THE ANNOUNCEMENT before every show of our Centennial celebration always elicited a round of applause, but instead of mounting the usual fare about historic personages and events, the Iligan-based Integrated Performing Arts Guild (Ipag) chose to highlight Mindanao. 

Mindanao's role in the Centennial celebrations has been underemphasized by events which Luzon and the Visayas dominate. This was why Ipag chose to celebrate the island's folkways in its third outing to Europe this year. 

Ipag visited Europe with its signature Ballet Mindanao, a dance-theater style developed from indigenous dance-music idioms in a touring repertoire of over 20 vignettes culled from ''Tales from Mindanao.'' 

The group was invited by the Association Culturelle d' Echanges Internationaux 
through the Philippine Embassy in Paris. It performed in the festivals in Orenze in the Galician regions of Spain and Portugal, and in the French festivals in Metz, Blain, the Alsace regions, Besancon, and the resorts of the Vosges. 

A contrast to the European styles of energetic feet-and-leg movements, ''Tales from Mindanao's'' graceful hands and poetic torsos fascinated Europe. The rhythm and melodies of the kulintangan enhanced the lilt and lull in our dances and music. 

Dance narrative 
Further fascinating was how the artists merged narrative with dance and music so that a performance was not simply a dance piece but a statement of a lore told with a story line. 

Maranao, Tausug, lumad, Hispanic and neo-ethnic pieces told the stories of Mindanao, which were integrated by the theme of ''earth, wind, fire and water,'' elements of life that address our concerns. 

Some tales were hilarious, others tragic. From the enchanting legend of the Maria Cristina Falls (or how Maria Cristina chose to jump off the cliff instead of surrender to the lustful Rajah) to an adaptation of the Cebuano folk song ''Pilimon,'' the dance-stories drew much appreciation. 

But the crowd favorite and centerpiece of the Ipag repertoire was the Maranao suite titled ''Kalilang.'' It was a piece ingeniously weaving the manners of the malong, the banners of celebration (pandi, pasandalan, sambulayan), the games (sipa sa manggis), and the folkways to the routines of life itself. 

From the epic ''Darangen'' was the vignette ''Abduction of Princess Lawanen,'' adapted and premiered employing in an unorthodox way the singkil in the battle to save the princess. 

Efforts to get to Europe this year were enormous, having to go through the present economic crisis, the Philippine Airlines strikes and the refusal of travel agencies to allow reasonable time for credit. 

After having to cancel the first leg of a projected world tour to the US and Canada because of funding problems, Ipag decided to continue with its Europe leg. 

Its performances again impressed Europe festival organizers who have committed to invite the company next year. But all will depend on the support of concerned institutions. 

Nevertheless, Ipag's efforts to project to the world Mindanao and the country in these difficult times paid off. Mindanao often projected as bandits' land has impressed an image of immense cultural wealth and lore, of fun and sun, and of artistic sophistication. 

Contrasts 
The presentations received long and continuous curtain calls among the more well-funded troupes of Russia, China, India, Ukraine, Moldavia, Spain, France, Brazil and Israel, among many others. 

The contrasts between the Gothic churches and the kalilang are uncanny and, well, ''gothic,'' in many ways. 

In the open squares, our performers, flags and costumes were dwarfed by the flying buttresses and glass windows of huge cathedrals. The ancient stony facades of antique masonry provide the backdrop to gaily colored and exuberant malongs 
and sawal, and the stony demeanor of the gothic statues contrasts that of active Higaonon damas in full headdresses. 

The coat-of-arms are formal to okir-ed sambolayan and panolong, all Maranao banners. And the castanets, accordions, guitars, and wind instruments are a cacophony to the kulintang, agong and dabakan. 

Amid these European settings, we are indeed celebrating our independence. 

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Steven Prince Patrick C. Fernandez is known among Iligan City's culturati as the ''Renaissance Man.'' Better known as ''Tibo'' to friends and colleagues at the Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology (MSU-IIT), he teaches humanities, drama and literature courses and is a director, prize-winning playwright, actor, animateur, musician, composer, comic artist and cultural researcher. Ipag is based in the MSU-IIT.