Nation's Night

Tonight was Cordillera Night. So, practice was at 9 as usual with some major changes to be made. Since the male PEEPS are such a hit with the crowd, Kuya Rudi decided to cut Benguet (girl dance) and add the Chieftain Dance (boy dance). So, Randy & Christian had to be on their toes to do a dance they just learned.

Then came Tachok. Since Vancouver, we never got the dance right since I was the only girl returning and we never got a chance to block it. So everytime we practiced it, I was pointing and telling people where they needed to go. So, Kuya Ruds solution? Cut the girls. I was actually relieved since it was so messy.

In the afternoon, we performed at a school. We used a classroom for a dressing room and performed on the asphalt of their basketball court. We did a one hour show of Kadal, Sohten, Tahaw, Asik, Singkil, Pandanggo, Itik, Tinkling, and Learn to Dance Tiniks.

After the show, it was back to Rockstar mentality. We must have signed hundreds of autographs, including baseball caps, tshirts, and arms! The staff served us merienda of pizza bread and cakes. They did say that of all the groups they've been involved with that we were the most beautiful....so sweet! We had to rush off though to start decorating for Nations Night.

After returning from a sidetrip to Rio, the parents cooked pancit in their hotel. The other LIKHA cooks made cassava cake in the hostel kitchen. Since Ceska and KC weren't performing tonight, they were in charge of staying back and watching the cake bake. But when KC took a short break to check email, she came back to the hostel cooks eating one of the pans....apparently it burnt and they wanted to try it.

Meanwhile, the rest of us started decorating the room. We set up the stage with palaspas and a Mabuhay sign


Sprinkled the room with Mango Trees



Decorated the chalkboard


And wrapped up the forks that we were going to pass out as the guests walked in.

This was our "gift" (other than leis, bracelets, necklaces). Being sick, I probably shouldn't have helped in this area, but I did...I probably contaminated a few people.

We were the 1st to perform since we had to head back early for our party. Other than Chieftains and Tachok, we did Uyaoy and Salidsid. Tonight was practically an all male suite. The Tachok girls did come in for their 30 second performance at the end of Salidsid....my shortest performance ever.

We were a little on edge because we wanted to redeem ourselves from the night before. We did more than redeem. We kicked ass!!!!! We also developed a loyal fan base among the other dancers and directors and were told by many that we were their favorite company. What an honor, when just a short week ago we were nervous to be performing among our peers.

We headed back after our performance to prepare for the party. We got back around 830ish while the rest got back around 1030ish.

We welcomed the guests in by giving them a bowl and fork and sending them directly to the buffet table. I was one of the greeters and felt guilty kissing them all on the cheek and passing them their plates, while turning around and hacking away every couple minutes.

The food was a hit. People were coming back for seconds and thirds and we completely ran out of everything.

Meanwhile, Rondalla was playing on stage. After everyone settled down to eat, those that could hold a note sang "Antipolo" then we went straight into Lapay. We grabbed a few people from the audience to learn it as well.

We had Jen1 dress up as a Reyna Elena for a Santa Cruzan.

We also dressed up Philippine in a Subli costume and our guide Ana and her boyfriend QueQue in a Singkil Princess & Prince costume.

Then we went to the games. The first was a newspaper game where a couple has to dance around the newspaper and when the music stops, you have to jump on it. The next round the paper has to be folded in half, and so on. The Lithuanians won. It was so cute becuase they had a big guy and he just picked up the girl and threw her on his shoulders! I was rolling!

Then we did a pass the egg on the spoon relay race. The Liths won that one too!

The last game was dance to the death...Doing Tinikling as fast as possible. The Brazilians ended up winning that one. I felt bad because one of the Lith girls hurt her ankle and had to go to the hospital.

Then to end with a bang, Gary set up a projector and screen and did a slide show of his and Christian's pictures of the Festival so far. Here are the pictures that he linked on his blog. It was definitely a hit since he included all of the groups. I think people really enjoyed our party!

Major props out to Manok for being the ringleader behind the party. Awesome job!