As I'm writing this, I am transcoding the videos I took during the Dinagyang Ati competition last week. I can hear the sound of drums beating blaring through the speakers so that puts me in the Dinagyang mood once again.
Em and Anna flew in from Manila to experience what Dinagyang (the vernacular for "merrymaking") was like for the first time. I, on the other hand, was as excited as they were. As a child growing up, I had always enjoyed the beating of the drums, the painted faces and the colorful costumes that would pervade the city especially during the Ati competition. But since college, I was away from home every January, hence I always missed out on the Dinagyang fun.
According to Sue, my scrooge of Dinagyang of a friend, once you've seen one Dinagyang celebration, you've seen them all but I absolutely refuse to agree with her. The closest comparison I can draw to my affinity with Dinagyang would be my US-based relatives' fascination for basketball. If they have their Houston Rockets or their Sacramento Kings, I have tribes I personally root for.
I was somewhat disappointed to see that Binirayan, my personal choice, had never made a comeback ever since they claimed they were cheated of the championship several years ago. This year's contest was definitely more difficult since the open and barangay categories were lumped into just one major category. Up against stiffer competiton, the tribes this year were more innovative when it came to sounds, steps, movement, choreography and, of course, gimmick. Aside from the staple drums, they now incorporated tube-like percussion, cymbals, chimes, xylophones and even brasswind instruments. The crowd favorites were, as usual, mortal enemies Tribu Silak and Bola-Bola, the reigning champion, who were greeted with resounding screams and applause even before they performed. But perhaps what totally floored me this year were two tribes which, I confess, I had never heard of before. One was Tribu ni San Pedro of Fort San Pedro National High School which had two costume changes. The other, Tribu Ilonganon of Jalandoni National High School, was the obvious crowd pleaser, the dark horse, if I were allowed to call it that. Their entry was not marked with a significant amount of enthusiasm but they ended with everybody in the audience screaming their lungs out. They were able to combine awesome choreography with a bit of fanfare. For instance, at one point, they were able to pass out little Santo Ninos to all the dancers (about 60-70 in number) in a matter of minutes without the audience noticing. Then in a rather quick gesture, they assembled all of the images of the Child Jesus into neat lines on a shelf behind them. And they did this without looking harried or harrassed! Thus it became no shock to us when it was announced that they were this year's champion with Silak placing second, Bola-Bola landing third and Tribu ni San Pedro awarded fourth.
After three hours and twenty tribes composed of scantily-dressed painted guys dancing in front of you, Em and Anna felt bad that they were not able to have pictures taken with the Atis. So we went on an invented game I called "Ati-chasing." Usually, the dancers would walk around downtown still donning their Ati costumes, perhaps because their adrenaline is still pretty high. It was a pretty normal sight that no one usually bothered to go up to them. Em and Anna were like kids let loose in a toy store. We found remnants of four tribes wandering around downtown, with one group even toting a bag of Tanduay, eager to get the real "dagyang" started. Em and Anna had pictures taken with them and they realized that some of the dancers were actually very young. The Ati dancers themselves were rather surprised to see Em and Anna go up to them and ask for a photo op but they relented. Em was desperate to have a photo taken with just her and one dancer still dressed in his full Ati regalia. She had two rejects first before a 15-year old dancer finally complied...because I practically begged him to. We finally realized that was not such a good idea, given the way he looked in the photo. The one who posed with Anna seemed to enjoy the attention, though.
There were a lot of celebrities which made their appearance during the festivities. A truck carried the now-famous thirteen housemates of Pinoy Big Brother with Commander Nene at the helm. She looked pretty in person actually...in the same way that Uma, Cass and crush-ng-bayan Sam were gorgeous. The Lettermen serenaded the crowd with two Filipino songs which got the oldies smiling. But what got the young ones craning their necks was Dennis Trillo. I did not get to see him up close. I only got to see a bit of his profile and a lot of his back but I have to say, he's "talikod-genic!"
According to Sue, my scrooge of Dinagyang of a friend, once you've seen one Dinagyang celebration, you've seen them all but I absolutely refuse to agree with her. The closest comparison I can draw to my affinity with Dinagyang would be my US-based relatives' fascination for basketball. If they have their Houston Rockets or their Sacramento Kings, I have tribes I personally root for.
I was somewhat disappointed to see that Binirayan, my personal choice, had never made a comeback ever since they claimed they were cheated of the championship several years ago. This year's contest was definitely more difficult since the open and barangay categories were lumped into just one major category. Up against stiffer competiton, the tribes this year were more innovative when it came to sounds, steps, movement, choreography and, of course, gimmick. Aside from the staple drums, they now incorporated tube-like percussion, cymbals, chimes, xylophones and even brasswind instruments. The crowd favorites were, as usual, mortal enemies Tribu Silak and Bola-Bola, the reigning champion, who were greeted with resounding screams and applause even before they performed. But perhaps what totally floored me this year were two tribes which, I confess, I had never heard of before. One was Tribu ni San Pedro of Fort San Pedro National High School which had two costume changes. The other, Tribu Ilonganon of Jalandoni National High School, was the obvious crowd pleaser, the dark horse, if I were allowed to call it that. Their entry was not marked with a significant amount of enthusiasm but they ended with everybody in the audience screaming their lungs out. They were able to combine awesome choreography with a bit of fanfare. For instance, at one point, they were able to pass out little Santo Ninos to all the dancers (about 60-70 in number) in a matter of minutes without the audience noticing. Then in a rather quick gesture, they assembled all of the images of the Child Jesus into neat lines on a shelf behind them. And they did this without looking harried or harrassed! Thus it became no shock to us when it was announced that they were this year's champion with Silak placing second, Bola-Bola landing third and Tribu ni San Pedro awarded fourth.
After three hours and twenty tribes composed of scantily-dressed painted guys dancing in front of you, Em and Anna felt bad that they were not able to have pictures taken with the Atis. So we went on an invented game I called "Ati-chasing." Usually, the dancers would walk around downtown still donning their Ati costumes, perhaps because their adrenaline is still pretty high. It was a pretty normal sight that no one usually bothered to go up to them. Em and Anna were like kids let loose in a toy store. We found remnants of four tribes wandering around downtown, with one group even toting a bag of Tanduay, eager to get the real "dagyang" started. Em and Anna had pictures taken with them and they realized that some of the dancers were actually very young. The Ati dancers themselves were rather surprised to see Em and Anna go up to them and ask for a photo op but they relented. Em was desperate to have a photo taken with just her and one dancer still dressed in his full Ati regalia. She had two rejects first before a 15-year old dancer finally complied...because I practically begged him to. We finally realized that was not such a good idea, given the way he looked in the photo. The one who posed with Anna seemed to enjoy the attention, though.
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