specific, so I can't just change. So I just threw on my coconuts and did the dance anyway. It's supposed to be funny.

Singkil was something I was really worrying about, because our entrance requires us to use the bamboos as a chariot for the princess, but the entrance door doesn't allow more than a few feet of height. So I had to crouch while walking with bamboos and a girl on top of them... not easy. A ribbon fell from out of nowhere and threw our prince off, but luckily, he caught himself and Singkil looked to be the strongest performance of the night. It was even louder than the response received by the Tahitian performers.

This is probably the last big floorshow I'll ever have with Mabuhay, then again, maybe it isn't. But if it is, I'm glad it was Singkil that ended our time. Next year's group is gonna have to work hella hard if they wanna leave the same kinds of ripples on Independence the way we did.

The rest of the party was just dancing... Some randomass songs were played, but that's probably because the DJ was a girl. No sexism intended, but the DJ wasn't all that great. I was disappointed from the lack of whistle blowing and ghost riding. Hahaha.

But yeah, this cotillion was actually one of the better shows I've performed in. I just wish we were treated somewhat better. After all, we take time out of our day to provide entertainment and showcase actual CULTURE in a Cotillion--a Filipino tradition. I do appreciate the fact that the debutant went as far as booking us months ahead of time. That's true organization.

And as for the comments I made about sharing the room--again. It's not a problem. If I had to share the room with anybody, I'm glad it was the Debut Court... I know how hard you guys have worked, and I'm not taking any of that away from you. You've all accomplished much.

Anyway, since Gurbir is the one who apparently reads my blogs now, I'm gonna reward him with the next one... which will use gaming as a focal point.

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1 Comment

  1. Anonymous |

    I just saw some videos of those 3 dances on YouTube. All I can say is...awesome. It's amazing how the dancers move so fluidly.

    It sucks that you guys weren't given proper treatment at the cotillion. I mean, you took the time to actually go there and perform those 3 amazing dances. You weren't even given any food before your performance! What the hell?

    But at least your performance and the cotillion were successful. d('_'d)

     

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