Sandugo fest reenactment explores fusion – director

ASIDE from the expected world-class performances of champions from the country's famous festivals, Boholano Sandugo revelers here are in for an a 20 minutes artistic reenactment of the historic blood pact by local artists this July. With the participation of winners from Ati-atihan, Sinulog, Mantawe, Yagyag, Lanzones, Dinagyang, Maskara and still some of the country's top street dancing contingents in this year's festival, Boholano dancers and singers too would also be there with the 20 minutes of fame. And with that, Sandugo festival reenactment creative director Lutgardo Labad said he is using Boholano artists to play the challenging roles of the key personalities who sing and dance their parts.

Appointed by Mayor Dan Neri Lim, Sandugo Foundation Chairman to do the artistic concept, Labad said he is using a novel presentation of Boholanos for Boholanos. The theme for this year's reenactment is fusion while exploring the Sandugo Oracles by Kariyapa.

The concept for the 20-minute reenactment of the historic sealing of a friendship pact between Spanish conquistador Miguel Lopez de Legazpi and Boholano chieftain Sikatuna is a modern open-air grand opera, epic music and dance theater, Labad who also heads the Bohol Arts and Cultural Heritage Council shared.

Kariyapa (Cariapa in Spanish records), key Bisayan poet and priestess uttered an oracle about the arrival of the Spaniards as the beginning and the end of an era. This is taken as an area ripe for artistic exploitation detailing the end of the pre-Hispanic consciousness and the advent of globalization, Labad said during an interview Friday. He was actually seeing a highly stylized interpretation of the event using multiple-level stage with multiple projection mounted on background scrim.

The reenactment features a modernistic simultaneous dual interpretation with each major character performed by a singer and another dancer actor. A Narrator chorus and ethnic musician stands also grace the massive stage. Legazpi's contingent comes in a human galleon, Sikatuna's in a human balangay, while the dances would be mainly based on Spanish traditions for the Spaniards and Mindanao or Visayan choreography for the natives, the concept paper states.

All of these would allow a massive cast of 206 performers including 100 singers and another 100 dancers to get their 20-minutes of fame. Manila based artists and musicians, Negrense choreographers, a Japanese lighting designer, the Loboc Children's choir and the Tagbilaran City Festival Choir lends their support for the epic production set July 23 this year.

Formerly performed by local officials, usually between the governor and the city mayor, the Sandugo reenactment is often a graphic representation of the event that happened when Spaniards befriended the natives and sealed a friendship through a blood compact. The streetdancing, a highlight of the Sandugo Festival has also been evoking Boholano cultural identity and cultural consciousness, making it one of the perfect tools for development.

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