BACOLOD CITY – More than 500 delegates from different regions in the Philippines participated in the 41st National Folk Dance Workshop (NFDW) that will introduce 11 new Filipino folk dances.
Officials of the Philippine Folk Dance Society (PFDS) led by its president Dr. Randyll Villones and Vice Mayor Ramon Torres along with Senior Tourism Operations Officer Mae Ann Furtos led the opening of the five-day workshop at the Manuel Y. Torres Memorial Coliseum and Cultural Center in Bago City, Negros Occidental on Wednesday, July 26.
“Today it is with insurmountable happiness that we are finally back in our in-person workshop after more than three years of hiatus,” said Villones who expressed excitement that participants will share their learnings and dance spaces with old and new acquaintances.
Participants, majority of them teachers and students, were from Regions 1 to 13, National Capital Region, Cordillera, Bangsamoro, as well as United States.
The participants paid P5,000 for registration fees.
Villones said that it is very important for young Filipinos to continue propagating folk dances.
“Let us not get tired of propagating our dances especially to the younger generations,” he added.
“Pas-an Saging” from Western Visayas was one of the 11 new dances introduced during the event co-hosted by the PFDS and Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP).
Villones thanked Bago City officials led by Mayor Nicholas Yulo. This city is hosting the NFDW for the second time.
He said that the city joined the bidding in 2018 to host the event and they signed the memorandum of agreement in 2020 with the city government.
Furtos said this city first hosted the NFDW in 2011.
“We are glad to host again the 41st NFDW. We want to showcase Bago City as the home of historical and natural treasures, and we want to show to different provinces and regions in the Philippines the difference of Bagonhon as a host,” she added.
Furtos said that the city government has allocated P4 million for the event that ends on July 30.