The Sining Kambayoka Ensemble (SKE), the resident theater company of the Mindanao State University (MSU) Marawi City will officially represent the Philippines in the 2013 International Ramayana and Majapahit Festivals to be held in Yogyakarta and Surabaya, Indonesia from September 5 to 14, 2013. Organized by the Indonesia Ministry of Education and Culture, the said festivals will also have delegations from other Asian countries to include India, Cambodia, Myanmar, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Laos, and Thailand.
The Philippine country performance which will be performed by the SKE is entitled “Ang Kwento ng Unggoy na si Laksamana” (The Story of Laksamana the Monkey) from Maharadia Lawana. Aside from the country performance, the SKE will also conduct workshops focusing on the “Bayok” – the Mindanao theater form and Mindanao dances. The Philippine Delegation will likewise participate in a festival seminar to explore the history and development of the Ramayana in all the participating countries, as well as to encourage the young Asian artists to create new works based on the Ramayana.
A Gawad CCP Awardee for Performing Arts in 1997, the SKE has produced a number of dance-theater productions which reaped accolades from both local and international critics and audiences including its own version of the Ramayana. It has also participated in several International Festivals like the First Asian Arts Festival, First ASEAN Youth Folk Arts Festival, Gwacheon Madangkuk Festival in Korea, Contacting the World Festival in Manchester, Liverpool Street Theater Festival in UK and the Aberdeen International Youth in Scotland.
SKE’s participation to the two festivals in Indonesia is being facilitated by the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) through its Cultural Exchange Department (CED) and is supported by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts and the Office of the Regional Governor, Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). CCP’s VP-Artistic Director Chris B. Millado, Cultural Exchange Department Manager Carmencita J. Bernardo and SKE’s Executive Director Sunnie C. Noel will lead the 25-member delegation to Indonesia. Millado wrote the libretto while Pepito Sumayan, SKE’s artistic director, did the choreography and direction with Marjun Rey Alkuino as Musical Director. Dr. Nicanor G. Tiongson, professor emeritus at the U.P. Film Institute of the College of Mass Communication, University of the Philippines-Diliman, is also part of the delegation who wrote a paper on Realizing Rama, Realizing Asean: Tradition And Transformation In A Contemporary Ramayana Dance Production, 1997-2004.
Before the delegation leaves for Indonesia, they will give a send-off performance at the CCP Main Theater Lobby on September 4, 4:00PM.
For more information, contact the CCP Cultural Exchange at (+632) 8321125 locals 1708 to 1709.
