The concert was great, featuring styles of dance through the years, first a set of Highland Tribal dances, then a set of dances influenced by the Spanish takeover, this was followed by a group of Mindanao dances, influenced by Thai and Bali, and finally a lively bunch of dances based on life in the rural village. My Filipino friend's two daughters were in a number of dances, including one where you balance a glass of drink on your head while you dance, and one where you leap in and out of clacking bamboo poles! Many dances involved courtship, a minefield of behavioural perplexity in the Filipino culture! Other dances reflected the customs and activites of the country, seed planting, bird and fish life, coconut plantation work, rice harvesting, all that sort of thing.
It was colourful and fun, and we had a good time. On the way home we stopped for a coffee (hot chocolate for the girls) at Oriental Bay and just enjoyed being out.
Now it's Sunday night. School tomorrow. Not ready for that. No. No way. We had Asher's Open Day at his college for next year this afternoon. It took ages but it was worth it. He's really keen to go there now. It's the brother school of where I work now. And I used to work with the Principal and the Chaplain out at Stream about twenty years ago LOL! Small world, Wellington.
