‘ONE DINAGYANG’: Dinagyang unveils unity dance honoring Sto. Niño

By Rjay Zuriaga Castor

The Dinagyang Festival will take an unprecedented turn this year as organizers introduce a “unity dance” that will bring rival tribes together in one performance to honor Señor Santo Niño.

Iloilo Festivals Foundation Inc. President Angel De Leon Jr. said the first-ever unity dance will gather competing tribes on a single stage in a collective ritual offering that highlights Dinagyang’s identity as a religious and cultural thanksgiving beyond trophies and rankings.

“This is the first time that we are holding the unity dance, which means that at the Iloilo Sports Complex, right after the last performer, all tribes will come together and dance together,” De Leon said Wednesday, Jan. 14.

“This is something that you should watch since there are around 700 tribe dancers all dancing in unity in a praise song for Señor Santo Niño, and it is something that you should experience and watch,” he added.

IFFI Festival Director Eric Divinagracia said the unity dance was made possible by the larger performance space at the Iloilo Sports Complex.

He said the concept is anchored on unity among Ilonggos despite competition among the seven participating tribes.

“We are one Iloilo City even though there are seven tribes, seven districts, and we only have one devotion to Señor Santo Niño, so we were inspired to have all of them together, and we look forward to that statement that we are one Dinagyang,” Divinagracia said.

He said dancers from all tribes will move to the beat of “Hala Bira Iloilo,” the festival’s iconic theme song released in 2018 by composer Dante Beriong.

Divinagracia said the unity dance also draws inspiration from other festivals, noting that a unity dance traditionally caps the grand finale of Sinulog sa Dakbayan.

He said the choreography is anchored on the Dinagyang lexicon developed in 2021–2022 after the pandemic, when new dance steps were created based on movements from Iloilo’s seven districts.

These movements express values such as padayon, pagtililipon and pagsinadya, which Divinagracia said have since been institutionalized by core choreographers as the foundation of contemporary Dinagyang performances.

Meanwhile, Dinagyang Side Events Committee chairperson Gabriel Felix Umadhay said this year’s celebration will extend across Iloilo City, with 101 confirmed side events scheduled outside the main tribal competitions.

They said festival activities will begin Friday with the launch of concerts and side events to usher in the Dinagyang season.

On Saturday, major activities will include plaza performances, sports competitions, simultaneous art contests and free concerts in various public spaces across the city.

Umadhay said mall-based events are also lined up, including GMA and ABS-CBN caravans at the city’s three major malls and free concerts at Sunburst Park, with participating artists to be announced.

They added that the number of side events is expected to reach at least 125 once all permits are finalized by the end of the week.

Held annually in January, the Dinagyang Festival is one of the country’s major religious and cultural celebrations, known for its elaborate choreography, drum-driven performances and deep devotion to Señor Santo Niño.