I immediately contacted Suzie Moya-Benitez, executive director of the Bayanihan Philippine National Dance Company with my SOS.
So here they are telling us their unforgettable experiences. Let the curtain rise.
Mel Capistrano-Alonzo
Past CEO of PAG-IBIG and entrepreneur
As a Bayanihan dancer, I had so many memorable encounters with interesting people in wonderful places. Looking back, some 40 years since my first performance, the dinner reception at the lovely home of Don Andres Soriano where his guests of honor were then the newly-married Prince Juan Carlos de Borbon of Spain and Princess Sofia of Greece – today’s King and Queen of Spain – truly stands out. The young couple were on their honeymoon cruise that included Manila as a port of call. I remember it all, how we danced on the spacious lanai beside the huge swimming pool while the audience sat comfortably on the grassy area with the royals in the center of the first row. I simply could not keep my eyes off them.
During the second to the last number, one of the binasuan dancers accidentally dropped a glass and broken pieces were scattered all over. But Bayanihan dancers are excellently trained for such mishaps. Instinctively, someone immediately took a wet cloth and acting as though it was part of the show, cleaned and cleared up the splinters before the finale in all our repertoires – the tinikling.
Be that as it may, we were thinking, "Oh no, not tonight," but the accident could have been due to the excitement over the guests. Unfortunately, not all the fragmented pieces got mopped up. In no time the background music of the tinikling was on and so was I. As I began to jump in and out of the clapping bamboo poles, several sharp broken glass chips painfully pierced my right upper sole. "No matter what happens, the show must go on" is a cardinal rule of the Bayanihan. I had no choice – I kept on dancing, bravely smiling while the nasty little slivers continued to dig in. The tempo increased rapidly, the pain intensified in earnest. I had to bounce and glide, skip and sway on my toes to avoid further embedding the tiny glass into my sole. By sheer strong will and determination, I pranced to the last beat, joined the curtain call with the biggest grin while blood – lots of blood – kept oozing from my right food. I don’t know how I exited but all I recall was the comforting embrace of Mommy Urtula. It was indeed a night to remember!
Nina Lim-Yuson
President and CEO of the Museo Pambata Foundation, Inc.
While I was looking through my Bayanihan photo albums on the two world tours I was on, a couple of never-to-be-forgotten events came to mind – the celebration of my 15th birthday twice in two different continents and our homestays in upstate New York.
Being the youngest in the group – I was then 14, second year high school at Philippine Women’s University – I was treated like the baby of the family. So when I turned 15 in New York City on the 24th of December, we also had our Christmas party at the Social Hall of the Columbia Artist Center where the renowned Filipino concert pianist Reynaldo Reyes played Happy Birthday on the piano. Don’t ask me why, but a month later we celebrated what everyone came to know as my "second birthday" at the Theater de Paris where we performed for almost four weeks.
In Rochester, New York, I was assigned to stay with the Beyer family whose daughter Trudi was about my age – around 16 – who I corresponded with for a while and who hoped to be a Peace Corps volunteer. My cozy bedroom was in their attic and the scenery from there was so relaxing as their house faced a lake. I could even hear the birds in the morning. I felt so welcomed in this very hospitable family. While the other Bayanis performed, I spoke before different groups. These were memorable as I was among my peers – high school students – and had the opportunity to talk about my country. We called this our goodwill mission. I think they were quite impressed with the Bayanihan, as we were well-mannered, spoke fluent English and, most of all, we enjoyed ourselves.
Suzie Moya-Benitez
Executive director of the Bayanihan, Philippine National Dance Company
I will always remember my first European swing as the first stop of a year-long world tour – the snowfall, the elegant theaters, the pluie de confetti, the buotonnieres and the acquaintances with prima donnas and prima ballerinas – the raves of Europe and the Americas. But most of all, I treasure our pilgrimage to Lourdes. I will never forget that cold peaceful morning when we entered the old quarter where the shrine is located. The grotto was a beautiful and an awesome place – tranquil and serene. Hundreds of pilgrims like us knelt before the very spot where our Lady appeared to Bernadette Soubirous – everyone in prayer.
The coast to coast tour of America in 2001 was Bayanihan’s first professional undertaking in the US after an absence of 13 years. We had 69 performances in 77 days. Three days after I returned to the Philippines with the dance company, I received another invitation from Columbia Artists for yet another US tour. Can you believe it? Of course, as executive director, winning the Golden Temple, the highest award given in Sicily, Italy early last year, is likewise unforgettable.
Naming the most memorable personality I danced with or danced for is a tall order for there were just too many we met in the course of all our travels. We can start with the Holy Father, the Pope at the Vatican where we sang the Our Father during a special private audience and extended the invitation to visit our islands. We had a command performance for the Queen of Spain. While still recovering from the untimely tragic death of Princess Grace, Prince Rainier of Monaco came to our show in Monte Carlo.
Edith Oliveros
Founder of Philippine School of Interior Design
My memorable experience would include the designated Philippine Day at the Brussels Expo where the program garnered rave reviews from the local tri-media. It certainly gave me a tingling sensation when early in the morning, as we arrived at the Expo grounds, we saw the Philippine flag proudly displayed at the entrance gate. Of course, I remember the outstanding performances and the fantastic comments received after the show. Everybody got so excited about how a young and unknown dance company could draw such a wide enthusiastic response from the crowd. This wonderful feeling was duplicated a thousand times through the years. But it began in Brussels – the very first and naturally the most significant.
