By Joseph B.A. Marzan
Adrian “Mokz” Fanimoto has been participating in the Dinagyang Festival since 2012 as a warrior of the renowned Tribu Panayanon of Iloilo City National High School in Molo, Iloilo City.
In his nine years with Tribu Panayanon, Fanimoto shared in the tribe’s four victories in the festival’s streetdancing competition, including a three-year winning streak from 2013 to 2015, and again in 2018.
He continued to dance with the tribe even in his college years at the University of Iloilo-PHINMA as a Business Administration student.
Whenever the tribe would have gigs with topnotch choreographer Romel Flogen, Fanimoto would also tag along.
The talent fee he got from his dancing gigs helped fund his studies and provide for his mother, his older sibling, and his wife of eight years.
Not only was this a source of income for him, but more importantly, this was his way of thanking the Señor Sto. Niño for the blessings bestowed upon him and his family.
But like everyone else, things took a turn for the worse when the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) hit.
He continued to juggle work and school to provide for his family.
“Life was hard because I didn’t have a father, I only had my mother and my older sibling with me, and it wouldn’t be good to depend on them, so I had to do online jobs, and sometimes I did help with construction work in nearby projects,” Fanimoto told Daily Guardian.
Opportunity came his way when the Ilonggo Artists Festivals Association (IAFA) headed by Flogen signed him up for Balangay, an online benefit concert for Ilonggo artists last August 1, 2020.
As the city started opening to more events, Fanimoto started dancing again in the old familiar vibe before the pandemic, albeit with social distancing and wearing of masks.
He got his opportunity to do what he loved for many years when Flogen informed him of the Iloilo Dinagyang Digital’s grand “unity” performance, together with other dancers from other tribes, which would be broadcast online and on television on January 24.
They were kept under a “bubble” in December, with billeting and choreography rehearsals all held at the Ramon Avanceña National High School (RANHS) in Arevalo district.
This was accompanied by pre-taped performances which were filmed in several popular locations around the city for 10 straight days.
While Fanimoto gushed about how they were taken care of inside the bubble, he longed for his family, especially his daughter Adrianna Ysabelle, who was born in October 2020.
Their rehearsals and shootings proved to be laborious amid the pandemic.
“Our preparations were okay, because we were under a bubble, we were well taken-care of during the rehearsals, but it was also difficult because we were far from our families. For the performance, we also found it difficult because we had to wake up at 3AM and then go to sleep at 11PM. We would have to wake up early for rehearsals and going to the shooting area. This was totally different [from previous Dinagyang Festivals],” he said.
Fanimoto only saw his wife and daughter once during the three weeks that he was not able to come home – through the window of a minibus owned by the city government.
A picture of that moment recently made rounds on social media and earned plaudits from netizens.
“During that time, when we entered RANHS, I asked our president if my family could enter, and they allowed them but only through the bus. They weren’t able to come down and hold me personally. I felt happy because that relieved me of my stress. That re-energized me and made me feel inspired going forward,” he shared.
Although preparing for their digital performance was difficult, he said his devotion to the Señor Sto. Niño also kept him going, adding that participating in the performance was a “great opportunity”.
“The blessing of the Sto. Niño was what kept me going, because despite the pandemic, I never felt him leaving me or my family behind. The festival has been my way of devotion, and I can’t not join. My mother and my wife couldn’t do anything to stop me because I told them that this was my way of thanking the Sto. Niño for keeping us safe and healthy,” Fanimoto said.
CONTRASTS
Fanimoto also pointed out the stark contrasts of this year’s preparations and performance compared to previous years.
“The people that used to be on the streets are no longer there. The big blockings which we saw as our pride are no longer there. We definitely missed the people cheering on the streets and taking pictures of us. It was completely different,” Fanimoto shared.
He also became friends with the dancers of other Dinagyang tribes, whom he used to compete against every year.
“We were friends with some people in the other tribes from way before but there were also many who we weren’t close with, but that’s natural. In the end, we became extra close and it was a good feeling because we got along so well, and we even forgot that we previously competed against each other. Our chemistry developed during our practice sessions,” he said.
He added that he also learned a lot from the other choreographers, who were coaching other tribes in previous editions of the festival.
“For us performers, it was a great opportunity to work with them, because we can go along with them, we already knew how they would teach, their steps [from other tribes] were what we were also able to apply. We picked up a lot of ideas,” he said.
Fanimoto said that collaborating with different choreographers and dancers throughout the process of preparing and shooting their performance was “worth it” and he is excited for the world to see it.
“We’re really excited to show our performance. There are seven performances combined from the seven tribes. When we saw our taped performances, we found that it was worth the time and effort that we had spent. We already loved seeing ourselves in this performance, and we’re sure that the people watching will love them too,” he said.
Daily Guardian is one of the media partners of the Iloilo Dinagyang Digital 2021 and will premiere the grand performance on its Facebook page on January 24.
