Ati-atihan in Wellington!

ANG GALING GALING!

 

 

 

It happened! Nearly a fortnight ago we posted an open message to our readers appealing for help with raising a small amount of funds to cover the extra cost of shipping costumes from the Philippines to New Zealand in time for the shows. Some of them came through and that act of giving is now paying off handsomely.

 

A nationwide festival being staged alongside the Rugby World Cup 2011 tour nament includes more than 1,000 events all over the country, showcasing New Zealand’s arts, food and wine, heritage, ethnic cultures, enter tainment, indus tries and business, experiences and lifestyle throughout September and Octo ber this year.

 

The Festivale of Carnivale, which is essentially the Wellington Festival inside the wider national festival promises plenty to see on the streets of the capital city. Adding much stimulus to the already rugby mad fans and visitors from other countries is the Philippines’ own lively and colourful dance performance telling the story of the “Ati-atihan” at the Philippines Ati-atihan Festival in Wellington on these schedule dates:

 

Dates	Type	Time	The Venues
17 September	Street Parade	4.30-5.30pm	Westpac Stadium
17 September	Stage Performance	7.30-8.00pm	Fan Zone
24 September	Stage Performance	2.00-2.30pm	Town Hall
25 September	Stage Performance	1.00-1.30pm	Fan Zone

 

The first performance on the 17^th has come and gone and some armchair com mentators on the sidelines with nothing perhaps much better to do believed it would be a less than spectacular showing given an all volunteer dance troupe who’ve never really performed publicly in front of a huge crowd and erstwhile marching and dancing to the beat of drums from Wellington’s Fan Zone all the way to the Westpac Stadium.

 

Performing the mesmeric Ati-atihan in step with each other (that is, all 63 of them together) and donning heavy cos tumes under the sun and gusty winds for a whole hour non-stop on hard pave ment is unforgiving and would certainly zap out anyone’s energy level and enthu siasm. Yet, from reports we’ve received from those who actually saw the actual performance of the dance troupe that day, we’ve heard nothing else but praise.

 

“It was an amazing performance… the choreography was fantastic… the coordi nation was perfect… the costumes were awesome,” were just some of the exub erant feedback received from the aud ience after their performance.

 

So on behalf of the Filipino-Kiwi commu nity in Hamilton and those living in other parts of New Zealand who didn’t have an opportunity to see it for them selves, we’d like to say a resoundingly loud and enthusiastic “Well Done!” to each and all those volunteer performers enumerated below who gave their utmost and very best effort. You’ve made your kababayans across New Zealand extremely proud to be one with you on this occasion.

 

Jet Alabastro	Naomi Palec	Kara Rae Gareza
Ira Geale Castro	Kim Laroza	Beth Jose
Nina Bello	Bernie Del Prado	Wilma Angel
Anrean Anino	Bojo Laroza	Ashelle Managuelod
Tina Guieb	Ace Vicente	Rowel Madrisa
Mariejoe Sinio	Margaret Calvelo	Rachel Everson
Raymond Pacpaco	Mahal Ilingworth	Dina O’Meara
Joshua Nerona	Jenialyn Ayaton	Didith Figuracion
Clara Rubio	Essen Vicente	Briana Liu
Selina Sales	Kim Vicente	Ystefano Ubaldo
Maggie Moreno	John Arcellana	Renzo Ubaldo
Edgardo Tabios	Marc Arcellana	Alessandra Lopez
Dorina Mae Tabios	Tina Guieb	Michael Santos
Rj Robrigado	Lev Kavinta	Vincent Reyes
Novie Sanoria	Jacob Kavinta	Markie Estalilla
Auie Robrigado	Shellah Kavinta	Vincent Reyes
Rosh Ringor	Clark Figuracion	Ronald Evangelista
Jonah	Belinda Bonzon-Liu	Maris Evangelista
Lia Quintans	Mark Smart	Jenalyn Ayaton
Jhem Sinio	Judith Mendoza	Ricky Curato
Janila Gastilo	Roy Estalilla	Sylvia Shirin Zonoobi

 

Considered the Mother of all Philippine festivals, the Ati-atihan holds special meaning not only because it is one of the oldest expressions of group dance but because it tells a deeper story about gratitude, tolerance and friendship between two peoples centuries ago who eventually became one. That’s the significant message that the Filipinos in Wellington wanted to impart to a country they’ve come to hold dear in their hearts.

