For the past year, the Barkadahan Dance Troupe rehearsed in rented spaces and borrowed backyards, dodging mosquitoes and heat waves under pop-up tents.
Today, the traditional Filipino dance troupe and other cultural programs run by the Diocese of Orange’s San Jose Filipino Ministry, finally have a home.
The Poong Jesus Nazareno Filipino Catholic Center officially opened in Anaheim on Monday, July 21, with a dedication ceremony and blessing. It’s the only center of its kind in the country, according to diocese officials.
And for the local Filipino community, it is a “dream becoming a reality,” said Rebecca Tamondong, vice-chair of the Filipino ministry.
Without a home base, the ministry has been holding its Tagalog language classes over Zoom and traditional Filipino cooking classes in home kitchens.
Programs could only run in the summer and had limited capacity. And when programs the community wants can’t find a permanent home, many “sprout and then die,” Tamondong said.
But with the center’s full kitchen, six classrooms and mirrored dance studio, their cultural programs can run year-round and thrive.
The Filipino ministry was founded in 2021 and has been creating programs to connect the community and its youth to their ancestry and Filipino culture. But the programs have been hard to sustain without proper space or resources, its leaders said.
“We’ve always been looking for a place where we can feel at home. The center is a place where we can really flourish. It’s important to have a home,” Tamondong said. “We’ll have a strong base now, not fragmented anymore.”
The Alagad ni Maria, a Catholic congregation of priests, and the San Jose Filipino Ministry purchased the property in May after months of community fundraising.
The center will also house the official replica of the Poong Jesus Nazareno, a statue depicting a dark-skinned Jesus carrying the cross to his crucifixion.
The original statue in Manila was brought to the Philippines in 1606 and faithful around the world have attributed miraculous healing properties to the statue.
The Anaheim center’s replica was donated by a woman from the Philippines, who said she was inspired to propagate the image after she was cured of cancer.
As a child in Manila, Tamondong said she used to visit the original. To her, “the image feels alive,” and she’s amazed, she said, at how it is welcomed in Orange County parishes.
“They need a home for the Nazareno. We needed a home for our cultural programs,” she said. “There you go, you have a Catholic center.”
A new home
As soon as they got the keys, the ministry’s Barkadahan Dance Troupe, which teaches Tinikling, a traditional folk dance performed with bamboo poles, moved in.
In the past year, the group has practiced in backyards and rented spaces. When they couldn’t find a space, they practiced outside.
“It was hot. There were mosquitoes outside and they were getting bit,” Belle Ibanez, director of cultural programs, said of the young dancers. “We’d have pop-up tents, but we could only practice for a little bit because they would start sweating.”
“To see the kids running around all excited, going up and down the stairs to the office, to the other classrooms, to the space, it’s so heartwarming to see them and say, ‘This is our new home. This is our space. This is for us,’” she added.
Ibanez ran her first summer session last year, but started holding regular practices after the troupe was asked to perform for local events. The program that was supposed to end after four weeks, has lasted more than a year.
At the start, none of the children had any dance experience. Now the troupe has performed with professional dance groups and to a crowd of thousands at Angel Stadium’s Filipino Heritage Night last month.
“I told them, ‘Hey, you guys might perform at the Angels game,’ and their jaws dropped and their eyes lit up,” Ibanez said. “They were glowing.”
Ibanez said she has seen the shyest kid become her top dancer, never wanting to miss practice.
“You would never think it was the same group of kids. The confidence when they’re on stage, the level of professionalism,” she said. “They’ve become a family.”
Their new space is a “massive upgrade” with air conditioning, mirrors and a stage. With storage for props and costumes, Ibanez also won’t have to transport and store their 6- to 11-foot-long bamboo poles in garages or homes.
“It means more than the world. I don’t even have words for that,” she said. “They are so happy, so happy to have their own space. It’s very special.”
Expanding cultural programs
Ike Quiaoit, chair of the San Jose Filipino Ministry, said it has been his longtime dream to be able to run these cultural programs. He is one of the players in the Filipino music ensemble, Rondalla ni San Jose, that is now holding its practices in the center’s music room.
Before, when the ensemble couldn’t rent studio space, Quiaoit sometimes hosted Rondalla practices at his home.
“We were always stepping on each other’s toes last summer,” he said. “We were very limited, in a small, cramped space in the backyard of the residential property we were renting.”
With the new center, Quiaoit said he hopes to expand cultural programs that teach basic writing and reading of the Philippines’ national language, and how to cook traditional Filipino food. He also hopes to add Philippine history and geography lessons.
“We want to give the kids an opportunity to learn not only about their culture, but hopefully to also develop their self-confidence and give them leadership skills,” Quiaoit said.
He has seen the positive effect the programs have on the kids, he said. Students who participated in early programs returned four years later, wanting to help.
“The more they become proud of their identity, the more they tend to contribute to society, it enriches the community,” he said. “They decided to give back to the community already, which is just plain awesome.”
The center will serve the estimated 90,000 Filipino-American Catholics in Orange County, according to the Diocese of Orange.
“We want our fellow Filipinos and Filipino Americans to feel very much at home,” Quiaoit said. “We want them to get to the place and say, ‘Wow, this is like home.’ Or if they have never been to the Philippines, ‘This is what it must feel like when you go to the Philippines.’”
But even beyond the Filipino community, Quiaoit wants everyone to feel welcomed, he said. “Filipinos are known for their hospitality and we want this center to be a big extension of that.”
The building was previously used by a Vietnamese congregation that turned down developer bids to pass the facilities on to another place of worship, diocese officials said.
The 180-person chapel will hold mass in both English and Tagalog and the center will be open Tuesdays through Sundays.
Weekly practices for music and dance programs are ongoing at the center. Tagalog language classes will start as soon as September, with cooking classes on the way.
The center is at 3700 W. Orange Ave., in Anaheim. More information on programs and services can be found at dosjfm.com.