Mahalaya Second Edition

MAHALAYA NOVEMBER 2017 EDITION

Mahalaya Meet your makers

Contents 2 Sino Tayo?

3 Traditional Dances 5 Aspect Showcase 8 Upcoming Events

M

abuhay! Thank you for reading the second edition of the Mahalaya! The Mahalaya is a special newsletter that aims

to

showcase

our

very

own

Bayanihan as well as bring aware-

9 Current Events 10 Thank you

ness to current events in the Philippines. The name “Mahalaya� roughly translates to love and freedom, something we hope

to

promote

and

spread

through the use of this newsletter.

within

our

community

This month, we want-

ed to focus on the traditional dances of the Philippines!

If you have any suggestions on what we should add or change to the Mahalaya, please email : admofficer.ucsc@gmail.com! We are always up for suggestions :D 1

Sino tayo?

Bayanihan Core 17’-18’ Bayanihan, formerly known as the Filipino Student Association, is a Pilipinx community at UCSC that strives to be a support organization that promotes unity and empowerment through the awareness of our diverse community. It strives to be a cultural resource for the community as well as to foster open forum based in mutual respect and understanding. Bayanihan works to promote a greater understanding and appreciation of the Pilipinx and Pilipinx American experience through meetings and events that explore our identity, history, and culture. It is important to note the Bayanihan is not (and does not assume to be) the sole representation of the Pilipinx community.

“Bayanihan” directly translates to “community” in Tagalog. The term is derived from the traditions in rural areas of the Philippines where community members would come together to help physically pick-up a community member’s house and help relocate it. The act of “Bayanihan” represents coming together in order to accomplish something that may seem impossible to help fellow community members. The term “Bayanihan” hopes to foster the community we strive to be.

2

Know History Know Self This Month: Filipino Traditional Dance

Maria Clara Suite The coming of the Spaniards in the 16th century brought a new influence in Philippine life. A majority of the Filipinos were converted to Roman Catholicism.

European cultural ideas spread and the Filipinos adapted and blended to meet the local conditions. These dances reached their zenith in popularity around the turn of the century, particularly among urban Filipinos. They are so named in honor of the legendary Maria Clara, who remains a symbol of the virtues and nobility of the Filipina woman. María Clara is the mestiza heroine in Noli Me Tángere, a novel by José Rizal, the national hero of the Republic of the Philippines. Displaying a very strong Spanish influence, these dances were, nonetheless, "Filipinized" as evidence of the use of bamboo castanets and the abanico, or Asian fan. Typical attire for these dances are the formal Maria Clara dress and barong tagalog, an embroidered long-sleeve shirt made of pineapple fiber.

3

Tinikling The “Tikling” bird is a bird with long legs and a long neck. The “Tinikling” dance, therefore, imitates the movements of the “Tikling” birds as they walk between grass stems or run over tree branches. Skill is demonstrated in dancing between the bamboos and in keeping the feet from being caught between the bamboo poles There is much fun, however, when the bamboo players catch the feet of the dancers. This dance is a favorite in the Visayan Islands, especially in the province of Leyte.

Vinta Mindanao, the Philippines’ southernmost island, is the country’s cultural melting pot.

It houses influences from Spain, China, Indonesia, and the Middle East. The Muslims in the Philippines, also known as Moros, were able to preserve the Islamic lifestyle that differs from the majority of the Philippine population. The dances are characterized by vivid colors and rhythmic movements which reflect the influence of Arabian and Indo-Malaysian cultures.

“Vinta” refers to the boat; Royal figures balance atop the bamboo poles, which portray the movement of the vinta across the Sulu Sea. This dance portrays the Philippine Muslims’ deep relationship with the sea.

4

Aspect Showcase Meet: Pagkakaisa Dance Troupe

Maelia: “PDT stands for Pagkakaisa Dance Troupe. It’s the cultural dance aspect housed under Bayanihan, formerly known as the Filipino Student Association.”

Kevin: “PDT is the oldest and first aspect housed under FSA, now known as Bayanihan. We emphasize cultural retention and we teach cultural dances to connect everyone to their roots”

Brandon: “Pagkakaisa stands for unity, and that’s what PDT is all about.”

5

Q: What are the dances you will be performing this year?

Q: What/who inspired you to run as Coheads for PDT?

