Performed at 40th San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival
Award: Best Choreography International Folk Dance Festival Dorin Oncea 2020
Video by Rapt Productions
This world premiere choreography-Kiyaprawa a ko Arkat Lawanen (The Abduction of Princess Lawanen)-tells an ancient legend from the Meranao people of Mindanao, Philippines.
Princess Lawanen of Bamberan, beauty without compare, is engaged to brave and true Prince Mabaning Ndaw Rogong, of Gandongan. Emperor Dimasangkay of Kadaraan yearns for Lawanen, so when she is exploring along the shore, he abducts her. Chaos ensues. Prince Mabaning and his warriors sail off: they will fight to retrieve her. When Bae a labi-the Queen-demands peace, Princess Lawanen returns, and her kingdom celebrates.
Four dramatic scenes are:
Welcoming at the Palace. While women dance in malong tubular skirts, the Onor plays welcoming melodies on kulintang; she chants in the classical language, pananaroon.
Abduction and Prince Mabaning’s Journey. The men dance katubaw in tubaw kerchiefs, preparing for war. The Prince arrives in his boat. A kapangentonong ritual asks for strength, courage, and forgiveness for taking lives.
Battle, Unity, and Peace. The Meranao war dance is called Sagayan. The queen sings:
Bayok: Pamomolan sa ranao so dikang giginawai:
Stop the battle, you are brothers.
Celebration-Lawanen returns. Women dance kapagapir with fans and elegant kini-kini steps; and singkil with bamboo poles.
The Meranao-People of the Lake-live on Bukidnon-Lanao plateau, 2,200 feet high, on Mindanao, the Philippines’ southernmost island. Their farming communities circle the large, deep Lake Lanao farming rice and other crops. They are also known for elaborate symbolic wood carvings; architecture; ornate awang dugout boats; and patterned textiles.
The Abduction of Princess Lawanen is from the Merenao’s epic poem, Darangen, an oral history of 72,000 lines. Now part of UNESCO’s Intangible World Heritage, this major epic originated in ancient Sanskrit traditions with Islamic influences from the 14th century. It celebrates ancestry, mythical heroes, codes of life, death, courtship, politics, behavior, and beauty-with elegant language, symbol, irony, and satire. It has long been a treatise on what it means to be Meranao.
This performance was created with the help of Meranao Culture Bearers Salika Samad and Abdul Jabar D. Dimalna. The finale is inspired by traditional Singkil and Philippine National Artist Lucrecia Reyes-Urtula.