‘Tour of the Colonial’
at USLS today

The “2014 Tour of the Colonial,” a two-day solo dance performance was held at the Gallaga Theater of the University of St. La Salle in Bacolod City last night, and will be performed at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. today, also at the USLS.
         
“Colonial” is a multi sensorial and transnational solo dance-theater presentation by a group of Filipino and Filipino-Canadian artists from Vancouver, Canada, led by Alvin Tolentino.

It examines the history of colonialism in the Philippines through dance and theater - from the time of the Babaylans, to the Katipuneros, to the modern Filipinos - how the Filipino, as a race, has evolved from its colonial times to the present era.
         
Co-director Dennis Guba said the show, which is a fusion of dance and theater, to be performed by Tolentino, whose background is in contemporary dance, will run for about an hour.

He said the first section of the performance is called “Babaylan,” that is a series of scenes that focus on the important role of a babaylan before the colonizers came.
The “Katipunero, Katipunera” act is where they try to investigate the participation of unknown katipuneros in many barangays in the Philippines, Guba said.

“We used the book ‘Pasyon and Rebolusyon’ by historian Reynaldo Ileto in understanding the historical context of passion and personae of the particular event that transpired during the turn of the century Philippines and how important the kapitupenos and katipuneras were in advancing our revolution,” he said.

Guba said the last section of the performance is hinged on the metaphor of light or “sinag,” and they have contextualized the body of Tolentino as a Filipino-Canadian and the artist who created this performance in the contemporary situation.

It is also hinged on the idea of returning, remembering and moving forward, he said.

“I personally believe in the politics of forgiveness. We forgive so that healing can come in. In our process, it is very important to look into the politics of forgiveness. How do we move forward from that, to heal ourselves from this colonial trauma,” Guba said.

They also hope to give an artist talk after the performance, he said.

Guba and Tolentino, founder and head of the Vancouver-based CO. Erasga, are both of the Faculty of Arts of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada.
Guba said the first leg of the show was held in Lipa, Batangas, and after Bacolod, they will perform in Bulacan and in Manila.

The Bacolod performance was organized by Councilor Jocelle Batapa-Sigue, chair of the Sangguniang Panlungsod Committee on Tourism, Local and International Cooperation, with the city government, USLS-Bacolod Artists Hub, and the Bacolod Girl Scout Council.*CGS 

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WNU joins DyHB
bloodletting program

The West Negros University faculty and students joined the bloodletting activity recently of the RMN-DyHB “Patak ng Dugo, Tatak sa Puso” and Negros First Provincial Blood Center, to address the increasing demand for blood in Bacolod City, a press release from the school said.
         
University administrator Ryan Mark Molina and National Service Training Program head Ernan Encarnado led the faculty, staff and NSTP students in the activity, where more than 100 bags of blood were extracted, the press release also said.
         
The campaign for blood donation was in partnership with RMN-DyHB, in line with its 62nd founding anniversary. The blood bags were turned over to the NFPBC, that is reportedly having a hard time collecting blood due to lack of donors.
         
WNU has been a Sandugo awardee in past years for its support to the bloodletting program. Molina said he is eyeing the holding of bloodletting activities twice or thrice.
         
RMN-DyHB station manager Jeony Bigay and program director Serge Santillan thanked the Wesnecan community for the partnership, and expressed hope for more collaboration in the future, the press release also said.
         
Marian Pama and Rowena Deocampo of NFPBC lauded the support of the school to the voluntary blood program, the press release added.*

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