Binaybayon: A dance composition

The purpose of this study was to compose a dance for the Baybayanons (people of Baybay City, Leyte), with the aim of developing a video documentation based on the dance composition. The study utilized the descriptive design and ethnographic. Twenty-five were selected from the potential informants and 12 from the 25 approached where chosen purposively as key informants. As a largely farming and fishing community, the people always asked for the Blessed Immaculate Conception’s blessings to give them good harvests and bountiful catch. Since then, the Baybayanons offered a “Sidong” – which means a dance of veneration and thanksgiving as an expression of their fervent love, devotion and gratitude to the Blessed Mother. There were no basic steps being followed by the people. They danced according to what they feel. But more than thirty years had passed and this religious practice almost faded out and was no longer observed by many Baybayanons. It was in 2008 that the Baybay Tourism Investment and Promotion Office (BTIPO) officially revived the “Sidong” with its new name “Binaybayon”. The researcher being a member of the Festival Committee in Baybay, Festival Choreographer and Dance Director was commissioned by this office to compose dance steps that are authentic binaybay in character as a veneration and thanksgiving to the Blessed Immaculate Conception – The Patroness in Baybay for the new generation to learn and emulate