SEVERAL dance groups from all over the country trooped to the city of Lucena, Quezon and performed various ethnic dances for the National Commission for Culture and the Arts’ (NCCA) flagship project “Sayaw Pinoy” last Feb. 27 to 28.

Groups who participated include the Halili-Cruz Dance Company, Mev Dance Company, Lahing Batangan Dance Troupe, Ground Zero and Terpsicorean Performing Arts.

The program covered a wide range of dance genres, from Filipino folk dances to award-winning hip-hop numbers. Two duets, “Ngayon at Kailanman” and “Scarecrow,” were performed by the Halili-Cruz Dance Company.

The Lahing Batangan Dance Troupe performed ethnic dances such as the “Kumintang” from Southern Luzon and a medley of dances from the Cordillera region and Mindanao. Ground Zero, an award-winning hip-hop dance group, left the audience exhilarated with remixes of popular dances “Budots” and “Butsikik.”

Sayaw Pinoy did a total of six shows in six different venues around Lucena: Lucena City National High School, Quezon National High School, Lucena East I Elementary School, Dalahican Elementary School, Zaballero Elementary School and Pacific Mall.

Shirley Halili-Cruz, founder of Halili-Cruz Dance Company, heads NCCA’s National Committee on Dance, one of seven NCCA Sub-Commissions on the Arts (SCA).

NCCA has SCAs for all seven major art fields: architecture, cinema, theater arts, literary arts, dance, music and visual arts. Each had their own flagship program for the month of February. Halili-Cruz founded Sayaw Pinoy, the flagship program for dance, 10 years ago.

“It’s (Sayaw Pinoy) getting bigger every year. We’re going to 40 different venues with 45 different dance groups,” said Halili-Cruz in an interview with the Varsitarian.

Sayaw Pinoy’s Lucena leg was a collaboration between NCCA and the Lucena Council for Culture and the Arts and Lucena City Performing Arts Association.

Lucena City was the last destination for Sayaw Pinoy’s series of concerts for February, the country’s National Arts Month. Sayaw Pinoy will be flying to Ozamiz, Tangub, Pagadian and Davao for its first few shows for the month of March

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