The organizer of the 2026 Dinagyang Festival is inviting spectators to stay until the end of the performances during the Tribes Competition to watch a thousand performers dancing together in unity, honoring the Señor Santo Niño on January 25.

“We call this a praise song for Sto. Nino and this is something you should experience and watch,” Iloilo Festivals Foundation, Inc. [IFFI] President Angel de Leon said in a media briefing.

The unity dance, to the beat of “Hala Bira, Iloilo!” was first introduced during the opening salvo on January 11, which already amazed the viewers, IFFI Festival Director Eric Divinagracia said.

Divinagracia said it is an expression of the devotion of the Ilonggos to the Señor Santo Niño, even if the tribes came from the seven districts of Iloilo City.

The choreography was based on the lexicon of 2021-2022, when, after the pandemic, they were inspired to create steps expressing the seven core Ilonggo values.

The performance will be at the Iloilo Sports Complex, which is more spacious and can accommodate at least 700 dancers in one setting.

“We look forward to that, the statement that we are one Dinagyang,” Divinagracia said. (PNA)