by Telly G. Ocampo
Lunop Han Dughan
(a maelstrome of emotions in our hearts)
The Yolanda story
(Part 1)
The University of the Philippines (UP) an Balangaw Performing Arts Group came over to Bohol upon the invitation of the Yatta (Youth Advocates of Tanghal and Theater Arts) of the NCCA (National Commission of Culture and Arts division of NCDA (National Committee on Dramatic Arts). The UP an Balangaw is an esteemed performing arts group with professor Yoyce Dorado Alegre as its artistic director. Balangaw is rainbow in Waray. I was still at UP Tacloban when an Balangaw was founded.
The venue would have been at the Guang Ming College in Cebu. But the owner suddenly passed away – the reason the venue was transferred to Bohol, specifically at the ceremonial hall of the new provincial capitol. Participants were drama and theater groups from the Visayas regions in celebration of the national arts month – February.
Due to the sudden change of venue, the workshop which was for the theater groups in the Visayas region, was not properly disseminated.
This year’s theme of the celebration is: Gunita at Pangarap. Hence, the reason for showcasing an Balangaw’s Lunop Han Dughan. The performers of the show were survivors of typhoon Yolanda . portraying how they persevered and overcame the trauma of Yolanda considered as the strongest and the deadliest.
Prof. Joyce Dorado Alegre, the artistic director of: University of the Phil. Tacloban College has this to say about the event:
“My impression: The NCCA 17th Tanghal Festival of Youth Theater in Bohol is a meaningful convergence of theater arts groups in the Visayas. It was an appropriate venue for crosscultural, social and artistic intergenerational interactions that stimulate, strengthen, enrich and inspire participants of the Visayan & Filipino heritage and directions for innovations towards relevance of forms and themes and significance of values in the lives of Filipino millenials.
The workshops allowed some skills sharing and the performances stirred up creative visions and connectivities among Visayan thespians.
Bohol is a great venue for such gathering of performing artists by its heritage ambiance and warmth and graciousness of the hosts as well as the ordinary people we encountered in shops, streets, museums, eating places and other public spaces.
Bohol-anon people are naturally friendly, hospitable and sweetly caring.
It was a great venue to stories of the quest for freedom to create and to be encouraged to be healed of individual & communal pains & wounds, and to help heal over personal, environmental and societal disasters and be empowered towards well being of selves and communities.
The showcases by the various participating groups were a broad range of explorative forms and genres — e.g. folk and pop music, original music compositions, chants , dance drama in folk dance, modern ballet & jazz, musical theater, foreign dramatic structures, indigenous design themes and the traditional classic sarswela revitalized with contemporary poetic dialogue, upbeat rhythms and acting virtuosity and performance versatility. The level of skills as executed by participants varied from the basic to the masterful renditions. Quite a sensorial feast of variety and diversity unified by the fellowship, and similar stories of struggles, disasters and culture of innate resilience — a sense of belonging in the Visayas interisland milieu with the theme Gunita at Pangarap.”