Philippines’ riveting performance at the 2007 Dance DC Festival,
Kennedy Center, Washington D.C.
The Fil-Am Dance Ensemble, an ensemble of Fil-am talents (youth and adults) from Migrant
Heritage Commission’s (MHC) Fil-Am Heritage Dance, Ultimate Eskrima International, Mabuhay,
Inc., Fil-Am Ministry of St. Michael , Ilocano Society of America’s (ISA’s) Miss Teen-Philippines U.S.
A. and the Philippine-American Community Partnership, gave a riveting performance before a full
pack (SRO) hall of art enthusiasts at the prestigious John F. Kennedy Center for the performing
Arts in the U.S. capital during the Dance DC Festival’s Dance Asia. The Philippine group had the
largest contingent and was given a standing ovation at the annual festival, participated into by
several countries.
The audience expressed their awe over the Philippines’ performance of Pangalay combined with
Filipino martial arts of stickfighting or arnis and “Kontaw Silat ”, a martial art common in
Southeast Asia linked closely to the Indian, Javanese, Thai, Burmese and Cambodian styles of
classical dancing. Pangalay is a traditional dance of the Tausug people of Jolo, Southern
Mindanao, Philippines which imitates the movements of the sea, birds and trees . The dance
demands much grace and good martial arts skills from the performers.
Dance choreography was the creative work of MHC’s Cultural Adviser Nolly Ceballos, the top
caliber choreographer of the Philippines’ leading and multi-awarded dance theater company,
the Integrated Performing Arts Guild or IPAG, with the arnis techniques courtesy of Ultimate
Eskrima’s Walter and Wesley Crisostomo. The group’s participation was made possible through
Migrant Heritage Commission’s (MHC) Cultural Resource and Support Program under the artistic
guidance & coordination of Ms. Grace Valera, Phil.Embassy's former Cultural Officer/Attaché
and one of MHC’s Executive Directors. Other MHC Executive Directors are Arnedo S. Valera, Esq.
and Jesse A. Gatchalian. MHC’s Cultural Resource and Support Program, a grantee of the DC
Commission on the Arts, aims to bring the beauty of Philippine culture and spread Philippine
goodwill to the American mainstream through participation at high profile and significant events
in the capital and neighboring States.
www.migrantheritage.org
Kennedy Center, Washington D.C.
The Fil-Am Dance Ensemble, an ensemble of Fil-am talents (youth and adults) from Migrant
Heritage Commission’s (MHC) Fil-Am Heritage Dance, Ultimate Eskrima International, Mabuhay,
Inc., Fil-Am Ministry of St. Michael , Ilocano Society of America’s (ISA’s) Miss Teen-Philippines U.S.
A. and the Philippine-American Community Partnership, gave a riveting performance before a full
pack (SRO) hall of art enthusiasts at the prestigious John F. Kennedy Center for the performing
Arts in the U.S. capital during the Dance DC Festival’s Dance Asia. The Philippine group had the
largest contingent and was given a standing ovation at the annual festival, participated into by
several countries.
The audience expressed their awe over the Philippines’ performance of Pangalay combined with
Filipino martial arts of stickfighting or arnis and “Kontaw Silat ”, a martial art common in
Southeast Asia linked closely to the Indian, Javanese, Thai, Burmese and Cambodian styles of
classical dancing. Pangalay is a traditional dance of the Tausug people of Jolo, Southern
Mindanao, Philippines which imitates the movements of the sea, birds and trees . The dance
demands much grace and good martial arts skills from the performers.
Dance choreography was the creative work of MHC’s Cultural Adviser Nolly Ceballos, the top
caliber choreographer of the Philippines’ leading and multi-awarded dance theater company,
the Integrated Performing Arts Guild or IPAG, with the arnis techniques courtesy of Ultimate
Eskrima’s Walter and Wesley Crisostomo. The group’s participation was made possible through
Migrant Heritage Commission’s (MHC) Cultural Resource and Support Program under the artistic
guidance & coordination of Ms. Grace Valera, Phil.Embassy's former Cultural Officer/Attaché
and one of MHC’s Executive Directors. Other MHC Executive Directors are Arnedo S. Valera, Esq.
and Jesse A. Gatchalian. MHC’s Cultural Resource and Support Program, a grantee of the DC
Commission on the Arts, aims to bring the beauty of Philippine culture and spread Philippine
goodwill to the American mainstream through participation at high profile and significant events
in the capital and neighboring States.
www.migrantheritage.org
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