Filipino folk dance, music classes returning to Ketchikan, Alaska

The Ketchikan Wellness Coalition applied for a grant from the Alaska Community Foundation’s healthy communities program to start Magsayawan Ketchikan. HANDOUT

Traditional Filipino folk dance and music classes are returning to Ketchikan, Alaska as part of a Ketchikan Wellness Coalition program to promote health and cultural heritage in the Filipino community.

There has not been a public venue in Ketchikan for adults and kids to learn dance and music traditions since the Filipino Community Center closed its doors in 2015.

The Ketchikan Wellness Coalition applied for a grant from the Alaska Community Foundation’s healthy communities program to start Magsayawan Ketchikan, a series of traditional folk dance and music classes with dedicated instructors.

“Although a few individuals occasionally showcase traditional performances, it is not consistent enough to instill the value of Filipino dance and music within the community and to pass on the artistic skill necessary to perform,” the Coalition’s health equity program coordinator, Alma Parker, shared with KRBD. Parker wrote the grant proposal for the classes.

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She stressed the need for “dedicated, cross-generational, fully trained dance and musical instructors to work with and teach Ketchikan Filipinos to cultivate this artistry and simultaneously reinvigorate the historical and cultural significance of the Ketchikan Filipino community.”

Ketchikan Wellness Coalition staff expect that the classes to start this month and run through October, when there will be performances at the community’s Fil-Am Festival.