As Bayanihan turns 45 . . .

I think every Filipino girl dreamed, and her daughter dreams, of becoming a Bayanihan dancer. For the image of the Bayanihan dancer is that of élan, grace and beauty. As the dance company celebrates its 45th year of founding this week, it shows why the accolades and how its dancers swept the world off its feet wherever it performed.

The Bayanihan National Folk Dance Company was founded in 1957 by Helen Benitez, chairperson of the Philippine Women’s University then, and since then has mounted 14 major world tours and more than 100 short tours.

It was adjudged top among 13 countries during its debut at the Brussels World Fair on May 22, 1958, and other firsts it garnered were being the first Filipino group to perform at the Winter Garden Theater in Broadway, the first dance group to perform in Russia and the People’s Republic of China; the first to make an in-depth tour of South America; the first Filipino dance company to perform at the World Showcase Millennium Village EPCOT, Disneyworld, Florida, and the only Filipino dance company to receive the Ramon Magsaysay award for international understanding.

The company was the surprise hit on Broadway in 1959 when it opened its US tour in New York’s Winter Garden. John Martin, New York Times’ most feared critic was a surprise himself when he wrote: "So you think you have seen everything? Well, unless you have seen Bayanihan you couldn’t be more mistaken. It is completely different from anything that has been shown hereabouts and it makes for an evening of enchantment. An engrossing evening of theatrical art, beautiful to look at, to listen."

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On opening night, after the reception given by Ambassador Carlos P. Romulo at the St. Regis Hotel, the dance group was given vodka for drinks and would be sent packing off if the early morning reviews were not good. But surprise, surprise, what they got were excellent reviews, and they were toasted with champagne which flowed until the wee hours of the morning. The troupe proceeded to perform for one month at the Winter Garden theater, the longest for a foreign performing group, and they went on to tour the US for four months and Europe, Mexico, and the Middle East for five months.

Oh, the glorious image of the dance company that was every girls’ envy! And every boy’s, I guess, as there were male dancers, too. The dancers were (as the present dances are), painstakingly chosen after rigid auditions, and the rehearsals are long and hard. To be a Bayanihan dancer was to be beautiful, bringing to fruition the poet’s adage: "A thing of beauty is a joy forever."

The rewards everywhere the dancers performed have been tremendous, capped by the enactment by the 10th Congress declaring the Bayanihan Philippine Dance Company as The Philippines National Folk Dance Company (R.A. 8626) and the Proclamation by the President of the Philippines of every May 27 every year as National Day to commemorate and propagate the Bayanihan spirit as the unique way of working together as a people.

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When those fabulous great dancers leapt out of stage they became accomplished responsible officials in government and private corporations, museums, civic organizations and foundations as well as beauty queens. To mention a few: Lito Atienza, now mayor of the City of Manila; Mel Capistrano Alonso, chief executive, Small Business Finance Corporation; Carmencita Lagdameo Stull, Philippine American Chamber of Commerce, Washington, DC chapter; Ramon Obusan of the Ramon Obusan Folkloric Dance Group; Ruby Benitez, VP, La Hermanidad Zamboangueña Foundation; Thelma Gana, former president, Concerned Friends of the CCUP; Lina Winebrenner, trustee, Baile Foundation; Leni Alano Cabili, trustee, St. Luke’s Medical Foundation; and Maribel Carag Dario, former press officer at Malacañang, and press relations director of PRISM, and ballroom dance consultant.

The Bayanihan dancers who became beauty queens are Cristy Matias, Chiquit de Jesus Jalandoni, Erlynn Bernardez Campos, Peachy Veneracion, Beth Atega Nable, and Cristy Flores Araneta.

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This week’s reunion of Bayanihan members living here and abroad began Monday and ends tomorrow with a "Pista Sa Maynila" at the Century Park Hotel ballroom sponsored by Mayor Lito Atienza and his wife. This will for sure be a heady affair of dancing (ballroom, for sure) of beauties — for women of beauty remain beautiful forever, right? During the week they’ve gone through an orientation session, attended a workshop on Philippine heritage and tradition at the Ramon Obusan center, toured the National Museum, had lunch at Villa Escudero in Quezon Province; attended the launching of book on the dance company called Teaser, and were regaled with a show by the current Bayanihan touring company. Lined up is a performance of Balik Pugad, a revival of the Saturday Recital at the PWU. Indeed, this week has been what Lito Calzado, a 1964 dancer, and now chair of the anniversary celebration’s steering committee, has proclaimed as "a grand celebration".