Armstrong Auditorium - News
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On October 11, about two dozen performers from the Bayanihan National Folk Dance Company presented a musical experience and visual display that filled the Armstrong Auditorium stage with music as bright and bold as the exotic and colorful costumes and sets. The Bayanihan dance company, a repository for Filipino culture and music, brought the Philippines to Oklahoma concertgoers, many of them with Filipino heritage.

The constantly smiling dancers portrayed classic Filipino culture in the first half of the show with such traditional dances as Tinikling which involves dancers stepping over and between bamboo poles; Maglalatik, which is performed by male dancers and involves the percussive beating of coconut shells; and Sayaw sa Bangko, an altitudinal affair performed atop stacked benches. Musicians kept the rhythm with gandingan, kulintang and babendil gongs; rondalla instruments including the banduria, laud, octavina, guitar and double bass; whistles; drums; and even bottles of water.

Following intermission, the program moved into dances reflecting the many influences of foreign countries in the Philippines, ending with a boisterous street dance punctuated by striking costumes in bright colors and with drums, cymbals and whistles.

One of the most memorable performances of the night featured a performer narrating the works of Fernando Amorsolo, a renowned Filipino painter famous for his idyllic scenes of everyday life in the islands. As the narrator spoke, other performers danced, then froze into the image of one of his paintings, which also was projected on screen in the background.

Each Bayanihan piece employed a multitude of elements to create the sight and sound phenomenon that typifies Filipino musical culture. This brought out an all-hands-on-deck effort from Armstrong Auditorium’s stage, lighting and sound crews. In only their second concert, crew members were required to get up to speed and employ every type of equipment the auditorium had, and then some. Raymond Kaleho, who works with stage rigging and lighting for the concerts, said, “the amount of lighting was immense, it was used heavily to influence the mood of each individual piece.”