Dance troupe keeps ‘sinug’ alive

When Rommel Diola Borja first picked up his drumsticks, he beat it without any tune. He was nearly four years old then when his excitement for drums led to a lifelong love and pursuit to keep an old beat and dance alive.

Now, 41, Borja recalls how he was amused when he took his drum lessons. His teacher was Estelita “Nang Titang” Diola who is considered the “keeper of the sinug beat and dance.”

Nang Titang is his mother’s aunt.

“Whenever I saw her drum made of goat skin unused, I played with it. When she saw me doing it several times, she taught me how to position my fingers in order to properly hold the drumsticks,” he said in Cebuano.

At a young age, Borja had seen Nang Titang practice the sinug. He went with her when she performed the dance ritual at the Casa Gorordo Museum. When he turned four, Nang Titang let him join in the sinug dance as one of its characters dressed in conquistadores’ clothes.

Prayer ritual

Sinug is a prayer ritual in the form of a dance performed at the altar or before the image of the Holy Child or the Santo Niño. Its beat and choreography are different from the popular Sinulog street dance seen during the feast of the Santo Niño in Cebu every third Sunday of January.

“For almost four decades, the sinug has become one of my ways of expressing my faith and love for Santo Niño. Every time I play the drum, it gives me a feeling of contentment,” he said.

In the garden of the Casa Gorordo Museum of the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc. (RAFI), Borja with dancers ages 4 to 60 years old who compose the Turang Dance Troupe performed the 45-minute sinug last Jan. 21, as they always do the day after the feast of the Santo Niño.

War story

Before a crowd, they danced and waved their swords to tell the story of warring groups, the Muslims (dressed in pre-colonial costumes) and Christians (dressed as conquistadores), and the peace brought through the intercession of

While Nang Titang was not able to perform the sinug due to a physical injury, she witnessed Borja and the young dancers all of whom she had taught over the past years.

“When she was hospitalized, she always reminded me not to leave the sinug tradition. I am holding my promise to her that whatever happens, I will continue living with my faith and training young children,” he said.

The 30 kids he is training with Nang Titang and his mother, Carol Diola, are from barangay Mabolo, Cebu City. Among them are Joshua Llenos, 12, and William Tudtud, 18.

Proud dancer

Joshua started dancing the sinug in 2008. While his first day of rehearsal was exhausting, he attends the practices religiously. Because he is proud to be a sinug dancer, his tight costume as a Moro or Muslim does not hinder him to perform.

William, on the other hand, was only 7 when he joined Nang Titang’s Turang Dance Troupe before becoming the group’s drummer. Shy and reserved, he is considered the big brother of the younger dancers.