Members of the ASEAN Ladies Circle pose for a souvenir photo after the show. Mrs. Ma. Paz Bautista is at center, in traditional Filipino terno. 

The Philippine Embassy played host to the ASEAN Ladies Circle with a "Pista sa Pilipinas" showcase of fiesta food, folk dances, harana (serenade) and the exciting game of pabitin at the Embassy residence on April 24.

The group is composed of the spouses of the ASEAN ambassadors, high commissioners and other diplomatic staff, as well as the other ladies of the various embassies. They meet regularly, and alternately host cultural shows to strengthen friendship and understanding within the ASEAN diplomatic community in London. Last year, the Philippine Embassy presented a pageant of traditional Philippine costumes. This year’s fiesta motif introduced the ASEAN ladies to Philippine dances, songs, and music, as well as a mouth-watering buffet selection of some of the best of Filipino cuisine, including chicken adobo, pancit palabok, ukoy, sapin-sapin, suman sa lihiya, kutsinta, puto bumbong, brazo de Mercedes, bibingkang ube, and bibingkang kamoteng kahoy at langka.

Upon arrival, the guests were greeted with a welcome dance called alay (offering) from Muslim Mindanao, courtesy of the London-based cultural troupe Lahing Kayumanggi. Mrs. Maria Paz Bautista, wife of the Philippine Ambassador, delivered the welcome remarks, while Tourism Attaché Bernadette Lazaro gave a brief backgrounder on Philippine fiestas.

This was followed by more folk dances from the Lahing Kayumanggi, who impressed the guests with their performances of binasuan (balancing glasses), sayaw sa bangko (dance on a bench), and the perennial crowd-stopper tinikling (bamboo dance). The guests were later invited to try out the challenging steps of the bamboo dance. Musical artist Frederic Herrera serenaded the ladies with a couple of popular romantic Filipino ballads. The mini-fiesta was topped off by the rousing game called pabitin -- literally "up for grabs", in which a bamboo trellis festooned with goodies is lowered several times for the players to snatch whatever they can lay their hands on.

It was truly an afternoon of Filipino festive delights for the closely knit ASEAN Ladies Circle.

The Lahing Kayumanggi in a finale song number. With them in photo are Jamie Tapales-Oakes (left), cultural coordinator of the event, Ronnie del Barrio, artistic director and choreographer, and Cultural Attaché Bernie Lazaro (right)

The ASEAN ladies reach out for the gifts dangling from the pabitin