Tagong Yaman (Hidden Treasures) is a conceptual dance-theater piece that centers around the cultural amnesia many Filipinos go through because of colonization and assimilation. In the piece, we connect to our ancestral memories and call upon indigenous dance rhythms and martial arts to combat this amnesia. Tagong Yaman is a multidisciplinary performance of dance, martial arts, theater, film, and soundscores used to reclaim and archive our untold histories.
Centered on ancient mythology, the characters will weave stories of ancient gods with their modern-day lives as Filipino Americans. Countering the Spanish-influenced patriarchal culture, this work will showcase pre-colonial matriarchal societies through the character of Babaylan. Babaylan is a Visayan term for my hometown, Iloilo which means healer, seer, a spirit guide to the ancestors and gods, often depicted as a woman and sometimes, a ‘feminized’ man. Tagong Yaman will intertwine our imagined past with our present identities, giving many of us “in-betweeners” a true sense of ownership and pride for lineage and history.
Works by
Anito Gavino
Malaya Ulan
Brandon Aquino Straus
Mic Dino Boekelmann
The performance work will be 60 minutes long.
photo: Malaya Ulan