FACC, Leyte Dance Theater brings the house down in Charlotte

Photo by Boging Mata

by Susan Palmes-Dennis

IT was the audience participation in a native dance number that brought the house down during a performance by the Leyte Dance Theater in the Peace Auditorium of Central Piedmont Community College (CPCC) in downtown Charlotte, North Carolina last Friday.

The show entitled “Bayan Ko” was spearheaded by the Fil-American Community of the Carolinas (FACC) and the auditorium was filled to its 400-person capacity, FACC secretary Lota Mascarenas said.

The number that drew the most applause was the kuratsa, a Filipino native dance number which the dance group invited the audience to participate in. It helped that the group got the audience into the dancing mood with its fiesta barrio setting on stage.

Among those who danced the kuratsa were incumbent FACC president Malette Aquino Oliveros who is clad in beautiful Filipiniana dress, Dr. Nini Bautista, Matthew Antone and many others.

Past FACC President Adelia Fallar also enlivened the audience with her sure kuratsa dance moves. “This is fun, so fun,” said Dorena Reynolds, who came in late with her mother. She doesn’t mind the US $15 ticket charged to each attendee because “it’s the kind of Filipino show I want to see.” 

Also in attendance were Dr. Michael Borja, FACC 1st VP, Kay Ronquillo-Antone, FACC 2nd VP, FACC treasurer Luisa Castaneda, FACC auditor Tracy Borja, FACC area representative MJ Maturan, Terry Laabid and yours truly. 

FACC area representative Blessel Arcamo Butler is in the Philippines for a brief vacation. The Leyte Dance Theater group is now on its 7th US tour and had 20 performances under its wing, including Charlotte. 

Grea Tulio-Penilla hosted the show which also drew Fil-Americans from Greensboro . Some of the audience like Yulie Amara-Armstrong said the show revived a love for Filipino entertainment and culture in her and her son Gregory.

Also seen were spouses James and Joan Lightle with their boys Charlie and Alan. Rocky Robinson a member of the Philippine Charlotte Dance troupe said the show was “very educational” and wished that more shows would promote their heritage. 

Dr. Nini de Bautista paid homage to the group in a group email whom she said performed brilliantly despite suffering from the devastation caused by typhoon Haiyan in Leyte, Central Visayas in the Philippines in November last year. 

Photo by Susan Dennis 

“Their performance is a testament to the fortitude and resiliency of the Filipinos,” she said in an email to me. Another guest, Eric Robinson, described the dance group’s performance as “powerful and heartrending.”

The group ended the show with a dance re-enactment of the different eras in Philippine society starting from the Spanish period followed by US and Japanese occupations and eventual independence as shown by the dancers who were covered by the Philippine flag. 

The Leyte Dance Theater is composed of dancers who are either living or studying in Tacloban City, the area hardest hit by typhoon Haiyan.  “I am happy how the group is received here in Charlotte,” said the show’s artistic director Jess de Paz. 

For more on the show, see this link. 'Till next time, have a good day.  

(Susan Palmes-Dennis is a veteran journalist from Cagayan de Oro City, Misamis Oriental, Northern Mindanao in the Philippines who works as a nanny in North Carolina. This page will serve as a venue for news and discussion on Filipino communities in the Carolinas. Visit and read her website at www.susanpalmes-dennis.simplesite.com. Read her blogs on susanpalmesstraightfrom the Carolinas.com. These and other articles also appear at http://www.sunstar.com.ph/author/2582/susan-palmes-dennis.
You can also connect with her through her Pinterest account at http://www.pinterest.com/pin/41025046580074350/) and https://www.facebook.com/pages/Straight-from-the-Carolinas-/494156950678063)