Three students from the Cordillera Administrative Region are representing the Philippines and Southeast Asia in the “First Voices” project of the Atlantic Council for International Cooperation (ACIC) in Halifax, Atlantic Canada.

The theme of this year’s activities is “First Voices: Connecting Aboriginal youth from the north and the south through dance.”
The selected participants will travel to Atlantic Canada for two weeks from Oct. 13-26  where they will participate in workshops, share their stories and dances, and join public presentations and speaking engagements.

The students are Mark Jhonarsky Victoriano, Faith Marlette Dao-ay, and Warren Bill Compitay. Victoriano and Dao-ay are BSHRM students from the University of Baguio while Compitay is a techvoc student.

Victoriano, who hails from Sabangan, Mountain Province is a member of Tayaw and the Matineb Cultural Performing Group while Dao-ay comes from the Tanglag tribe of Kalinga and is pioneer performer of the Lin-awa Center for Culture and Arts and a member UB-Graces.  Compitay also from Mountain Province is a member of Matineb and a regular performer during Lang-ay Festivals.  The three were selected based on skills in indigenous dances and competencies in traditional or ethnic instruments such as the gongs, bamboo, and the solibao.

Now on its fifth year, First Voices is a cultural exchange program between indigenous groups from Atlantic Canada, Latin America, Africa, and Asia. This year, the selection was coordinated through Ebgan, a non-government organization whose advocacy is focused on women and community development concerns.  According to Ebgan executive director Lyn Madalang, it has been a partner organization of international groups because of their involvement in indigenous people’s issues and their theater advocacy programs with the Philippine Educational Theater Association.

Madalang said, theater workshops were organized among the youth and the women’s to keep people aware of issues in the community using the indigenous arts of the Igorots.

Like the Cordilleras, Atlantic Canada has indigenous or aboriginal groups that include the Maliseet, Mi’kmaq, Inuit, Metis, and Innu. The three participants will bond with their Canadian counterpart in a series of public presentations and cultural friendship with a special performance on Oct. 25 to close their activities before their departure.