Bayanihan Philippine Dance Company

Bayanihan, the National Dance Company of the Philippines, was founded in 1956 by Dr. Helena Z Benitez as Bayanihan Folk Dance Group of the Philippine Women’s University. The following year, 1957, it was formally organized as the performing arm of the Bayanihan Folk Arts Center. Both the center and the dance company were tasked to research on and preserve indigenous Philippine art forms in music, dance, costumes and folklore; to restructure and enhance these research findings to evolve repertoires suited to the demands of contemporary theater; and to promote international goodwill through performances at home and abroad. Since its formal organization the company has mounted fourteen (14) major tours (of six months to a year in duration) to Asia, Australia, Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Americas and over a hundred short tours to foreign countries.