WEDDING DANCE

BY: AMADOR DAGUIO

GROUP 2
Angel Kaye Antonio
Elaine Laurice Morta Padua
Kurt Jomary Agatep

Gia Vanessa Festejo

Ylleah Margarette Go
Airish Naden Alcantara

Jonel Garcia
Gacutan

Hacelle Gabayan

Hazel Ganuelas

Genny Padilla

Justin Eduard Marzan

Rhyxyn John Cabalo

Amari Nadine Tumolva

Rose Ann Sanson

Shayne Guieb Navora

Anabelle Dy

WEDDING DANCE
BY: AMADOR DAGUIO

*video of Lumnay, Awiyao and Madulimay*

VOICE OVER: Our country truly was a rich country filled with many
different cultures, traditions and beliefs from our ancestors and one of these
said beliefs has something to do with marriage.

*Madulimay and Awiyao dancing together with the visitors*

VOICE OVER: Long ago, in a mountain somewhere in the Philippines, there

was a couple named Awiyao and Lumnay. They were married for a long time
but Awiyao,Lumnays husband has to marry another girl named Madulimay,
and the reason why, let us all find out as we go on a journey to the past,
witnessing what happened to Lumnay and Awiyaos lovestory.

*Awiyao will leave Madulimay*

*Lumnay leaning on the ground (pillow), Awiyao enters and stand behind
Lumnay*

AWIYAO: Im sorry this had to be done. I am really sorry. But neither of us

can help it.
Why dont you go out and join the dancing women?

*Awiyao held Lumnay on her left shoulder*

AWIYAO: You should join the dancers. As if-As if nothing has happened.
*Awiyao stands*

AWIYAO: If you really dont hate me for this separation, go out and dance.
One of the men will see you dance well, he will like your dancing, he will
marry you. Who knows but that, with him, you will be luckier than you were
with me.

LUMNAY: I dont want any man I dont want any other man.

AWIYAO: You know very well that I dont want any other woman either.
You know that Lumnay, dont you?

*Silence*

LUMNAY: Yes, I know.

AWIYAO: It is not my fault, you cannot blame me; I have been a good
husband to you.

LUMNAY: Neither can you blame me.

*Lumnay seemed about to cry*

AWIYAO: No, you have been very good to me, You have been a good wife, I
have nothing to say against you.

*Set some of the burning wood in the place*

AWIYAO: Its only that a man must have a child. Seven harvests is just too
long to wait. Yes, we have waited long. We should have another chance
before it is too late for both of us.
*Lumnay stretched her right leg out and bent her leg in*

LUMNAY: You know that I have done my best. I have prayed to Kabunyan
much. I have sacrificed many chickens in my prayers.

AWIYAO: Yes, I know.

LUMNAY: You remember how angry you were once you came home from
your work in the terrace because I butchered one of your pigs without your
permission? I did it to appease Kabunyan, because, like you I wanted to have
a child. But what could I do?

AWIYAO: Kabunyan does not see fit for us to have a child.

*smoke from fire went up to the ceiling*

*Awiyao went to the corner where Lumnay sat, looked at Lumnays face then
went to where the jars of water stood piled one over the other , he took
coconut cup and filled it with water from the jar*

AWIYAO: I came home, because I did not find you among the dancers. Of course, I
am not forcing you to join my wedding ceremony. I came to tell you that Madulimay,
although I am marrying her, can never become as good as you are. You are one of
the best wives in the whole village.

LUMNAY: That has not done me any good, has it?

*Awiyao put the coconut cup aside, then held her face but Lumnays eyes looked
away*
*He let go of her face and she bent to the floor*

AWIYAO: This house is yours. I built it for you. Make it your own, live in it as long
as you wish. I will build another house for Madulimay.

LUMNAY: I have no need for a house. Ill go to my own house. My parents are old.
They will need help in the planting of the beans, in the pounding of the rice.

AWIYAO: I will give you the field that I dug out of the mountain during the first
year of our marriage.
You know I did it for you. You helped me make it for the two of us.

LUMNAY: I have no use for any field.

*Awiyao looked at Lumnay then turned away*

*Silent for a long time*

LUMNAY: Go back to the dance. It is not right for you to be here. They will wonder
where you are, Madulimay will not feel good. Go back to the dance.

AWIYAO: I would feel better if you could come, and dance---for the last time. The
gangsas are playing.

LUMNAY:

You know I cannot.

AWIYAO: Lumnay. Lumnay, If I did this, it is because of my need for a child. You
know that life is not worth living without a child. The men have mocked me behind
my back. You know that.

LUMNAY: I know it. I will pray that Kabunyan will bless you and Madulimay.
*Freeze, Awiyao and Madulimay*

VOICE OVER: Lumnay had thought of the seven harvests that passed, the high
hopes they had in the beginning of their new life together, the day he took her away
from her parents across the roaring river, on the other side of the mountain. It was
quite an exhausting trip but both of them were happy. Happy that nothing in this
world can measure. Happy and deeply in love back then. He was the most beautiful
man that she has ever seenhe was strong and for that, she had lost him.

