MassKara Festival Evolution: The Artists, Dancers and People Who Shaped It

MassKara did not become the festival we recognize today overnight.

Its beginnings were comparatively simple: painted papier-mâché masks, artists bringing mask-making into communities, and a city searching for a creative response to difficult times.

But once MassKara entered the streets of Bacolod, something else began to happen.

The festival started evolving.

The masks changed. Costumes became more elaborate. Choreography became more sophisticated. Competition encouraged experimentation. Businesses, barangays, choreographers, designers, dancers and artists began adding their own interpretations.

As someone involved in MassKara mask-making today, this part of the story fascinates me because it explains something the story of MassKara’s founding cannot fully answer:

How did those relatively simple masks of 1980 become the spectacular MassKara we know today?

I started digging again.

And once more, I discovered that there wasn’t one person responsible.

There were many.

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From a Mask to a Performance

In the first part of my research into MassKara Festival history, I found how important Bacolod’s artists were to the festival’s beginnings.

They created masks.

They taught people in the barangays how to make them.

They helped establish the visual language that would eventually become inseparable from Bacolod.

But a mask sitting on a table is very different from a mask dancing through the streets.

Someone had to give that mask movement.

Someone had to decide how dancers would move, how costumes would interact with the body, how music would shape the performance, and how dozens of individual dancers could become one spectacular presentation.

That led me to another group whose contribution to the evolution of MassKara Festival deserves to be remembered:

The choreographers.

And among the names I repeatedly encountered was Donna Porter.

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Donna Porter and the Changing MassKara Dancer

I had known Donna Porter’s name.

But researching this article made me appreciate more fully what she contributed to MassKara.

In 2019, Bacolod honored three people with the Distinguished Choreographer Award for their contributions to the festival: Donna Porter, Segundo Jesus “Panoy” Cabalcar and Ulyses Valerio.

The historical account of that recognition describes Porter as choreographer of the Lopue’s group in the late 1980s.

More importantly, it credits her with helping define the look of the MassKara dancer.

That statement made me stop.

Because today we tend to think that the MassKara dancer has always looked the way we recognize the dancer now.

But somebody had to experiment first.

Porter’s dancers became known for extravagant tight-fitting costumes, remarkable headdresses, tanga-inspired elements and short-heeled shoes.

These weren’t simply clothes worn while dancing.

They helped create a character.

The MassKara dancer was developing a visual identity.

In 2024, Bacolod City again honored Donna Porter during MassKara’s Sapphire Celebration, recognizing her as “Choreographer and Dancing Queen of Bacolod City.”

Bacolod City: MassKara Festival Sapphire Celebration 2024

Her contribution deserves to be remembered not simply because she choreographed winning performances.

She helped change how MassKara looked and moved.

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Remembering the Glorious Lopue’s Years

For many Bacolodnons who experienced MassKara during those years, Lopue’s brings back another kind of festival memory.

It was a time when commercial establishments could field contingents, and the competition among groups contributed to the spectacle.

The historical record I found specifically connects Donna Porter with the Lopue’s group of the late 1980s and credits her work with helping define the appearance of the MassKara dancer.

Read: Three Distinguished MassKara Choreographers Recognized — SunStar

For those who remember that period, however, statistics and descriptions probably cannot fully recreate the experience.

There was anticipation.

There was rivalry.

There was pride in one’s group.

And there was the excitement of wondering:

What are they going to do this year?

That question matters.

Because competition creates pressure to innovate.

A costume that impressed audiences one year had to be surpassed the next.

A successful choreography encouraged competitors to try something different.

A spectacular headdress raised expectations.

The festival was beginning to develop what we might now call creative escalation.

Bigger.

More intricate.

More theatrical.

More surprising.

MassKara was becoming spectacle.

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When Competition Became a Creative Laboratory

The more I examined MassKara’s evolution, the more I realized that competition was not simply about determining who won.

Competition became one of the engines of artistic development.

Every contingent needed an identity.

That meant decisions about masks, costumes, headdresses, music, movement, props, formations and eventually an entire visual concept.

Designers had to create.

Choreographers had to innovate.

Dancers had to execute increasingly demanding performances.

And audiences became increasingly sophisticated.

They had seen last year’s MassKara.

They wanted to see what was new.

This helps explain why MassKara never developed a single permanent costume or one rigid style of mask.

Its identity came partly from constant reinvention.

And yet, through all that experimentation, certain things remained recognizable.

The mask.

The smile.

The explosion of color.

And eventually, the distinctive energy of the MassKara dancer.

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Donna Porter Was Not Alone

As I continued researching, I found that focusing only on Donna Porter would repeat the very mistake I wanted these articles to avoid—reducing a collective history to one person.

