Indayog ng Pilipinas at Katara Cultural Village

Doha: Internationally acclaimed Filipino dance company founded by the late National Artist of the Philippines, Ramon A. Obusan is set to take centrestage tomorrow at 7pm at Katara Drama Theatre. The Ramon Obusan Folkloric Group (ROFG) will perform in a show entitled “Indayog ng Pilipinas: A Showcase of Philippine Folkloric Dances” presented by the Philippine Embassy in cooperation with the Cultural Village Foundation – Katara. One of the leading resident dance companies of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP), the group founded in 1972 has been preserving and perpetuating Philippine traditions through decades focusing on music and dance. Boasting over a thousand performances in the Philippines and abroad, the group has carved its own niche in the world of dance as forerunner of Philippine folk dance performed closest to the original. For the past decades, it has documented and performed the rituals of more than 50 ethno-linguistic groups in the Philippines. It has highlighted the authenticity of the movements and costumes of Filipino ethno-linguistic groups through its outstanding full-length dance works. Meanwhile, the Philippine Embassy has announced it is inviting Filipino dance enthusiasts to a free dance workshop on “Basic and Fundamentals of Philippine Folk Dance” to be conducted by ROFG on Monday. The free-of-charge workshop to be held at the Rehearsal Room of Katara Building 16 is open to participants ages eight years old and above. This is not the first time a Filipino dance group will perform in Katara. In 2016, the acclaimed Bayanihan Dancers represented the Philippines at the inaugural Cultural Diversity Festival organised by Katara and the Unesco Office in Doha, while Ballet Philippines featured in “Master Pieces: Celebrating the Tapestry of Filipino Culture and Friendship” in 2015. Among other world-class Filipino artistes that staged performances in Katara were the Orchestra of the Filipino Youth in October last year and concert pianist Dr. Raul Sunico and Jesper Mercado and soprano Stefanie Quintin in May of the same year