PAC
celebrates 35th anniversary with PCN
By
Alfred Peckson
Online Forty-Niner
Contributing Writer
The Pilipino American Coalition (PAC) of Cal State Long Beach celebrated two
milestones April 7 when it hosted its annual Pilipino Culture Night (PCN) at
the Carpenter Performing Arts Center. This year’s PCN was the club’s
20th anniversary and it also marked PAC’s 35th year on campus.
“
PCN is also about a group of young people coming together to learn about our
culture, to celebrate it and put on a show for our community,” said co-coordinator
Jason Samson, a senior Asian-American studies.
This year’s PCN theme was “Kalayaan,” which is Tagalog for
freedom. The show covered many issues facing Filipinos and Filipino-Americans
today, such as capitalism, racism, Filipino pride, generational differences and
finding yourself.
PCN gives PAC an opportunity to talk to the different generations within the
Filipino community. The storyline followed the lives of nine people, who in a
month’s time, struggle with self-discovery, loss of innocence and preserving
their town. In between acts, there was a cultural dance that relevate to the
previous act. Some participants sang Filipino music and modern day music. A live
band, Elements of the Outer Realm, provided background music.
“
We also want to pay tribute to all of those before us, especially here in Long
Beach, who paved the way for us to have this tradition to go on for many
years,” Samson said.
According to Samson, there were about 200 participants, including actors, singers,
dancers and backstage crew. PAC’s hip-hop dance group, PAC Modern, also
made a special appearance.
PAC started preparing for the event in June 2005 and rehearsed for nearly three
months, starting at the beginning of the semester.
“
I think it’s really cool that we’ve been practicing for seven weeks
and also I’ve heard that there’s other schools out there that have
been practicing for months or over a year before preparing for something
that’s two hours long,” said actor Marty Lewis a senior biology major. “We
have the pride for Long Beach doing something like this.”
Some of the featured Filipino cultural dances derived from religious or cultural
influences. For example, the Sagayaan is a traditional Muslim dance usually performed
when welcoming royalty or special guests. The dancers use swords and shields
and their movements symbolize scaring evil spirits away.
The Rigidon de Honor is a Western Christian influence dance introduced by the
Spanish. It is an opening dance usually performed at formal affairs. Perhaps
the most well known throughout Filipino culture is the Talagang Tinikling Medley.
Tinikling consists of dancers and several bamboo sticks. Two men clap the bamboo
sticks in rhythmic form while the dancers graciously step in and out, avoiding
getting their feet injured. The dance mimics the movement of the tinikling birds
as they dodge bamboo traps
set by rice farmers.
The event was sold out and an estimated 1,000 friends and family were in attendance.
“
This show is important to us because our children are participants in
this performance,” said Malou Fajardo, 51, of Corona, whose son, Aldrich,
was a cast member. “Every time they’re here, we’re here because
we want to support them. And of course, we are Filipinos, and we want this generation
to understand our culture.”
“
Tonight is a culmination of long hours and long nights of working hard to put
this show together,” said dancer Angelina Altobano, a sophomore studio
art major. “It’s sad to have it ending tonight, but I know the crowd
loved our performance. We’re doing it for our families out there.”
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