The 2019 recognition of MassKara’s distinguished choreographers also honored Segundo Jesus “Panoy” Cabalcar and Ulyses Valerio.

Their records are remarkable.

SunStar reported that Cabalcar had accumulated 23 championships across the first 40 editions of MassKara and had also contributed to shaping the appearance of the festival dancer.

That is not merely a winning record.

It represents decades of participation in the evolution of MassKara performance.

Cabalcar’s influence would eventually extend far beyond Bacolod’s competition venues.

I’ll come back to that.

Then there is Ulyses Valerio.

What particularly interested me was that Valerio had participated in the very first MassKara in 1980 and was still choreographing decades later when the three were honored in 2019.

Imagine the changes someone with that span of experience witnessed.

From early MassKara to increasingly elaborate contemporary productions.

From simpler masks to massive headdresses.

From local street celebration to international performance.

These choreographers weren’t merely participating in MassKara.

They were helping MassKara evolve.

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The Mask Was Evolving Too

Naturally, this is the part closest to me.

As choreography became more sophisticated, the visual demands of the festival changed as well.

The early masks documented in accounts of MassKara’s beginnings included painted papier-mâché.

Over the years, materials, techniques and expectations changed.

Artists experimented.

Designers explored different forms.

Masks became more elaborate and increasingly connected to the costume and headdress rather than existing as an isolated object.

As someone making MassKara masks today, I can see why this happened.

A mask designed simply to be viewed is one thing.

A mask designed to dance is another.

It has to work with movement.

It has to relate to the costume.

It has to be visible from a distance.

It has to create impact.

And increasingly, it has to photograph well.

That last consideration has become even more important in the age of tourism, digital photography and social media.

The MassKara mask gradually moved beyond being simply something worn over the face.

It became the focal point of an entire visual composition.

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From Mask to Headdress to Complete Character

Look closely at a contemporary MassKara dancer and it can sometimes be difficult to determine where the mask ends and the costume begins.

The face connects to the headdress.

The headdress relates to the shoulders.

The costume follows the concept.

Props extend the visual story.

Movement brings everything together.

This is very different from simply decorating a mask.

We are designing a character.

That evolution did not happen in one year.

It accumulated through decades of experimentation by artists, costume makers, choreographers and dancers.

Some ideas disappeared.

Others survived.

Some were copied.

Others were reinvented.

And each generation inherited a visual language created by those before it.

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From Commercial Contingents to Barangay Pride

Another important part of MassKara’s evolution has been the changing nature of the competing groups themselves.

The Lopue’s years remind us of an era when commercial contingents played a highly visible role in the festival.

Over time, however, barangay-based competition became central to MassKara’s street-dance identity.

This brought the festival back to something that had been present near its beginnings:

Community participation.

A barangay contingent isn’t simply a group of dancers appearing on competition day.

Behind the performance are weeks—and often months—of preparation.

There are choreographers.

Costume makers.

Mask makers.

Musicians.

Props people.

Parents.

Supporters.

Barangay officials.

And residents who identify with the dancers carrying their community’s name.

The result is something larger than a performance.

It becomes community pride expressed through art.

That is one reason I believe the street-dance competition remains so important to MassKara.

Without the dancing communities, the festival risks becoming simply an event people attend.

With them, MassKara remains something Bacolodnons create.

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MassKara Moves Beyond the Streets

Another major transformation was the development of MassKara from street dancing into increasingly sophisticated staged and arena presentations.

Street dancing and arena performance require different approaches.

On the street, dancers interact with movement, crowds, changing sight lines and the energy of the route.

An arena allows choreographers to construct a more complete visual composition.

Formations can become more precise.

Props can become larger.

Narratives can become clearer.

Costumes can be designed for specific visual moments.

Choreography can build toward a finale.

This helped push MassKara further toward theatrical spectacle.

But the street remained important.

The arena may allow us to appreciate the complete choreography.

The street reminds us where MassKara belongs.

Among the people.

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When MassKara Learned to Glow

MassKara would continue evolving beyond daytime street dancing.

One of its most recognizable later developments has been the Electric MassKara, bringing illuminated costumes, masks, floats and performances into the night.

This is another example of the festival’s ability to absorb new technologies without abandoning its central visual symbol.

Lights changed what designers could do.

A costume no longer had to rely only on fabric, paint, glitter and reflected light.

Illumination itself could become part of the design.

The smiling face could now glow.

For a festival built around visual reinvention, this was almost inevitable.

MassKara had moved from papier-mâché to increasingly sophisticated materials.

Now it was incorporating light itself.

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From Bacolod to the World

Perhaps nothing demonstrates the evolution of MassKara more dramatically than what happened next.

The festival began traveling.

MassKara dancers represented Bacolod outside Negros and eventually outside the Philippines.

