The Day the Dancers Came
Encyclopedia
"The Day the Dancers Came" is a 1955 short story
written by award-winning Filipino American
author Bienvenido N. Santos. Set in 1950s Chicago, it is a classic work of the Filipino diaspora. Apart from being a Republic Cultural Heritage Award in Literature awardee (the most prestigious literary award
in the Philippines
), Santos was a Wichita State University
Distinguished Writer in Residence, a National Award for Literature in Fiction recipient, a US
National Award Endowment for the Arts Award in Creative Writing honoree, and a Southeast Asia Writer’s Award holder.
, The Day the Dancers Came is a part of the anthology
of short stories by Santos, a book with the a similar title, namely The Day the Dancers Came and Other Prose Works, published in Manila in 1967. In The Day the Dancers Came the short story along with Scent of Apples and You Lovely People, Santos “memorialized the tenderness, nostalgia,” and “bittersweet story” of Filipino
manong
s, a title or designation referring to male
old-timers from the Ilocos region
, living in the United States by creating tales based on “his memories" of his own "generation". In the short story, Santos wrote that “Like time, memory was often a villain,” and a traitor. Set during the 1950s in the U.S. city of Chicago
, the short story’s central character named Fil is longing for the Philippines
and is enthusiastic to meet, greet, and entertain a visiting group of young Filipino female tinikling
dancers. However, Fil realizes that the dancers must have been cautioned against “manongs” like himself because the “bamboo dancers” circumvents and made fun of Fil and other old-timers. The Day the Dancers Came have literary and thematic connections with other short stories written by Santos. As Paul A. Rodell explained, even though modern-day Filipinas have changed (as in Santos’s short story Brown Coterie) and the “face in the picture has become blurred” (as in Santos’s short story Scent of Apples), the Filipino émigrés held on to their visualizations of the Philippines because such visions were the “only things worth holding on to and the only things tying” the old-timers like Fil to “their homeland”. In the short story, Santos examined the multifarious character of the “hybrid Philippine society” as it carefully moves forward into the contemporary world. Through The Day the Dancers Came Santos illustrated the United States as a place where dreams die away and “turn to ashes”, a western land where the early cohort of Filipino settlers and exiles crave to return to the Philippines, only to be confronted with the senselessness of doing such a homecoming.
.
Santos’s tale was also adapted and made into a twenty-seven minute film with the same title as the short story.
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
written by award-winning Filipino American
Filipino American
Filipino Americans are Americans of Filipino ancestry. Filipino Americans, often shortened to "Fil-Ams", or "Pinoy",Filipinos in what is now the United States were first documented in the 16th century, with small settlements beginning in the 18th century...
author Bienvenido N. Santos. Set in 1950s Chicago, it is a classic work of the Filipino diaspora. Apart from being a Republic Cultural Heritage Award in Literature awardee (the most prestigious literary award
Literary award
A literary award is an award presented to an author who has written a particularly lauded piece or body of work. There are awards for forms of writing ranging from poetry to novels. Many awards are also dedicated to a certain genre of fiction or non-fiction writing . There are also awards...
in the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
), Santos was a Wichita State University
Wichita State University
Wichita State University is a NCAA Division I public university in Wichita, Kansas with selective admissions. WSU is one of six state universities governed by the Kansas Board of Regents. The current president is Dr. Donald Beggs....
Distinguished Writer in Residence, a National Award for Literature in Fiction recipient, a US
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
National Award Endowment for the Arts Award in Creative Writing honoree, and a Southeast Asia Writer’s Award holder.
Description
A tale of the Filipino diaspora and regarded as a Filipino literary classic, The Day the Dancers Came the short story won the Free Press Literary Awards on September 24, 1960, an award given by the Philippine Free Press magazine. Also a second-prize winning story during the 1961 Palanca Awards1961 Palanca Awards
The Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature winners in the year 1961 .-English Division:Short Story*First Prize: "The Sound of Sunday" by Kerima Polotan Tuvera...
, The Day the Dancers Came is a part of the anthology
Anthology
An anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler. It may be a collection of poems, short stories, plays, songs, or excerpts...
of short stories by Santos, a book with the a similar title, namely The Day the Dancers Came and Other Prose Works, published in Manila in 1967. In The Day the Dancers Came the short story along with Scent of Apples and You Lovely People, Santos “memorialized the tenderness, nostalgia,” and “bittersweet story” of Filipino
Filipino people
The Filipino people or Filipinos are an Austronesian ethnic group native to the islands of the Philippines. There are about 92 million Filipinos in the Philippines, and about 11 million living outside the Philippines ....
manong
Manong
Manong is an Ilocano term principally given to the first-born male in a Filipino nuclear family. However, it can also be used to title an older brother, older male cousin, or older male relative in an extended family. The feminine "manang" is a term given to an older sister...
s, a title or designation referring to male
Men in the Philippines
Men in the Philippines is a term referring to the male members of Filipino society, or men who belong or come from the Philippines, a country in South East Asia or the Far East...
old-timers from the Ilocos region
Ilocos Region
The Ilocos region or Region I is a Region of the Philippines and is located in the northwest of Luzon. It borders to the east the regions of the Cordillera Administrative Region and Cagayan Valley and to the south the region of Central Luzon...
, living in the United States by creating tales based on “his memories" of his own "generation". In the short story, Santos wrote that “Like time, memory was often a villain,” and a traitor. Set during the 1950s in the U.S. city of Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, the short story’s central character named Fil is longing for the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
and is enthusiastic to meet, greet, and entertain a visiting group of young Filipino female tinikling
Tinikling
The tinikling is one of the most popular and well-known of traditional Philippine dances. The tinikling is a pre-Spanish dance from the Philippines that involves two people beating, tapping, and sliding bamboo poles on the ground and against each other in coordination with one or more dancers who...
dancers. However, Fil realizes that the dancers must have been cautioned against “manongs” like himself because the “bamboo dancers” circumvents and made fun of Fil and other old-timers. The Day the Dancers Came have literary and thematic connections with other short stories written by Santos. As Paul A. Rodell explained, even though modern-day Filipinas have changed (as in Santos’s short story Brown Coterie) and the “face in the picture has become blurred” (as in Santos’s short story Scent of Apples), the Filipino émigrés held on to their visualizations of the Philippines because such visions were the “only things worth holding on to and the only things tying” the old-timers like Fil to “their homeland”. In the short story, Santos examined the multifarious character of the “hybrid Philippine society” as it carefully moves forward into the contemporary world. Through The Day the Dancers Came Santos illustrated the United States as a place where dreams die away and “turn to ashes”, a western land where the early cohort of Filipino settlers and exiles crave to return to the Philippines, only to be confronted with the senselessness of doing such a homecoming.
Adaptations
Santos’s The Day the Dancers Came short story was adapted and made into a play entitled First Snow of November by Filipino fictionist and playwright Alfonso I. Dacanay. The stage version won first prize in the One-Act Play in English category during the 2005 Palanca Awards2005 Palanca Awards
The Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature winners in the year 2005 :-English Division:Novel* Grand Prize: "Salamanca" by Dean Francis AlfarShort Story...
.
Santos’s tale was also adapted and made into a twenty-seven minute film with the same title as the short story.
External links
- Read The Day the Dancers Came at Scent of Apples: A Collection of Stories by Bienvenido N. Santos, books.google.com
- Read Bienvenido N. Santos’s The Day the Dancers Came at Brown River, White Ocean: An Anthology of Twentieth-century Philippines by Luis Francia, books.google.com
- Description of Bienvenido N. Santos’s The Day the Dancers Came at vincigroyon.multiply.com