SPA's First Multi-Cultural Dance Workshop

Tired yet super excited from a three-hour land travel from the North Bus Terminal to the port of Hagnaya, the three of us – Marlon, Jeff and this writer – boarded the Island Express boat bound for Santa Fe, Bantayan, last Friday afternoon.

We arrived at the island by seven in the evening and the travel went through with yet another twenty-minute jeepney ride to Saint Paul Academy, a secondary school run by the Augustinians, spearheaded by principal Sr. Fleda Palma.

We were graciously received by the faculty that night, represented by Gaspar BatolBatol, dance troupe adviser of the said school.

The purpose of the visit was to conduct a three-day dance workshop for students and Physical Education teachers of SPA. The school has been a great visionary for the arts. And with over a year of preparation, the dance troupe organized a fundraiser for the workshop.

The school’s dance troupe has been alive and kicking for some time now but they felt the need for a different boost to update themselves with newer dance routines.

This writer was tasked to be the resource speaker for the whole workshop, where the school principal specifically requested for a multi-cultural dance program of activities to be introduced to the group. To assist the three-day task were protegees Marlon Flores, a fresh graduate and a member of the UV Dance Troupe, and Jeffrey Berberes, BS Marine Engineering student of CSCST Main Campus. The “odd” team eventually pulled together as it successfully trained more than a hundred dance workshop participants of SPA. 

Included in the roster of dance activities were Filipino folk dances Karatong, Polkabal, Asik, Dinnuya, and Komintang; Latin ballroom Cha-Cha-Cha and Samba; Asian dances Sering Ponglang (Thai) and Madizone (Cambodian Line Dance), Jazz, Creative dancing, and Modern Popular dance. The workshop also included lectures in Dance and Rhythm, Staging and Choreography.

The workshop ended without incident save for the very fulfilling culminating activity held on the third day.

The workshop was intended to improve the talents of the participants who will eventually become the main performers for their upcoming dance recital sometime during the last quarter of the schoolyear.

At this point, the organizers and the SPA dance troupe headed by their president Chela — are preparing for production costs. The commitment stems from their desire to pull a multi-cultural dance show before they would graduate from the institution as SPA never had a show of this projected magnitude.

With the full support of the school administration and their parents, anything is possible.

If so, then, see you in Bantayan.