Palawan Baragatan Festival, Puerto Princesa, June 23, 2009

The Baragatan sa Palawan festival is held yearly and runs the whole month of June. The highlight of the festival were the dance performances by the 7 participating municipalities of Palawan. What struck me most was the gaiety of the event and the energy and fun that the performers put into their dances - of course this is an area where Filipinos excel. Words fail me to describe some of the the wonderful images created by the extraordinary costumes and makeup on these beautiful and handsome young people - luckily, a picture is worth a thousand works so I will let the images tell the story. I also have videos of all the performances which show the beauty of the dances and the brilliant choreography that tells a story from their province. A special thanks to Manny Lucena of Manny's Guest House for getting me a "Press Card", advising me on the program and being my cultural guide for the afternoon. Click on the link to see the videos of the dances.

Security was a little tight on the day but that was to be expected with the vice president Noli de Castro there to open the event (first picture).