Princess Diaries

Ancient Filipino tale gets a modern twist

By Richard Lee
October 27, 2005

Singkil is an ancient Maranao legend that tells the tale of a Muslim Princess who faces the challenge of a life-threatening earthquake en route to her betrothed prince. The earthquake uproots trees that fall at her feet, forcing her to walk over the debris with the grace of her lineage.

In the Filipino community, Singkil is seen dozens of times: a beautiful Filipina complete with her Sari Manok headdress dancing nimbly through clapping bamboos while waving her fans with seductive refinement.

Now imagine the ancient dance instead taking place in modern-day Toronto, the princess a Filipina-Canadian journalist, Mimi.

Mourning over the death of her mother, a former dancer, Mimi comes to uncover her mother's lifelong secrets. And the only way to weather the emotional storm is for Mimi to pick up her mother's fans and dance.

Singkil is a new play by Filipino-Canadian playwright, Catherine Hernandez about a woman who gets her feet caught in an ancient dance and her mother's deepest, darkest secret.

A public staged reading of this moving play will take place on Oct 29th and 30th at Factory Theatre (125 Bathurst Street at Adelaide) at 8pm. It features a stellar Filipino cast under the guidance of Nina Lee Aquino, Artistic Director of fu-GEN Asian Canadian Theatre Company.

For more information, go to www.fu-gen.org or call 416.496.5726 to reserve your tickets