Pasinaya 2013

Last February 3, my friends and I attended an annual event at CCP, which was Pasinaya. This event is an Open House Festival wherein people can watch cultural shows, look into art galleries and be part of workshops about performing arts. Most of the activities that they host there are free, and the entrance for this event is just by donating P50.00 at the registration booth.

Photo from http://pasinaya.culturalcenter.gov.ph/

I love attending events regarding performing arts. And the fact that Philharmonic Orchestra was scheduled to perform that day made me look forward to this event that time. But since their performance was around 6pm, we just maximized our entire afternoon by checking other activities first.

I arrived at the venue around 12 noon and this was what I saw after registering. We've been exposed to lots of chinese culture and traditions and I can say that Lion and Dragon dance are one of my favorites. This particular group I think were just high school students and yes, I did have a photo with them but the copies are still with my friend (Hope he reads this blog so he can send them already haha!).

We went inside the venue and checked for the workshops that were available around that time. I was hoping we could attend a singing workshop. Sad to say that the lines were already long that we decided to just attend other activities. 

We saw this group performed a folk dance originating from Mindanao. There were other groups that did other dances after them but this was the only photo that I got from that activity.

We were also lucky to get in to one of the ballet shows. This was free so I already expected that they would only show a portion of it. But it was still amazing to see them dance gracefully on stage as they depict some scenes of the main story. I already forgot the title and the dance company in this show but if I see my brochure at home I'll update this post again with that information.

Around 2:00 pm, we decided to eat outside since Harbor Square was just around the venue. We ate at Sizzling Pepper Steak and here is a photo of my order. The rice was heart-shaped in time for Valentine's Day. Sweet!

Our next stop for that day was the art gallery. I was able to take a lot of photos of interesting works that they showcased there. Those artists are really amazing and full of creative ideas. I thought of becoming a painter too before, but my skill set only consists of drawing outline sketches of anime characters haha! 

There were also other creations wherein artists used some recycled material in depicting their concepts/ideas and they were pretty awesome too. 

 

There was also this booth that demostrated the technique on using wooden carvings as a tool for textile printing. As you can see, the design that was in the wood was so intricate, and he was able to transfer that design to different materials. It was really amazing.

And for our last stop, the audience were serenaded by the fantastic Philharmonic Orchestra. They were all good with the instruments and I like that every group were given a moment of their own. They even did a medley of Eraserheads songs that captured the heart of the crowd. I'll never forget that experience. and guys, it was for free! I think they had performed 5-6 songs that night.

By the way, the central theme of this year's Pasinaya was "Tsinoy" so there were Filipino-Chinese public figures that graced the closing event. Richard Poon was there as well as his sister, but unfortunately, my friends already wanted to go home so we didn't see that final program. But all in all,, I really had fun attending Pasinaya! I might try checking this festival again when they host it next year. Thanks again to my friends who invited me :)