Pilipino Culture Night looks to teach audiences, participants
By Daily Bruin Staff
May 17, 2001 9:00 p.m.
 MARY HOLSCHER Larissa Dizon, a
third-year psychology student practices a traditional Pilipino
dance in preparation for Samahang Pilipino Culture Night on
Wednesday.
By Michael Rosen-Molina
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
It’s not quite the silver anniversary, but it’s
getting close.
On Saturday night, the 24th annual Pilipino Cultural Night,
presented by UCLA’s Samahang Pilipino, will take place in
Royce Hall. The intensive preparation process for the event began
almost immediately after last year’s show ended.
“The program is geared to educate the audience in a way
that can’t be achieved through other means,” said
fifth-year chemical engineering student Sam Laranang. “This
event is a multimedia tool, with dance, script and music.
They’re all expressions of Pilipino American culture.
“The university lacks the resources for cultural
enrichment,” Laranang continued. “This is the next best
thing. Samahang Pilipino takes it upon itself to educate as much as
possible. We only have one show a year, but it’s always
solid.”
The show, titled “Re.Solve,” includes demonstrations
of five different dance techniques: modern, rural, Muslim, Igorot
and Maria Clara.
According to Samahang Pilipino, rural dances are popular
attractions in festivals in the Pilipino countryside. Igorot dances
are performed by indigenous peoples of the Philippines, who mostly
live in mountainous regions untouched by colonialism. Maria Clara
is a dance brought to the Philippines by Spanish colonialists; it
is often performed by women of the elite class in elaborate
costumes.
Laranang works as the director of the Muslim dance portion of
the show. Muslim dances come from the southern provinces of the
Philippines, most notably Mindanao.
“Most of the Philippines is Catholic,” Laranang
said. “Mindanao was not as much affected by Spanish
colonialism and remained Muslim.”
The Muslim dances that will appear in the Pilipino Culture Night
are original compositions by Samahang Pilipino members, composed of
different traditional dances.
The event features orchestral, indigenous and rondalla music.
The rondalla is a stringed instrument with some Spanish
influence.
The scripted portion of the show is different than in previous
years in that it consists of four vignettes rather than one
over-arching story.
“They all explore the relationship with the spirit of our
Pilipino ancestors, and how that affects us as Pilipino
Americans,” said fourth-year electrical engineering student
Coco Penetrante. “The vignettes traverse back in time to see
how the spirit has influenced Pilipino identity, especially now
being in a country far removed from the motherland.”
Determined that involvement in the show should be more than just
an opportunity to educate the audience, Samahang Pilipino leaders
wanted the participants to learn about their Pilipino heritage
through the event. Students involved in the show were required to
attend academic and cultural workshops and to meet with a Samahang
Pilipino Education and Retention counselor before beginning work on
the production.
SPEAR is a program run by Samahang Pilipino that provides peer
counseling, tutoring, study halls, resume writing workshops,
internships and mentorship programs.
“The academic workshops were to keep the performers on
track for studies,” Penetrante said. “We have the
culture workshops because Pilipino Culture Night is not just a
night, it’s also a process. We don’t want participants
to leave thinking just “˜Yeah, I got to dance.’ We want
them to leave having learned something about what it means to be
Pilipino. This makes it a more holistic experience.”
Although Penetrante sees “Re.Solve” as an
examination of the Pilipino condition, she stressed that the show
was far from the final word on such matters.
“We’re not trying to define what it means to be
Pilipino,” Penetrante said. “We’re trying to have
the audience look within themselves and learn to know its own
spirituality.”
EVENT: “Re.Solve” will show at
Royce Hall on Saturday at 6 p.m. Admission is free. For ticket
information contact Samahang Pilipino (310) 825-2727.
