group 8 - the day the dancers came

ELEDIA, JOHANNAESTEBAL, ANTONETTELUNA, HAIZELMARTINEZ, KIRSTEN

3 BIO-1

The Day the Dancers Came

By Bienvenido N. Santos

ICE BREAKER

Author’s Biography:

• March 22, 1911 – January 7, 1996

• Son of Tomas and Vicenta (Nuqui) Santos

• Filipino-American fictionist, poet and nonfiction writer. He lived in the United States for many years where he is widely credited as a pioneering Asian-American writer.

Author’s Biography:• Was born and raised at Tondo, Manila but his family roots was originally from Lubao, Pampanga.

• Obtained his BA from the University of the Philippines in 1932 and as a scholar under the Philippine Pensionado program in 1941 he pursued an MA in English at the University of Illinois, Columbia University and Harvard University.


• He accepted a Rockefeller fellowship in 1958 at the Writers Workshop in the University of Iowa, where he later became a Fulbright exchange professor.

• After he retired, he became a Visiting Writer and Artist at the De La Salle University in Manila.


• Other notable works include: You Lovely People (1955), Scent of Apples (1979), The Man Who (Thought He) Looked Like Robert Taylor (1983) and What the Hell for You Left Your Heart in San Francisco (1987).


• Santos’ The Day the Dancers Came short story was adapted and made into a play entitled First Snow of November by Filipino fictionist and playwright Alfonso I. Dacanay. The stage version won first prize in the One-Act Play in English category during the 2005 Palanca Awards. Santos’s tale was also adapted and made into a twenty-seven minute film with the same title as the short story.

THEMES

ALIENATION

estrangement, division or distancing of people from each other, or of people

from what is important or meaningful to them, or of a person from their own

sense of self

THEMES

MIGRATION

is physical movement by humans from one area to another, sometimes over

long distances or in large groups

THEMES

HOMESICKNESS

the distress caused by separation from the home environment

SETTING

A Snowy November in Chicago

CHARACTERS

Filemon “Fil” Acayan – 5o years old, Filipino U.S. Citizen, corporal in the U.S. Army, discharged in 1945

Tony-Antonio Bataller – Fil’s friend and roommate, a retired Pullman porter, had been bedridden for two years due to an intriguing disease

SUMMARY

The story is about a Filipino U.S. citizen named Fil. He was a corporal during the war and since he got an American

citizenship, he lived in America. Fil lived with Tony, a fellow Filipino who also became a U.S. citizen after the

war. One day, Fil got so excited because he knew Filipino dancers from the Philippines were coming over to

America to perform. He got so excited that he even practiced the way he would talk in front of them and the dialect he would use. He even cleaned his car, planning to be the young dancers’ tour guide in America. He had tidied his house and planned to cook adobo and other

Filipino dishes that he was certain they are craving for. Tony, on the other hand, doesn't care much about these dancers. Only Fil feels excited about their arrival. Tony

doesn’t even want to participate with Fil’s plans.

SUMMARY

Fil drove to the hotel where the dancers were supposed to stay. While at the lobby of the hotel, he saw them.

They were a group of young dancers. He felt the desire to approach them, invite them to his house and they would have a wonderful conversation. But he was so shy that he does not know how start. How he wished

Tony was with him. He knew Tony could speak English more fluently than him and also Tony is better with

dealing with other people than him. Finally, he approached a small group but they all

neglected his offer saying that they had no time and would move away from him. “They were always moving

away. As if by common consent, they had decided to avoid him, ignore his presence.” Realizing that they

were not really interested of his humble offer, he sadly went away.

SUMMARY

Later that evening, he watched the dancers perform in the theatre. He recorded everything in his tape recorder – this

is where he kept all the significant sounds that he hears and whenever he was free, he would listen to the sounds

recorded and it always felt like being in the place again.When he came home from the theatre, Tony was already

asleep. He turned on the tape recorder and listened to the music and the pattering of feet during the dances.

Meanwhile, Tony woke up and ordered him to turn off the recorder. He was in such pain that he was moaning.

Meanwhile, in panic, Fil accidentally erased the recordings on the tape and “there was nothing now but the dull creaking of the tape on the spool and meaningless

sounds…”

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS

Why does Fil cling to old memories of home through an evening with

the dancers who came to Chicago?


Even though Fil was living in the U.S. for a long time, he never forgot his Filipino identity and he couldn’t avoid to think about the Philippines and his fellowmen. It is a common desire of longing for one's hometown among Filipino immigrants no matter how desperate it may seem (like Fil's desperation to be friends with the Pinoy dancers who would perform) and it also reflects the typical Filipino immigrant's value for his homeland.


Why does Fil consider time and memory as villains?


When Fil was handling his “magical sound mirror”, he accidentally pushed the erase button and he screamed. It symbolizes his waking up to reality even though he plays the recorded sounds to reminisce moments, present time would always be superior. Time, for Fil, flew by quickly and he didn’t notice how the feelings of his memories towards his homeland had changed.


How does the erased recording of the dancers’ performance present

a metaphor for Fil’s feeling of exile and homesickness?


Fil was staying in the U.S. for a long time and when the Filipino dancers came, he somehow felt that he had fellowmen with him that reminded him of home which had been long gone from his memories. The erased recording symbolizes that after the show, it had only dawned to Fil that he was still an “exile” and he felt stronger feelings of homesickness.


After the encounter with the dancers from the Philippines and the erased recording,

how would you describe Fil’s understanding of the migrant’s sense of loneliness, specifically as Santos’ ends

his story: “Biting his lips, Fil turned towards the window, startled by the first light of dawn. He hadn’t realized till then

the long night was over.”


His understanding of loneliness can be described as being stuck in time. Fil’s expectations of what would happen on the day that the dancers came became disappointments. His supposed alleviation from homesickness became a much more hurting loneliness when his invitation was ignored by the young Filipino people. In the end, Fil’s being startled in the first light of dawn can be viewed as a reminder of his lonely state. However, it can be inferred from the last sentence that Fil is not ready to let go of the memories he holds.


How does Bienvenido Santos picture the feeling of alienation by the first

generation of immigrants to America? How does it parallel or present a different picture when compared to the experience of

contemporary Filipino migrants in America and anywhere in the world

today?


Aging and alone after a lifetime squandered trying to make it in a foreign country, deprived of the social networks, transportation and communication technology, and cultural tolerance that make working abroad easier today, migrants like Fil have found themselves wandering between two homes-one unwelcoming and persistently unfamiliar, and the other forever barred to them by time. The feeling of alienation can be triggered by these two places they consider as their homes. Nowadays, since there are a lot of Filipino migrants in every part of the world, homesickness is lessened because migrants today already see that they are not alone in their situation, unlike the first wave of Filipino migrant workers in the United States in the 20th century.

END OF REPORT

group 8 - the day the dancers came

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