M: “I’m choreographing Vinta, and a Maria Clara dance that we’re collaborating with Kasama on.

B: “We are also going to be collaborating with Haluan, and we are planning on doing Tinikling. The dance that I am going to choreograph is in the mountain suite, and I’m looking at Idaw right now, a dance we performed two years ago. Check out PCC 25 if you wanna check it out~”

M: “So, Abi is my ate, and Arleah’s ate, so it’s in the line! Since Abi was PDT co last year, and Arleah was PDT co the year before that, that played a really heavy role. Also, this is super random, but my mom and my stepdad met at their Pilipino Cultural Celebration, or PCM for them, in high school. So in my head, I was like *wink*, but in reality that did not happen, my actual boyfriend is not Filipino.”

K: “I joined PDT my third year. I kinda just joined because I wanted to help out... and basically my intentions for joining PDT wasn’t really for what it’s intended to be. I didn’t really care for this space that much, and being completely honest, at the beginning, my heart wasn’t really into it, but rather it was more of just wanting to help someone out. At the time, I was just floating in college, trying to find my place, and not being very successful at that, I didn’t have many friends, and I wasn’t very talkative, so it was hard to make friends outside the ones I already have. Basically, it was really hard to find a space where I really belong. However, after Unity, that started to change a little bit, because the experience of building this event together, and MC’ing it with my cointerns Maelia and Shirley, I just had the time of my life. That was a very special experience for me, just being on stage with my two trusted cointerns and I hear my friends cheering on from the background, so I wanted to give back to the space that gave me a home and this sense of belonging. I’ve also thought a lot about what it means to belong, what identity is, and how I can help people with that. So my number one goal throughout this year is to just try to make a space that’s as inclusive as possible. To make sure that noone feels left out. That people can come to PDT with no expectations at all, like how I came to PDT with no expectations at all but ended up getting this enriching and very rewarding experience of having very close friends and having a place I can call home.”

B: “I think for me, PDT started my freshman year. I didn’t join the team at freshman year. I auditioned for mountain dance, and I was in it, but I got busy spring quarter, so I couldn’t really follow through with it. So

Q: What is the significance/ meaning behind these dances?

M: “The Maria Clara suite is a Spanish ballroom influence dance suite, so a lot of them stem from more commonly known spanish dances like the Paso doble. Vinta is from the Mindinao suite, or the southern island suite, and those dances were heavily influenced by Muslim culture.

B: “The mountain suite draws influence from the many different tribes of the Philippines that were traditionally in the mountainous regions, and it draws on their culture and the dances that are usually in the mountain suite just reflects that culture. For tinikling, tinikling is one of the more joyful celebratory dances. It’s in Barrio suite, and surprisingly, most people think it’s the national dance of the Philippines, but it’s not. The national dance of the Philippines is Cariñosa , and we performed that dance 2 years ago.

M: “Yep, and Cariñosa is part of the Maria Clara suite”

Q: What do you want your aspect members to walk away with by the end of the year?

K: “Through these dances, we want our members to get to know their roots - sort of understand that there is this beautiful culture behind their history. Also, in the Pagkakaisa Dance Troupe, our mission statement is in our name, which is to unify people. We want it to be our goal to celebrate our differences, history and diversity together, and in the act of doing that, we want everyone to feel united together and stand in solidarity with other ethnic orgs as well as they celebrate their differences. We want it to be our goal to not only learn about our history, but also unify with other groups.”

6

I came in my second year knowing that I wanted to do PDT and wanted to be more involved in FSA at the time. I got to meet a lot of new people and just learn more about my culture, so that inspired me to continue on with the team during my third year.

My third year was a different experience, because being a returning member, there were new members to meet, and new members to pass down what the old members tried to establish during your first time in PDT, so that was really cool. I feel that I was especially motivated to run for PDT especially after PCC because after PCC, you get withdrawals. After intensely practicing for a good solid two weeks and then suddenly there are no more practices, it feels like there is something missing. That’s what really got me into thinking, “What do I want to do my final year at UCSC?” I was debating between a couple positions in Bayanihan, but what I really enjoy about PDt is that team environment, and we just have so much fun together, so that’s really why I decided on running for PDT CO.”