The personalities I remember most are television host Ed Sullivan who interviewed the group for his show and John Wayne for whom we performed during his visit to Manila.
Mayor Jose "Lito" Atienza
Mayor of the City of Manila
I have always been impressed with Sydney, Australia and Malacañang Palace. And my most impressive personality – the newly-elected President Ferdinand Marcos.
We danced during his presidential inaugural ball where he called me by my first name and shared stories with me about him and my father.
Upon seeing the Bayanihan dancers who were all dressed up and eating in the kitchen of the palace, he immediately instructed his aide that whenever Bayanihan members perform, we should use the library for our meals. He then proceeded to greet everyone. He later ordered the Philippine Constabulary band who by this time was packing up to play once again so he and the First Lady could dance.
I thought then – remember I was once young – that he could be the best Filipino president ever. To my disappointment, he declared martial law, grabbed more power and extended his rule for 20 years which, as everybody knows, ruined the country’s economy.
Beng Ilagan-Atienza
First Lady of the City of Manila and executive director, Kababaihan ng Maynila
Just like my husband, the most impressive place for me is Sydney, Australia and most impressive person – Mayor Antonio Villegas.
With his colorful shirt on, Mayor Villegas appeared at the backstage of the Sydney Opera House after the gala performance and shook my hand. Little did I know that one day, some day a future mayor who dons colorful shirts as well, would not only shake my hand but ask for my hand in marriage and remain a faithful husband to this day.
Cheche Lim-Lazaro
Pioneer and recipient of several awards in broadcasting
The most memorable person I have met during my travels with the Bayanihan is Indonesia’s Megawatti Sukarnoputri. And I have unforgettable memories of Bali. I visited when it was nothing – only dirt roads. But just after a few years, I returned and it was beautifully developed. It’s paradise.
Erlynn Bernardez-Campos
Binibining Pilipinas International 1974 and actively involved in several humanitarian projects and associations such as CARE Philippines and Habitat for Humanity.
I remember with fondness when we performed for the Ed Sullivan Show in New York. We stayed up till the wee hours of the morning repeating certain sequences of particular dances required to be captured on tape for the top rated American television show.
On January 21, 1971, we danced and sang at the National Opera House in Oslo, Norway before a packed audience headed by the Norwegian Monarch, King Olov, Crown Princess Sonya and Princess Ragnhild. And we had the honor and privilege of meeting the royals backstage at the end of the gala performance.
And how can I ever forget Easter Sunday 1971 at Theater de Champs Elysee in Paris. We never had such a warm and appreciative audience. Imagine 21 curtain calls for singkil, 29 curtain calls for tinikling and a standing ovation with bouquets and more bouquets of flowers plus a shower of roses.
Diana Carlos Sy-Quia
Homemaker
I will never forget Shefayim in the early spring of 1960. It was Israel’s premier kibbutz for visiting artists from all over the world. As such, it was "home" to the Bayanihan Philippine National Dance Company – all 52 of us, dancers, musicians and staff – as we danced and sang in theaters and makeshift stages bringing colorful glimpses of our own distinct culture to enthusiastic audiences in Tel-Aviv and Haifa. In the midst of worrisome, mounting tension between the Jews and the Arabs, we absorbed and felt the hopeful, tenacious and enviable commitment of its citizens to the ideals of nation-building.
Dawn at the kibbutz was busy as our hosts went about their duties of planting, cooking, teaching and care-giving to infants and the elders. Majority of their strong and the young marched out to join other groups for training in military tactics and defense. Twilight saw them coming back singing inspiring freedom songs. Around bonfires, we learned their songs, held hands and experienced the undeniable strength of their resolve to assure that their young nation will remain in existence for all the years to come.
Forty years hence, I can still see the swaying wheat on both sides of the narrow path leading to the ocean where along its rocky shores we spent hours target-shooting with tall, swarthy sabras and swam in the cool, blue waters of the Mediterranean.
My second tour as a dancer with the Bayanihan was a good year for me. Performances at the famous Winter Garden Theatre in Broadway afforded us opportunities to shake hands with world famous personalities – Katherine Graham, Margot Fonteyn, Dinah Shore, Cyd Charisse and impresario Sol Hurok to mention a few.
But it was at the Boston Logan airport where I met the most memorable of all. We had our thick, gray overcoats on as we got off the plane into the biting cold of Boston on November 8, 1959. A gathering of Filipino welcomers stood by, eagerly cheering us on as newspaper reporters did their day’s job of recording the arrival of "young" Broadway cultural dancers from the Philippines. He was in the crowd – quietly taking in the peculiar sight of smiling, enthusiastic dancers from his home city of Manila, some of whom were bravely dressed in open-neck patadyong costumes, pretending to be comfortable in spite of the freezing weather. So there we met – this young man of 22 years, then a bright engineering student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and I, at 18, wearing a funny-looking awkward beak hat of the Bayanihan itik-itik dancer.
Five years later and a thousand letters in between, I married this young most memorable personality and became Mrs. Gonzalo Sy-Quia Jr.