I just want to share the photos and video taken during the Tsukuba Festival held last May 10-11, 2008. Take note, the dance performers are students and researchers here in Tsukuba, and they have no professional training whatsoever in folk dancing. But every year, members of the Association of Filipino Scholars in Tsukuba (FAST) never fail to deliver dance numbers that always delights the audience. They all lend their time and talent in order to make sure that Filipinos will be visible in the festival. Their participation in the festival is a way to share the rich and unique culture of our country to the international community here in Tsukuba. (And contrary to what you may probably think, they don’t receive any kind of remuneration for their performance in the program!)

This year, FAST presented Singkil, another famous folk dance in the Philippines which employs bamboos. As far as I know, the only other time Singkil was performed by FAST was in 2002. Compared to the Tinikling, Singkil is much more elaborate, and involves more performers. And yes, more bamboos.

I’m not good in dancing, and I never perform in these FAST presentations at the Tsukuba Festival. But I do get tapped for emceeing once in a while (like once every three years har har har). I’m not that good in Japanese, and for sure I read and pronounce some of the words in the wrong way…but it seems that I am the only one gutsy enough to do it. You’ll find me as one of the emcees in the video, where I gave the Japanese introduction of Singkil and the song Ako ay Pilipino. 🙂

Without further ado, here’s the performance of the FAST members in the recently held Tsukuba Festival 2008. Kudos to everyone! Yoku gambarimashita ne! 🙂

For photos, check out the FAST website at http://fast.bagarinao.com