Me’king - Campus Meet 2026 DMMMSU - SLUC - (Champion) 😱

Me’king 😱 Choreographed by Mr. Rusty “Yen” Liclican, Coach: Lar Cacanando, with the help and assistance from Gintayaw Family. ME’KING — From Ancestral Memory to Contemporary Movement. Rooted in the cultural heritage of the Ibaloi people of Kabayan, Benguet, Me’king evokes the enduring presence of ancestors preserved through the traditional mummification practice of the Cordillera. Historical accounts describe how the deceased were carefully prepared with herbal extracts and exposed to smoke from a fire beneath the sangadil, a process that helped dry and preserve the body. Research by Teodora D. Balangcod further documented the traditional use of plants such as bayabas, diwdiw/tibig, patani, and besudak in this preservation practice. In this contemporary dance interpretation, these ancestral stories are transformed into movement—where stillness becomes remembrance, smoke becomes transition, and every gesture becomes a dialogue between the living and those who came before us. Rather than reproducing a traditional ritual, the work respectfully reimagines its themes of ancestry, preservation, mortality, memory, and cultural continuity through the language of Contemporary Dance.