A Dance with Shadows: How Tanghalang Pilipino’s ‘Sayaw ng mga Ilaw’ Braves the Dark with Heart

A single flame is not much against a cold night. Yet, it was enough to fill the CCP Black Box Theater with “Sayaw ng mga Ilaw”, Tanghalang Pilipino’s (TP) newest production for its 40th theater season.

“Sayaw ng mga Ilaw” began as a children’s picture book by Cheeno Marlo Sayuno, illustrated by Aaron Asis and published by Tahanan Books in 2024. From there, it found a new home in the theater.

That home is Tanghalang Pilipino, the resident theater company of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) and the country’s unparalleled National Performing Arts Company for Theater that has mounted more than 277 full productions across 39 theater seasons. “Sayaw ng mga Ilaw” is an offering for its 40th season, dubbed as TP40: Past Forward, one that looks back on four decades of Filipino theater and carries its lessons forward.

On opening night, the celebration of “Sayaw ng mga Ilaw” began with welcoming smiles and bright lights. When seated, the audience saw large drapes of light curtains that cover the whole stage and instantly draw attention to the humongous scenic terno, almost ominously plopped right at the center. 

Wincess Jem Yana and Annika Co alternate as actresses for the protagonist Laya, a child with a dream to be a Pandanggo dancer, enamored deeply by the talent of her sister Kala played by Ynna Rafa. Together on this journey are their parents, played by veteran cast members like Noel Rayos as Tatay Ondeng and the magnificent Shiela Valderrama as Nanay Lucia. 

Set in a period of turmoil in Philippine history, their small, joyful family goes through different stages of love, uncertainty, and grief as the father of the household disappears, perceived dead, following the tragedy during the construction of the Manila Film Center during the Marcos dictatorship. But Laya finds her strength to recover not just from the loss of her father but from the collapse of her dream to dance like her sister.

The path to “Sayaw ng mga Ilaw” was never a straight line. It went through countless discussions to get there. Sayuno’s story crossed the team’s path almost by fate. As Director of the play, Jonathan Tadioan recalls, it was just mentioned in deliberation during one of many conversations about the season. But once he read the book, he knew. They finally found a story they did not just pick, but fell in love with.

Turning a children’s book into a full production was more than just moving a story from page to stage. It called for a impressive team to build that world from the ground up. Together with Tadioan, who molded the production, is Juan Ekis, who adapted the story for the stage; and Kat Batara, as dramaturg, who kept the story rooted in its source. 

With the well-stacked team, the artistic vigor and the fervor of passion are evident in the delivery of each line thrown and movement displayed radiantly on the stage. All shifts and performances are incredibly done with extreme detail, splendidly conveying all emotions to the audience as if reflecting their own struggles onto them.

Every scene brims with intensity as the production merged two concepts — folk dances and history, as the vessel and its message. From the beautiful silhouettes of the folk dance to the devastating turn of events, “Sayaw ng mga Ilaw” gets anchored on the Pandanggo sa Ilaw (Dance of Lights), one of the country’s most recognizable folk dances, where a performer balances three lighted candles, one on each palm of the dancer’s hands and one atop her head.

It acts both as a device and a symbol on the deliberate effort it takes to keep a family’s light steady. It becomes a way of remembering that weaves a family’s grief and a nation’s dark history of Martial Law during the Marcos Sr. administration. Together, they rebuilt the vitality of the Philippine landscape of that era: alive under a heavy sky. 

It refused to hide the hard truth. The children’s book was told with a child’s wonder and an adult’s honesty. And so, as the show takes the stage in the same season the country marks the anniversary of the declaration of Martial Law, there is no better time to remember, to speak, to pass the light forward. 

Remnants of the past exist up until now—we see how it has shaped society to this day from the horrors of history. We see how it greatly affected our country beyond its economy and standards of living, but on how we see life, and how we cope with life. Perhaps we found ourselves repeating old habits and mistakes, but we, as Filipinos, must not forget the tragedies that struck us at the very core of democracy and freedom.

“Sayaw ng mga Ilaw” tells the stories that must not be lost, teaches the history that must not be forgotten, and lets the next generation see realities that came before them. Every culture and tradition, folk dances especially, survives because one generation teaches the next. So do memories, and so do the truths a country would rather bury. The light only fades when people stop passing it on.

All the more so today, when we battle against the corrupted system of our nation and fight for our freedom to express ourselves. Laya’s journey may come to an end, but it gave us the drive to face our fears and carry our own lights at the palm of our hands, even if risks await to burn us. To take hold of the fire in our hearts and set it ablaze towards our path.

“Sayaw ng mga Ilaw” drives us to be hopeful that, despite the weight of heavy darkness in a tunnel, a light will shine through and brighten our way to the end.  

“Sayaw ng mga Ilaw” runs at Tanghalang Ignacio Gimenez (Black Box Theater), CCP, Pasay City, until October 11, with performances from Friday to Sunday. Tickets are available on TicketWorld and Ticket2Me, or through Tanghalang Pilipino’s official domains at https://bit.ly/SayawNgMgaIlawTickets.

For inquiries, you can contact them through their social media platforms (@tanghalangpilipino) like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.