The audience burst into applause as the eight dancers, including Kai Snyder (11) and Gavin Donelly (9), finished their modern tinikling dance, bringing this year’s Philippine Cultural Night (PCN) to a close. Inaugurated by the US and Philippine national anthem, PCN consisted of a variety of acts: traditional group dances, singing, band performances, and stand-up comedy. The energetic performers left the crowd laughing and cheering all through the night.
By the time PCN came about, both Snyder and Donnelly were prepared. Snyder coordinated the dances and led rehearsals, making sure everything was under control.
“We’d mess up, I’d start again, over and over,” Snyder said. “That helped iron out the kinks and then bit by bit we unlocked more of the song.”
Donelly helped organize the event and performed in four of the dances as well. The club held practices during lunch for a month prior to the event, but the tinikling routine was changed only a couple of days before the event. This resulted in four people being cut from the modern tinikling dance.
“Moving into PCN, we had to hit everything hard,” Snyder said. “So we started way earlier with rehearsals. I had to cut people leading up to the show which was stressful. So originally, there were twelve people part of the dance, but moving forward, it got shortened to eight people.
Regardless of the change, the dance wasn’t affected and the show continued smoothly.
“Some of the people that I had to cut, they weren’t even putting in a minimum effort. So at the end, we had eight people, but it was still a really good show.” Snyder said.
The pair became friends shortly after Donelly joined the club and became the freshman executive, connecting over their participation in Filipino culture. While Donelly isn’t of Filipino heritage, being part of the club has been a way for him to learn about the culture and its traditions. As co-president, Snyder says that being in the club is a way for him to share his culture with others, especially those who are less familiar with it, which is how the two bonded.
“It’s such a big part of who I am,” Snyder said. “I want to be able to give someone who hasn’t experienced it a taste of what it’s like.”
When Donelly joined at the beginning of the year, he was a bit nervous, but was welcomed immediately.
“When I first joined, it was pretty daunting because I didn’t know what I was getting myself into,” Donelly said. “When I got to know everyone, it was like a family.”
Snyder said the club’s unity and fun environment cultivated a warm and welcoming night full of entertainment and awe, mixing traditional Filipino culture with new music and dance.
“It’s a big honor to be able to mix traditional with something more modern,” he said. “We did have the traditional dance, but I really wanted to showcase how far we’ve come and you know how we’ve incorporated our culture with traditional roots. That’s why modern was so special to us because we’re connecting a Filipino artist Bruno Mars with a traditional dance. So it’s kind of a bridge between the two worlds.”
The Bayanihan club changes every year but one thing is always constant: the strong bond and friendship cultivated between the members.
“It’s a club made by the people, for the people.” Snyder said. “Every single year it changes so much. You have different people from different backgrounds. Some people are really engrossed in the culture and some people are brand new to it; that’s what makes it special.”
