After all the joy and fun during a day in the sun on Saturday April 28, beneath the horizon as fog swept over Skyline College, so began the 3rd annual Pilipino Cultural Night – Parting Ways.
When I got my ticket stub and sat down in my seat I looked at all directions of my D-pad (up down, left right) and felt rather alone. As if everyone else in this room but me is Filipino. But to my surprise I saw a few other people that didn’t look like it was their night. However, by the end of the show I felt like I was a part of the PCN that somehow I, a Pakistani-American, found myself in the performance.
The story that blanketed the night was quite simple. College student Ignacio (Nacio), played by Thomas Vallero, hears news from home that his grandfather has passed away. The last time Nacio faced his grandfather, played by E. Concepcion, was in an argument questioning the grandfather’s truths behind his hidden past.
Upon his return home Nacio is greeted by his ‘brat’ cousin and gossip hungry aunts. His mother and grandmother ask him to respectfully deliver his Grandfather’s Eulogy that it was requested for Nacio to present himself at the funeral. Nacio is upset and confused since he last fought with his grandfather over questions he never got an answer to, so how will he be able to speak on friendly terms for him.
It’s homecoming for Nacio meaning a break from school and his girlfriend. His younger cousin Jell, encourages him to visit her at her Pilipino Cultural performance, yes there’s a Pilipino Cultural night within the cultural night where the dancing and fun breaks out. From Tinikling to hip-hop coordination the stage was filled with adrenaline and really loud music. I personally enjoyed the Tinikling as well as Kulintang Ensemble which I enjoyed very much. It made me feel like I was in The Legend of Zelda: “The Wind Waker”, which felt pretty cool.
The hip-hop dance numbers, which included Buttons by the Pussy Cat Dolls, were entertaining but quite useless in terms or representing Filipino culture. Maybe most Filipinos in the Bay Area get it, but I didn’t learn anything from watching a bunch of colleagues dance to Janet Jackson or the Pussy Cat… dolls.
Without giving away too much of the story that night, otherwise you would have a free show presented in this newspaper, Nacio learns the truth behind his grandfathers past with even more interesting village flash back interpretive dance routine “In the Past” where a bunch of girls danced with leaves and guys danced with sticks. It was the minor pieces of the dance culture that gave this night its strength in representing the Filipino cultures.
A lot can be seen when you are watching cultural grace presented through dance.
I felt that there was more of the ethnicity that didn’t shine in that night than it should have. The show could have been stronger without the hip-hop routines, and if they were quicker with moving the sets. Nothing sucks more than waiting for the sets to change between scenes.
What brought me to the feeling that I was presented in the show was perhaps the warm strange, but slightly, annoying feeling of being home with the gossiping aunts. Despite this being a presentation of the general Filipino home, it felt as that same general home situation with the aunts can be seen in any other home.
Maybe Filipino culture isn’t unique when compared to others, but on its own the Islands float on a sturdy platform.
By the end of the show I was laughing at all the jokes and was almost going to get up to give a shout out that would never be heard over the other shout outs to all mah peeps just like what everyone else in the audience was doing.
Maybe I felt like I understood all the jokes and slang and style because I grew up in the Bay Area. I just know how these people act and how they’re going to pull of a show. I would give it one “aiite”, and 3 “yaddidamean”.
