Dancers belonging to the Lanao del Norte contingent practice for their eight straight participation in the Sinulog Festival of Cebu City. The group will be showcasing its unique Maranao war dance in the Free Interpretation category of the Festival.
The Lanao del Norte contingent collectively known as ‘Land of Beauty and Bounty’ will be performing a Maranao war dance-inspired routine in the Free Interpretation category of the highly anticipated Sinulog Festival of Cebu City.
This will be Lanao del Norte’s eight straight participation in the world-renowned festival of the Queen City of the South.
“This year’s grand presentation is the result of the unanimous decision of our province’s organizing committee when we had our post-Sinulog evaluation last year”, revealed Information Officer Lyndon Calica.
The Lanao del Norte contingent will be showcasing the ‘Sagayan’, a Maranao war dance performed to ward off evil spirits. The dancers of the contingent will be performing a modernized version of the Darangen, a Maranao epic story, depicting two warring groups that were eventually reconciled and united by Bai-A-Labi who succeeded in bringing lasting peace.
This is one of the biggest contingent sent by the provincial government in its annual participation of the Sinulog Festival.
“We have more 400 individuals comprising our Sinulog delegation. This consists of 96 dancers, 20 ritualists, 200 propsmen, and 35 instrumentalists. We also have teams providing support for our Sinulog performers like our medical personnel, documentation team, carpenters, drivers, food personnel, working committee and even our own internal security group”, said Tourism Head Minda Regis.
The Lanao del Norte group will again be led by Provincial Governor Khalid Dimaporo. Dimaporo is the lone Muslim leader joining the biggest cultural festival in the country.
“Through our continued participation in the Sinulog, we want to show to the entire country that in Lanao del Norte there is unity between the Muslims and Christians, that we are a peaceful and progressive province. We also want to underscore the trade relations we have with Cebu City that has contributed much to the fast-paced development of Lanao del Norte”, said Governor Dimaporo.
Dancers of the contingent are composed of public school students from Bansarvil National High School of the coastal town of Kapatagan.
The chief choreographer of the ‘Land of Beauty and Bounty’ contingent is Mark Eric Debalucos.
Leading the Lanao del Norte performers is their lead dancer Diana Therese Mejorada who is also the reigning Ms. Lanao del Norte. She will be joining this year’s Search for Sinulog Festival Queen.
