Magsayawan Ketchikan l Pagdiriwang Festival

Magsayawan Ketchikan

Founded in 2022, the MAGSAYAWAN Ketchikan program was designed to meet the growing need of revitalizing and showcasing Filipino folk dance and music culture in Ketchikan. We make a conscious effort to learn dances and play musical instruments taught by respected cultural bearers and our performances reflect and embody what it means to live in Southeast Alaska. Like the archipelago of the Philippine Islands, Ketchikan is surrounded by mountains and water - we fish, we hunt, we gather, we grow, and often through challenging climates and grueling terrain. We acknowledge the bounty and harvest through blessings and gratitude. Lastly, we center ourselves within community with such strength, resilience, and grace. The dances you see us perform reflect the physical, emotional, and spiritual connection we have to one another and to the land of Ketchikan.

MAGSAYAWAN Ketchikan has collaborated with cultural dance groups such as Los Angeles based Kayamanan Ng Lahi, Filipino Community of Seattle’s Kalahi Philippine Folk Dance Company, and most recently San Francisco Bay Area’s Parangal Dance Company. We worked with cultural bearers that could provide the most authentic artistry such as Kalinga’s Ate Juliet OmliCawas Cheatle and Kuya Benson Saclag from the Cordillera region in Northern Luzon as well as Ate Lyn Buti of the T’Boli people of South Cotobato in Mindanao.

As for Magsayawan Ketchikan’s performance at the 40th year of Pagdiriwang Philippine Festival, to be held on June 6 – 7, the group will be showcasing the following indigenous dances:

Thalek and Dumendingan

Origin: Subanen Lakewood, Zamboanga del Su

Culture Bearers: Gauden Sireg, Nilda Mangilay

A celebration after a ritual or bountiful harvest, Thalek is performed to establish good will in the community and to receive more blessings. Women hold the saliringan, made of nipa leaves, and men hold the taming, or scythes, while dancing amidst clashing bamboos to the mesmerizing music and rhythm of the agung and drum, called dumendingan.

Tarog Ati

Origin: Nueva Valencia, Guimaras

Culture Bearer: Tribal Chieftain & Babaylan, Fatima Balacanta

Tarog means flow of water in the Inati dialect. They are genetically related to other Negrito ethnic groups across the archipelago and are considered the first people of the Philippines. Ati were nomadic hunters and gatherers. This piece showcases the way Tarog Ati hunts or seeks food.

Madal Semigon

Origin: South Cotabato Mindanao

Culture Bearer: Lyn Buti, T’Boli Lake Sebu

Madal Semigon is courtship dance between a man playing the Hegelung (two string Tboli guitar) and a woman he is interested in. The woman and man express their feelings to one another through dance and music.

Nestled amongst the Revillagigedo Island rainforest, on the current and ancestral lands of the Lingít Aaní (Tlingit land), we acknowledge and give honor and respect to the traditional landowners, the Taantʼá Ḵwáan and Saanya Ḵwáan Tlingit elders, past, present and future generations. We are grateful for the opportunity to learn, nourish, live, and embrace this land with mutual respect and appreciation. We will uplift and celebrate the rich history and cultural traditions alongside the people that shape this community.

Alma Manabat Parker

Director and Choreographer

MAGSAYAWAN Ketchikan

It is evident that Filipinos play a significant role in Ketchikan’s cultural scene and the emergence of MAGSAYAWAN has been taking the lead to maintaining the Filipino imprint in the community and throughout Alaska. We are dedicated to ensuring our people feel safe, included, respected, and accepted to foster a stronger sense of belonging. We are committed to collaborating with our cultural allies to ensure that we recognize and celebrate the various ethnicities within the community. We value learning about what makes each culture unique as well as discovering the similarities that make us feel more connected rather than different to one another. MAGSAYAWAN Ketchikan has created opportunities to transform and revitalize our once “invisible” yet vibrant Filipino culture; and we will keep dancing and maneuvering through this journey until that happens for everyone.

Born in the Philippines, raised in the Alaskan rain forest, Alma Manabat Parker has called Ketchikan, Alaska home for 45 years. She thrives in working environments that elevate voices that are often silenced as well as in spaces that promote creativity, inclusiveness, and diversity. Since 2021, Alma has been the Health Equity Program Director for Ketchikan Wellness Coalition’s, “SAMA SAMA TAYO SA KALUSUGAN”, a program focused on improving health care and access to Ketchikan Filipinos. Through this work, Alma has implemented the theme of “Culture as Medicine” and it has become the driving force behind the success of reinvigorating Ketchikan’s Filipino cultural presence, igniting community connection, and uplifting the sense of belonging. Alma founded the local Filipino folk-dance program MAGSAYAWAN Ketchikan(2022); she is a recipient of the 2024 Alaska Governor’s Arts and Humanities Award, serves on the Peacehealth Ketchikan Community Health Board, and is has been dance team coach for local youth for 20 years.

Alma’s recent project “BRIDGING OUR STORIES”, is a short documentary that follows her experience of rediscovering her roots, after years of resisting her identity, through learning and teaching indigenous Filipino dances. The film made its premier at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival as well as being showcased at CAAMFest, Chicago’s Asian American Showcase, and most recently Seattle Asian American Film Festival.

Alma is the mother to Maya (25) and Jameson (21) as well as fur baby Diego (Shitzu/Maltese). She enjoys travelling, rom-com movies, game nights, walking, and DANCING! Alma continues to invest in the sustainability of MAGSAYAWAN Ketchikan dance program as well as working to find a permanent cultural space for Ketchikan Filipinos to gather, learn, and connect with one another — a space that we can call our own.

Alma Manabat Parker