Opening Salvo for Digital Dinagyang today

This year’s edition of the world-famous Dinagyang Festival kicks off today, Jan 14, 2022 via online streaming amid rising COVID-19 cases in Iloilo City.

The organizer of the festival, Iloilo Festivals Foundation Inc. (IFFI) opted for a short and simple yet meaningful “opening salvo” this year as the city is still under the Alert Level 3 classification.

“We will have a short and simple program. We will feature limited performances and it will all be streamed online,” IFFI executive director Joyce Clavecillas said in a press conference on Tuesday.

Instead of the usual preview of the dance performances of tribes in the downtown area in pre-pandemic years, the opening salvo this year will feature a caravan of seven barangay tribes in the major streets of Iloilo City.

According to Clavecillas, the seven barangay tribes will showcase their Dinagyang drumbeats onboard the trucks as they go around the metro.

Gabriel Umadhay of the Iloilo City Government said Dinagyang spectators need not go out to the streets in the downtown area to feel the Dinagyang spirit because the drumbeats will be streamed to the comforts of their homes.

“We will still feel that it’s our opening salvo but it’s not necessarily going down to the streets of Iloilo City Proper and cheering, but rather we will bring the drums to your homes,” he said during the press conference.

Aside from the caravan of the seven barangay tribes, the official trailer of the cultural dance presentation of the Dinagyang Festival will also be shown during the opening salvo which will be streamed online on the Facebook accounts of the Iloilo City Government, Iloilo Festivals Foundation, Inc. (IFFI), and Mayor Jerry Treñas at 2 p.m.  (DG)