~~~Balik sa Dagat Bangka Journey ~~~~

bridging bridges of big minds

we were challenged to present a dance showcasing the emotional truth. i am a closeted dancer, sickly as a child, i would sit on the staircase as i watch ballerinas dance in a school dance class. i took the opportunity to share with a room full of Boholano writers/artists from a recent writer’s workshop conducted by Tony Perez, sponsored the US Embassy in Manila. Inside a room of a 300 year old convent, the site of the 4-day workshop, surrounded by old paintings from the 1920’s with the center as a compass guiding the four directions, I lit a white candle on top of a shell, a coconut plate given by Apu Reyna filled with cool water from convent’s dining room water cooler, a malong, mom’s freshly picked sampaguita along the short ride from Baclayon to Dauis, I smudged with California sage and with the group’s consent, offered blessings and a prayer before the dance. I asked each one to state their names as I quietly went around the circle of 14 Boholano writers/artists, high school teens to elders, youth of all ages. I took the opportunity to share about a Fil-Am experience via the Dance of Arnis. I had taken four classes in Bohol three weeks prior and one class back home in Oakland, California, but really did not know how the ‘dance’ would go. Bathala na. I stayed up in the wee hours to complete the timeline. The first statistic listed happened to be written on top of a harry potter journal book for Sir Tony, who holds the book in the photo above. The day of the dance, I couldn’t even connect with the morning’s ‘Fairy Tale’ activity, but was pleasantly surprised to find out that, Paul, one of the participants, practice Eskrima/Arnis. Excitement brewing. Ludwig, who asked if I was a pagan just moments before I started, helped me lay down the books with the top cover down under each participant’s chair. After smudging, the only instruction given was to ‘see with your hearts and mind.’ I invited one of the writers, Paul, who coincidentally brought fighting sticks, to dance; there was no musical sounds except for the sticks hitting each other as we danced Arnis around. The dance included the 12 Doce Pares target zones which honestly I forgot as I had not practiced! At the same time, the other participants walked in an orderly way with a Filipino-American timeline written on a piece of bright green sticky notepad on top of book give-aways with statistics taken from the book, Seven Card Stud with Seven Manangs Wild: An Anthology of Filipino-American Writings, edited by Helen C. Toribio, published by the Filipino American National Historical Society East Bay Chapter. As I was getting tired, I handed over one of the sticks first to Sir Tony and he danced like a magician with Paul, the martial artist. I handed over the other sticks so pretty soon it was a merry-go-round of Boholanos Dancing Arnis with the Filipino-American timeline, showcasing resistance and hope. I thank you all for laughing with your feet with me on this one.