*She flung herself upon his knees and clung to them and cried*

LUMNAY: Awiyao, Awiyao my husband. I did everything to have a child. *whisper*

Look at me. Look at my body. Then, it was full of promise. It could dance, it could
dance; it could work Fast in the fields; it could climb the mountains fast. Even now it
is firm, full. But Awiyao, Kabunyan never blessed me. Awiyao, Kabunyan is cruel to
me. Awiyao, I am useless. I must die.

AWIYAO: It will not be right to die.

*Awiyao hugged Lumnay in his arms*

LUMNAY: I dont care about the fields, I dont care about the house. I dont care for
anything but you. Ill have no other man.

AWIYAO: Then youll always be fruitless.

LUMNAY: Ill go back to my father, Ill die.

AWIYAO: Then you hate me. If you die it means you hate me. You do not want me
to have a child. You do not want my name to live in our tribe.
If I do not try a second time, It means Ill die. Nobody will get the fields I
have carved out or the mountains; nobody will come after me.

LUMNAY: If you fail----if you fail this second time----nono. I dont want you to fail.

AWIYAO: If I fail, Ill come back to you. Then both of us will die together. Both of us
will vanish from the life of our tribe.

*can hear the sound of the gong*

LUMNAY: Ill keep my beads. *whisper* Awiyao let me keep my beads.

AWIYAO: You will keep the beads. They came from way up north, from the slant
eyed people across the sea. You keep them, Lumnay. They are worth twenty fields.

LUMNAY: I will keep them because they stand for the love you have for me. I love
you, I love you and have nothing to give.

*Lumnay took away herself from Awiyao*

PEOPLE: Awiyao! Awiyao! Oh Awiyao! They are looking for you at the dance!

AWIYAO: I am not in a hurry.

LUMNAY:

The elders will scold you. You had better go.

AWIYAO: Not until you tell me that it is alright with you.

LUMNAY: It is all right with me.

AWIYAO: I do this for the sake of the tribe.

LUMNAY: I know.

*Awiyao walks away*

LUMNAY: Awiyao!

*Freeze Awiyao and Lumnay*

VOICE OVER: Awiyao stopped as if suddenly hit by a spear. It pained him to leave.
She had been wonderful to him. What was it that made a man wish for a child?
Suppose he changed his mind?
Why did the unwritten law demand, anyway, that a man, to be a
man, must hav a child to be after him? And if he was fruitlessbut he loved
Lumnay. It was like taking away of his life to leave her like this.

LUMNAY:

Awiyao. The beads!

*Awiyao walks toward Lumnay, then Lumnay suddenly rest her head in Awiyaos
neck*

LUMNAY: Awiyao! Awiyao, it is hard!

*She gasped and closed her eyes and hurried her face in his neck*
PEOPLE: Awiyao! Awiyao! Come out now!

*Lumnays grip loosened, Awiyao exits. Lumnay sat while crying*

*Can hear the beat of gangsas*

LUMNAY: It is not right. It is not right. H-How does she know? How can anybody
know? It is not right!

*Lumnay stopped crying*

LUMNAY: I would go to the dance. I would go to the chief of the village, to the
elders, to tell them it was not right. Awiyao was mine, nobody could take him away
from me. Let me be the first woman to complain, to denounce the unwritten rule
that a man may take another woman. I would tell Awiyao to come back to me.

*fade out video of Lumnay*

*Video, Lumnay watching the dancing people*

VOICE OVER: She made for the other side of the village where the dancing was
but she stopped. What if somebody had seen her coming? She did not have the
courage to break into the wedding feast. Lumnay walked away from the dancing
ground, away from the village. Fear started eating her courage, the courage she had
for Awiyao. The courage that might be the the only hope she has to redeem her
love, her Awiyao.

*LAAAASSSSTTTTT PAAAARRRTTTT*

*Solo monologue of Awiyao and Lumnay*

AWIYAO: I love her, Lumnay. I love her, so much. Shed been a good wife to me.
She is one of the best wives in the whole village. I dont want any other woman.
But-but what could I do?! Im going to marry another woman because of my need for
a child, for I know that life is not worth living without a child! But really, really I love
Lumnay, so much. But this thing had to be done!

LUMNAY: I love him, Awiyao. I love him, so much. Hes the most beautiful man Ive
ever seen in my entire life. He made me feel that Im special. He is just the one. I
dont want any man, I dont want any other man. But- but what could I do?! Hes
going to marry another woman because of his need for a child, because Kabunyan
never blessed us one. But really, really I love Awiyao, so much. But that thing had to
be done.

*face each other*

AWIYAO AND LUMNAY: Both of us will die together. Both of us will vanish from
the life of our tribe. I love you!

*fade out*

~TELON~