‘Pista’ revisited

The merry month of May is almost synonymous to fiesta time, as it’s a season when many of these vibrant town celebrations come to life. Held in honor of a patron saint, it is a religious commemoration but it is also a festive one that focuses on the art and culture of a particular place.

Capturing the color and cheer of such events, choreographers Osias Barroso Jr. and Gerardo Francisco Jr. collaborated for the first time on Pista. Aptly enough, it premiered in Ballet Manila’s Halo-Halo Supreme: A Fiesta of Filipino Ballets in 2008.

Pista puts together Philippine folk dances including tinikling, maglalatik, sayaw sa bangko and subli and traditional games such as patintergo, taguan, sipa, tumbang preso and palo sebo that are given the ballet treatment in a showcase characterized by grace, liveliness and revelry. Adding to the fiesta-like ambience is live musical accompaniment rendered by the band Makiling.

To mark National Heritage Month, we revisit Pista and look at some facets of local culture highlighted in this energetic choreography.

Photos by Ocs Alvarez

Lisa Macuja Elizalde and Nazer Salgado test their mettle in the tinikling. Tinikling mimics the quick movements of the tikling bird as it walks through grass and dodges bamboo traps.

Here’s Alvin Santos showing how luksong lubid or jump rope is done, ballet-style. In this traditional children’s game, two players hold the ends of a long rope and swing it in a continuous circle while other players take turns leaping over it in rhythm.

Jerome Espejo and Mylene Aggabao perform a pas de deux with a twist – the sayaw sa bangko. This folk dance sees the couple performing on a narrow bench, moving from one end to the other, and even exchanging places in a remarkable show of balance.

Gerardo Francisco Jr. is the lead performer in the maglalatik, a folk dance from Laguna that uses coconut shell halves strapped to the dancers’ bodies which are struck together to create rhythmic percussion.

This number is inspired by the subli, a folk dance from Batangas where the female dancers walk on their half-toes while performing refined, delicate wrist and finger gestures.

Performing the subli, men leap, crouch, and strike the ground while using wooden clappers.

A pair of young men engage in a battle of palo sebo where contestants must outdo each other in climbling a tall, greased bamboo pole.

Courtship rituals are echoed in a vignette where suitors vie for the affection of a young woman through a display of their skills.