ILOILO City – Will defending champion Tribu Panayanon of Iloilo City National High School succeed in keeping its Dinagyang Festival crown?
It will be seeing action with seven other contingents in today’s dagyang tribes competition, the main attraction of the annual Dinagyang.
The main performance area starting this year is the new Iloilo City Dinagyang Grandstand on Muelle Loney Street. The old Iloilo Freedom Grandstand on nearby JM Basa Street had been demolished to give way to the revival of Sunburst Park.
The Iloilo Dinagyang Foundation, Inc. (IDFI) encourages the use of dagyang as the term for the dance competition.
“Dagyang depicts Ilonggo heritage, particularly its indigenous roots (Ati), Christianization (Santo Niño) and the merry-making of the Ilonggo (dagyang). If we focus on the Ati alone, we won’t be able to explore our other cultural practices,” explained Annie Divinagracia-Sartorio of the Dinagyang Arts Festival Committee.
The competition begins after a 6 a.m. mass at the San Jose de Placer Church in
Plaza Libertad.
There are four other performance areas: in front of the Iloilo provincial capitol, Quezon-Ledesma streets, Maria Clara-Aldeguer streets, and Plaza Libertad.
Dinagyang is Iloilo City’s version of the Ati-atihan celebrations widely observed not only in Panay Island but also in other parts of the country. It may not be as ancient as the one in Kalibo, Aklan but it is known more for its participants’ impressive choreography and striking costumes that reflect the ingenuity, craftsmanship and artistry of the Ilonggos.
The seven contingents hopeful of snatching the Dinagyang crown from Tribu Panayanon are the following:
* Tribu Salognon of Jaro National High School
* Tribu Ilonganon of Jalandoni National High School
* Tribu Dagatnon of Ramon Avanceña National High School
* Tribu Paghidaet of La Paz National High School
* Tribu Hugponganon of Barangay Lanit, Jaro and Tiu Cho Teg Ana Ros Integrated School
* Tribu Pan-ay of Fort San Pedro National High School, and
* Tribu Barriohanon of Bo. Obrero, Lapuz district and Bo. Obrero National High school
There are also special/minor awards for best headdress, costume design, choreography, music, discipline, and street-dancing.
The performances will center on various cultural practices of the Ilonggos, said Sartorio.
She organized a workshop for tribe managers and choreographers last year in preparation for this year’s festival.
These cultural practices included abi abi (festive welcome), paghigugma (courtship), pagtipon (gathering), bayluhanay (barter), pag-intindihanay (understanding), pagsinadya (celebration), paghirupay (closeness), hinampang (play), pagpahanggud (rites of passage), paghalad (offering), pagtuo (faith), pag–amliganay (nurturing), pag-uniungay (unity), and pagtaud (link).
There are two non-competing tribes: Tribu Bola-Bola of Iloilo National High School and Tribu Miru of the Indigenous Community from Barotac Viejo and Anilao towns in Iloilo province.
Dinagyang is the Hiligaynon word for revelry or merrymaking. The revelry started in 1967 when a replica of the image of the Santo Niño de Cebu was brought from Cebu to the San Jose de Placer Church here.
The image, accompanied by devotees from Cebu, was enthusiastically received by the Ilonggos who danced on the streets of the city to the tune of rumbling drums.
In 1968, the festival was formally launched. Today is its 51st edition.
Tribu Panayanon won last year’s competition at the expense of then defending champion Tribu Salognon that scored a back-to-back victory in the 2016 and 2017 editions of the Dinagyang.
Its 2018 triumph was a sweet revenge of sort for Panayanon that embarrassingly lost its championship title to Salognon in 2016 because of violations in the measurement of props used.
Panayanon also bagged a slew of minor awards in last year’s golden or 50th year of Dinagyang– best in music, choreography and performance.
The victory earned for Panayanon the right to represent Dinagyang Festival and Iloilo City in the 2018 Aliwan Fiesta in Metro Manila – an annual competition of the country’s best festivals.
The champion of this year’s dagyang competition will win P350,000 cash prize plus trophy.
The first runner-up will get P300,000; second runner-up, P250,000; third runner-up, P200,000; and fourth runner-up, P150,000.
There will be three consolation prizes of P70,000 each.
Minor awards such as Best in Performance, Best in Choreography, Best in Music, and Best in Costume have corresponding cash prizes of P15,000 each while Best in Street Dancing will receive P25,000.
For the special awards, winners will get P10, 000 each for being Best in Discipline, the Best Choreographer, Best Musical Director, Best Headdress, and Best Costume Designers./PN
