SAYAW l Pagdiriwang Festival

SAYAW Filipino Folk Dance Troupe

Sayaw Filipino Folk Dance Troupe is a student-based performing arts group of the Filipino American Student Association (FASA) at the University of Washington. Taking our name from a Filipino word meaning "dance," Sayaw shares and celebrates the stories of our rich heritage and culture through the artistic expression of dance.

With performances up and down the West Coast since the late 1990's, Sayaw rehearses year-round to educate and entertain. We have been fortunate to share our talents and celebrate at various UW campus events, as well as Lunar New Year and Simbanggabi celebrations, Pista sa Nayon, the AANHPI Festival, Seattle Mariners Filipino Heritage Nights, the Peace Arch Park's Summer Concert Series in Blaine, Washington, the West Seattle and Seafair Torchlight Parades, Philippine Airlines, Seattle Theater Group’s Global Party and Dance This productions, and the NW Folklife festival. We are especially honored and proud to be a part of this annual Pagdiriwang celebration.

Folk dances of the Philippines range from depiction of daily life, to ritual and ceremonial dances, to celebration and social-gathering dances- such as celebrating a good harvest, or a jota from a specific province. Sayaw’s repertoire today features dances from the Barrio Fiesta Suite, which capture the agrarian or rural lifestyle in the Philippines, as well as the Maria Clara dances, whose Spanish-influence jotas and fandangos portray the etiquette of courtship.

Whether it is a Jota or courtship dance of Spanish-influence in the Maria Clara Suite, a ‘tachok’ or thanksgiving dance from the Cordillera Suite, Singkil from the Mindanao suite, or the very well-known Tinikling from the Barrio Fiesta Suite, all of these dances tell a story of our land, our people, our identity.