By Joseph B.A. Marzan
Iloilo City’s famous Dinagyang Festival returns January 2022, this time with both physical and digital activities in store for audiences locally and worldwide.
For the festival’s upcoming edition, most prominent returnees include the Tribal Competition and the Miss Iloilo 2022 pageant.
Seven tribes named after the city’s seven districts will compete in the tribal competition, each representing a specific Ilonggo value – Paghirupay (La Paz), Pag-intindihanay (Lapuz), Pagpahanggud (Mandurriao), Pagtipon (Jaro), Pagsinadya (Villa), Pag-amliganay (Molo), and Paghigugma (City Proper).
The seven tribes will be grouped into three cluster tribes, Tribe A (three tribes), Tribe B (two tribes), and Tribe C (two tribes). Each cluster is composed of 20 performers, 15 musicians, and 10 staff.
But unlike the pre-pandemic tribal competitions, which have been school-based since the 90s, all tribes are open to all dancers 18 to 50 years old and fully vaccinated.
Casting for tribe members is undertaken by the Ilonggo Artists Festival Association (IAFA), which also helped make last year’s Dinagyang “unity tribal dance” performance.
Similar to last year’s non-competitive dance show, performances will be pre-filmed by three to four cameras, and shot by Ilonggo filmmakers.
Unlike the previous year, performers and support staff will no longer have to stay in a bubble.
A Committee on Health and Safety will be appointed to check compliance with local and national health and safety protocols during auditions, rehearsals, and performance. Testing will be conducted before and after rehearsals and shooting periods.
There will be judges who will be watching them on-location while filming, and there will also be judges watching their finished video.
Miss Iloilo 2022 invites all females 18 to 22 years old with Ilongga heritage. Screening is on Dec 4.
The most recent edition of the pageant gave the country its second Ilongga Miss Universe representative, Rabiya Mateo.
The city’s respective bets for the Binibining Pilipinas and Miss World Philippines this year, Karen Mendoza and Ann Palmares, were also crowned alongside Mateo during Miss Iloilo 2020.
A new addition to the festivities is the Dagyang sa Social Media Tiktok edition, which will make use of the trending social platform as a way to introduce the festival’s dance moves to a global audience.
Other initiatives as part of the celebration include integration of Dinagyang into the educational curriculum in partnership with the Department of Education and Iloilo schools.
Advertising will also involve Ilonggo stories on public-private partnerships, heritage, resilience, and family life.
Ronald Sebastian, president of the Iloilo Festivals Foundation, Inc. (IFFI), said that they have been planning the festival since July 2021.
Sebastian said there will be live “practices” and side events guided by national and local guidelines, but presentations will be done virtually.
For funding, IFFI aims to raise up to P9.5 million for the 2022 festival, an increase from the 2021 budget of P6 million, since there would be additional expenses for prizes and costumes.
Several sponsors have committed to help fund the activities, but the IFFI cannot disclose as of this time due to lack of agreements.
“We celebrate this Dinagyang because of our devotion to Señor Sto. Niño, but this year, we would also like to showcase Ilonggo values because we believe that we Ilonggos are like Dinagyang warriors embodying certain values that make us survive and succeed challenges being brought to us,” said Sebastian in a virtual press conference.
The festival is themed “Padayon Iloilo Upod Kay Señor Sto. Niño” (Forward Iloilo With Sr. Sto. Niño), which aims to reflect Ilonggo culture while maintaining devotion to the Sto. Niño de Cebu.
Dinagyang Festival artistic director Eric Divinagracia said that the theme reflects the combination of devotion to Señor Sto. Niño and Ilonggo culture amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
He added that this edition redefines the “Dinagyang 360” introduced in 2019 and 2020, being more of emphasizing Ilonggos as “Dagyang Warriors” through stories and movement inspired by our own heritage.
The “360” refers to “360 View” which refers to the various viewpoints in real-time, and the “360 Platform” which refers to access via social and traditional media.
“We need to be inspired for a push to our economy and to support our artists who haven’t created major live performances for a long time because of the pandemic. Our festival will show how we move forward through stories and visuals representing values and related themes,” said Divinagracia.
Sebastian signed a memorandum of agreement, representing the IFFI, with the Iloilo City government and the San Jose Placer Parish on Monday, November 22 for the holding of the Dinagyang.
If plans push through, this would mark the return of live events as part of the main Dinagyang Festivities.
The main events of the 2021 Dinagyang Festival last January were completely virtual, with some semi-physical side events organized by big businesses in the city.
