Tao Marayao (The Good Person)
By Kinding Sindaw
Created and Directed by Potri Ranka Manis Queano Nur
This dance storytelling theater piece follows the path of Panglima, a tribal chief of the Samal Balangingi, a maritime Muslim tribe from Zamboanga, Mindanao, Southern Philippines. It is a saga that explores the themes of displacement, the continued plunder of indigenous land, and the strength found in solidarity with communities in diaspora that span and weave in the forgotten Philippine southern seas.
Potri Ranka Manis Queano Nur founded Kinding Sindaw in 1992 as a way to assert, preserve, reclaim and promote the indigenous music and dances of her childhood, which now faces extinction. As a child in Lanao, she was trained in the traditional dance, music and martial art forms of her people and of other Philippine indigenous groups.