Ilonggo culture, Hiligaynon language to be given emphasis in Dinagyang activities
CITY Tourism and Development Office head Ben Jimena said one of the innovations for the 2010 Dinagyang festival is the infusion of a stage prose and poetry contest using Hiligaynon as their language in promoting Ilonggo culture.
Jimena said the competition will not only promote the Ilonggo culture but also the Hiligaynon as language. They will depict a common story. The challenge will rest on the contestants in coming up with excellence presentation and performance. Different universities here have already signified their intentions to join the contest.
The stage prose and poetry has been part of the competitions in various universities such as the Central Philippine University (CPU) and University of San Agustin during their literary and musical contests. It has yet to be done in public like in the Dinagyang festival, said Jimena.
It is a new activity under the Arts Festival. Arts festival is one of the activities lined-up for the weeklong celebration. The arts festival includes dance sports competition, Iloilo Cheerleading festival, muralistic competition and contemporary painting competition, said Jimena.
The theater-like presentation would be held in areas where it is accessible to people and have already captive audience preferably in the activity centers of malls or in SM cinema, he added.
The quality of audio or sounds is being considered to make the play pleasing to the audience. It is a literally and musical show rolled into one.
Meanwhile, Jimena said the Iloilo Dinagyang Foundation Inc. (IDFI) has already made their decision for the non-inclusion of Tribu Hamili and Himala in the 2010 Dinagyang ati competition inspite of the tribe manager’s lobbying to Mayor Jerry Trenas.
Jimena said the two tribes failed to meet the November 30 deadline set by the foundation. The desire of tribe managers to participate in the Dinagyang festival is not merely joining the ati contest.
There is one tribe or barangay which will be employed in making trophies for the special events in the weeklong festival. They will be utilized in areas where they could excel, said Jimena.
