Philippine Bayanihan National Folk Dance Company

The Philippine Bayanihan National Folk Dance Company is a multi-awarded company recognised both nationally and internationally.

Bayanihan, the National Dance Company of the Philippines takes its name from an ancient Filipino tradition called bayanihan which means working together for a common good. In 1956 Dr. Helena Z. Benitez founded the Bayanihan Folk Dance Group of the Philippine Women’s University. The following year, 1957, it was formally organised as the Bayanihan Folk Arts Center with the Bayanihan Philippine Dance Company as its performing arm. Both the center and the dance company were tasked to research on and preserve indigenous Philippine art forms in music, dance, costumes and folklore; to restructure and enhance these research findings to evolve repertoires suited to the demands of contemporary theater; and to promote international goodwill through performances at home and abroad.

From Folkdance translated into the modern stage, Bayanihan carefully advances into Folklore, and beyond, with Filipino History and national identity as its guide. Bayanihan never stopped its research into Philippine folk culture. In some instances it even researched comparative folkways in other societies, particularly those with which Philippine culture has been and is interlaced and inter-related. The findings further enriched and brought into better perspective its discoveries and insights into our own folk culture.