Q: What is your favorite part of PDT? B: “I think definitely for me, it’s the culture because where I grew up, we had an Asian Pacific Islander club in high school, but we didn’t have anything specifically for filipino cultural dance. I guess unless you went to school in the Bay Area, there was not a lot of outlets for expressing Filipino culture, as well as learning about the different dances of the philippines. So, I guess that’s what struck me, i learned something new about my culture, and by learning something new about my culture, I learned something new about myself. So it’s all a self-discovery process for me.”

K: “My favorite part, personally, in this experience is that I get to learn about all these cultures, and kind of draw parallels with all these other identities that float around here in my head. Because oftentimes, as Asian americans, we find ourselves kind of split between our identities in terms of what exactly are our cultural roots. Like, sometimes you feel so disconnected with your ancestral history that you don’t

7

really know who you are. I mean, you can’t say that you are completely American because you have this history behind your own roots and families, and I believe it’s important to give recognition to that history. For me, it’s a very rewarding experience to be able to learn how to mediate that through the process of celebrating diversity. Personally, I’m not Filipino, I’m Korean, and I’m still trying to learn more about my own historical roots. I think there are a lot of similarities that I can draw from learning about Filipino culture to learning about my own Korean historical roots because at the end of the day, it’s all about finding our own place here where we call home and finding peace with what makes us...us” M: “For me, my favorite part about PDT is… like I come from a very heavy Filipino community, and I was PCM in middle school, and our Filipino club in high school is probably the biggest one because we are so many, so it was really cool to get back to that, and it’s just a really unique way to learn about our culture. Like its not straight history and facts, you actually get to put yourself in that position and learn about your culture in a completely abstract way. And ya, PDT is cool, we have cool people, my Co’s are pretty dope~”

Q: Any final words/shoutouts?

M: “Join PDT! PDT YEE! Just message the COs and you can join. And join PDT because it’s awesome! Also, I’m really sorry to my team for always posting to the facebook page, it’s just… I have so much to say all the time.”

K: “I’m sorry for not posting enough to the page. I feel like Maelia does all of the posting, and I should do more D: Also, I’m going to try and organize a social soon, so watch out for that~” M: “Keep it on the hush hush, keep it on the DL” K: “For now” B: “I just wanted to say hi to Isaiah. Thanks dude.”

UPCOMING EVENTS Bayanihan Community Gathering Monday, December 4th Time: 7:30PM Location: TBA

ASF Info Nights Tuesday, December 5th Location: Amah Mutsun Conference Room Time: 8:30 PM to 9:30 PM

KAMP Finals Study Jams Time and location TBA

KAMP Christmas in the Park Friday, December 8th Time: 6-9PM Location: 191-199 S Market St, San Jose, CA 95113

8

Current Events Probable Impeachment of Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno Supreme Court Justices claims Sereno has been committing TAX/SALN evasion, violation of the Constitution, betrayal of public trust, and corruption. Sereno has apparently earned $745,000 but failed to report her earnings in her SALN or to the Bureau of Internal Revenue. It has also been reported that Sereno has been using her unreported income to fund her lavish lifestyle. On top of that, Supreme Court Associate Justice Leonardo-de Castro claims that Sereno has misled her on the ratification of an order and other issues. De Castro reveals that Sereno’s staff members have been given travel allowances on their trips abroad, even when on “official time,” which should not be using public funds. De Castro states that her decision to testify against Sereno was not personal, but done out of duty. Although Sereno is currently under a lot of heat, she still continues to do her job for the people.

Sereno has stated “I’m sure as the sun rises from 9

the east, and sets on the west--that God’s plan will prevail,” indicating that she is not shaken by her current situation. She may ask the Supreme Court to stop the impeachment hearing on the grounds that her constitutional right to have her chosen lawyers cross-examine witnesses in her impeachment case were denied. She argues that if someone of her position could be denied their rights, then it can happen to anyone, and thus “nobody’s rights are safe in [Philippines] this country.” Despite the pressures and suggestions to resign, Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno says that resignation has never been an option.

Thanks for reading!

This is all we have for this edition of the Mahalaya! We really hoped you enjoyed reading! If you have any suggestions or questions, please email admofficer.ucsc@gmail.com!

For more content, check out our youtube channel too :D (Bayanihan at UC Santa Cruz) Also, if you would like to stay further updated with all the events happening in Bayanihan, join our facebook page! All updates and important announcements will be posted there!

10