Filipino youth put skills to test as part of decades-old Maharlika dance group

Janani Whitfield · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 03, 2025 8:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: June 3

This communicative is portion of a bid from CBC Saskatchewan, featuring four stories from the 15 pavilions that are portion of Mosaic 2025. For more, sojourn our Mosaic home page.

When Kian Gilongos decided to articulation his section Filipino creation group, helium was excited astir the accidental to beryllium portion of a household contented that stretches backmost four decades.

Regina's Maharlika creation radical has existed since the 1980s, which is erstwhile Gilongos' begetter archetypal joined the radical arsenic a teenager.

"Maharlika was a truly bully accidental to bring unneurotic different Filipinos that had immigrated oregon had been calved here, and it was a truly large mode of sharing culture, and I decided I wanted to bash that too," the 14-year-old said.

The younker radical features 65 dancers betwixt the ages of six to 27. They've been practising since January for the routines that they'll perform during this year's Mosaic festival, June 5 to 7.

The vigor is palpable during rehearsal, the excitement reaching a fever transportation for the tinikling dance, which sees older dancers deftly measurement and hop implicit moving bamboo sticks.

Gilongos describes the creation arsenic "exhilarating."

"There's conscionable truthful galore things that could perchance spell wrong, right? Somebody could clap off, idiosyncratic could instrumentality a measurement wrong, and it's genuinely stupefying to spot each of this happening and moving together."

WATCH | Filipino dancing a household affair:

Last twelvemonth astatine Mosaic, 1 of the dancers had a toenail slam into his ft and began bleeding, yet finished retired the dance, Gilongos said. It speaks to the level of committedness the dancers have.

"The amusement indispensable spell on, right?"

The dancers accidental there's a camaraderie present that they don't get anyplace other — and they instrumentality pridefulness successful extending that to others who admit their culture.

Twenty-one-year-old Karyss King is an teacher with the group, and is among the participants who bash not have Filipino ancestry. She got progressive erstwhile Filipino friends, knowing she was a dancer, invited her to cheque retired a practice.

She got hooked. 

"I loved it truthful much," she said. "I deliberation thing to admit is conscionable the emotion that everyone has. You don't person to beryllium Filipino to beryllium a portion of Maharlika."

She appreciates the situation of definite dances, including 1 wherever dancers equilibrium a solid of h2o connected their heads. However, the tinikling creation intimidated her, particularly arsenic a dancer who needs to support her feet.

"When I tried it for the archetypal time, I was honestly horrified, but I was like, 'I can't amusement that I'm scared,'" she said, adding that dancers statesman to suffer their stamina arsenic the gait gets faster.

"But erstwhile you look up and you spot your friends astir you, it's like, 'I person to support going. I privation to support going and I'm going to bash this dance.'"

Participants accidental visitors volition consciousness the bully vibes and vigor from the Philippines Pavilion astatine Mosaic and its close-knit Maharlika dancers.

"It's genuinely similar a household that's similar nary other," said King.