 

While this particular dance expression has been the basic template used by other communities who’ve made their home in an archipelago in Southeast Asia known as the Pearl of the Orient, their adaptations of the Ati-atihan only captures the revelry and frenetic movements of the original but the story that inspired and gave rise to this unique cultural expression is somewhat diminished. That’s why the organisers and the group who made possible its performance in Wellington for all to see and enjoy chose it. Obviously, they didn’t disappoint their audience.

 

And lest we forget to say a big ‘Thank You’ to the Filipino-Kiwi organisations – Filipino Artists in New Zealand Inc., Bulwagan Foundation Trust and the ARIZE Dance Crew, who all came together to organise this Filipino-inspired cultural dance festival and showcase it to the world during the Rugby World Cup 2011 Festival of Carnivale in Wellington and to selfless people ‘behind-the-scenes’ who quietly provided all forms of support and encouragement to see it through with out asking for anything else in return, who include the following:

 

Names	Nature of Their Valuable Assistance
Inag Alamani	Facilitating the use of their church’s gym – Chris tian Revival Centre – for our practices and rehear sals.
Jet Alabastro, Maggie Moreno	Choreography for the youth part of the perform ance.
Auie Robrigado, Essen Vicente, Josh Nerona	Co-choreographers for the youth part of the performances and coordinated the youth partici pation for this activity, mostly by Auie Robriga do.
Rob Kennedy, Owner of Brumby’s Karori	Provided free bread supplies every Tuesdays and Saturdays.
Au Alba, Filipino staff of Brumby’s	Facilitated the sponsorship of Brumby’s.
Bill Tagupa, Mae Young and Jun Semblaceno	Assisted during the practices, particularly in the choreography of the full performance of the dance troupe consisting of all of 63 members.
Steve and Nida Robertson (WIFS), Annie and Ric Robrigado (FILINARTIZTS), Liza Estalilla (Philippine Embassy)	Food committee during the performances.
Dr. Antong Victorio, Agnes Espineda (Tactics Ltd.), Bulwagan Foundation Trust, Philippine Embassy Staff and Officials headed by Amb. Gee Benavidez, Paul and Wilma Angel, Rowel and Oddie Madrisa, Clark and Didith Figuracion (REAL EXPERIENZ LTD.)	For valuable and timely financial contributiond for the shortfall incurred on the air-freight costs and charges of the costumes from Kalibo, Aklan Philippines all the way to Wellington, New Zea land.
Liza Estalilla and Claire Vicente	Facilitating the purchase of costumes from Kali bo, Aklan in the Philippines.
Beth Jose	For cooking and preparing additional food treats for the volunteers (dancers) and for costume re pairs when required.
Clark Figuracion	Assisting the youth group during their practices, all around help when needed.
Lev, Sheila Kavinta and Jacob Kavinta, Clark Figuracion, Belle Liu and Jonathan Bayot	The Ati-atihan dance festival Drummers Brigade.
Dinna O’Meara	Co-Producer/choreographer of the first part of the performance helping out Producer Didith Ta yawa-Figuracion.
Noel Bautista, Oddie Madrisa, Mico Santos, Josh Nerona, Rhose Lopez, Alan Raga and Noel Bautista	Media, video and photo shoot coordinators.
Karl Quirino (Auckland)	Chief Writer, Editor, Brand Developer, Reputa tion Management Expert, Webmaster, Social Me dia Guru and Community Development Mentor who, on top of providing professional work and advise for free, acted to inspire the organisers to carry on in some creative ways.
The Philippine Embassy	Provided the beautiful ‘Bornean’ costumes.
Dancers	34 volunteers from youth group, FILINARTIZTS members, other volunteers
Judith Mendoza/Liza Estalilla	Costumes Coordinator
Fr. Ambet dela Cruz	Announcement at the church when Didith Taya wa-Figuracion was recruiting volunteers

 

Filipinos in Hamilton raises its hand to salute its valiant brothers and sisters in Wellington for showing the way to other Filipino-Kiwis elsewhere in the country that when we put our minds and hearts together above all else to face daunting challenges we can strive to achieve anything as a united community in New Zea land working as one solid team driven by purpose and an esprit de corps imbued with collaboration, partnership and volunteerism.

 

Simply unbeatable, just like our Rugby World Cup 2011 Champions All Blacks team!

 

Mabuhay sa inyong lahat!

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