In researching this part of the story, I found an official document that makes the scale of that transformation particularly clear.

In 2019, MassKara dancers performed at Disneyland Park in Anaheim, California.

The Philippine News Agency reported that they became the first Filipino group to perform through Disneyland Performing Arts at California Adventure Land. The team was mentored by none other than Segundo Jesus “Panoy” Cabalcar.

Read: MassKara Festival Dancers Conquer Disneyland — Philippine News Agency

The same year, MassKara dancers also performed in San Francisco and Long Beach.

Before traveling to the United States, the group had already made its mark in South Korea. PNA reported that the MassKara team won Best Foreign Group at the Daegu Colorful Festival, besting 21 other groups in the foreign category, and later appeared as the first foreign performing group at Ulsan’s Maduhee Festival.

Think about that journey.

From barangay streets in Bacolod to an international stage.

The masks traveled with them.

The smile traveled with them.

And MassKara became not merely a festival people visited in Bacolod, but something Bacolod could carry to the world.

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When a Festival Becomes Cultural Property

As MassKara became increasingly recognizable outside Bacolod, another question emerged:

Who protects its identity?

That led me to one of the most important official documents I encountered while researching this article.

In 2023, Bacolod City enacted City Ordinance No. 1020, known as the MassKara Cultural Property Rights Ordinance.

The ordinance established the city’s policy to preserve and protect its cultural property rights over the MassKara Festival and MassKara Dance. It also directed the Bacolod City Tourism Office to pursue registration with the Philippine Registry of Cultural Property as a Local Important Cultural Property.

Read Bacolod City Ordinance No. 1020 — MassKara Cultural Property Rights Ordinance

For me, this represents another stage in MassKara’s evolution.

It began as a response to a particular moment.

It became an annual festival.

It developed traditions.

It became associated with the identity of Bacolod.

And eventually, the city recognized that this cultural identity needed formal protection.

MassKara had moved from celebration to heritage.

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But What Exactly Are We Protecting?

This question stayed with me.

If we say MassKara is cultural heritage, what exactly are we trying to preserve?

Surely, it cannot mean freezing the festival at one moment in history.

The MassKara of 1980 looked different from the MassKara of the late 1980s.

Donna Porter’s dancers changed expectations.

Other choreographers changed them again.

Masks evolved.

Materials changed.

Commercial contingents gave way to different forms of participation.

Arena presentations developed.

Electric MassKara emerged.

Technology entered the costumes.

International performances expanded the audience.

Change itself has always been part of MassKara.

So perhaps what needs protecting is not one particular costume, mask or choreography.

It is the creative tradition behind them.

The freedom to reinterpret.

The participation of communities.

The recognition of artists.

The history behind the smile.

And the understanding that MassKara belongs to a cultural story larger than any single year’s theme, organizer or sponsor.

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From Their Hands to Ours

Researching the evolution of MassKara has changed the way I look at what we do today.

At Jojo Vito Designs Gallery, we naturally think about design.

What shape should the mask take?

What materials should we use?

How should the colors work together?

What details will make it distinctive?

How can we make something people have not seen before?

Those questions are part of the creative process.

But researching the people who came before us has added another question:

What have we inherited?

The early artists worked with papier-mâché.

They taught mask-making in communities.

Choreographers such as Donna Porter, Segundo Jesus Cabalcar and Ulyses Valerio helped transform dancers into characters and street performances into increasingly sophisticated productions.

Generations of dancers carried those creations through the streets.

Costume makers experimented.

Barangays competed.

Designers pushed boundaries.

And audiences demanded something new every year.

Those of us creating MassKara masks today entered a tradition already shaped by all of them.

Our designs may be ours, but the tradition is shared.

That is something I want to remember whenever visitors come into the gallery and associate my name with MassKara masks.

I am part of the story.

But only a part.

There were hands before mine.

And there will be hands after mine.

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MassKara Festival Evolution: A Continuing Timeline

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MassKara Is Not Finished

When I began researching MassKara’s history, I thought I was looking backward.

Now I realize I am also looking forward.

MassKara has survived precisely because people kept changing it.

Artists experimented.

Choreographers challenged conventions.

Dancers pushed themselves.

Communities competed.

Designers introduced new materials.

Technology created new possibilities.

Each generation inherited something and then added something of its own.

That is what makes MassKara a living tradition rather than simply a historical artifact.

But evolution should not require forgetting.

We can celebrate what is new while remembering who came before us.

We can create new masks while remembering the hands that made the early ones.

We can applaud today’s dancers while remembering the choreographers who helped establish the movements and visual language they inherited.

We can enjoy the spectacle while remembering the community from which it came.

And we can promote MassKara to the world without forgetting that before it became a tourism product, it was an expression created by people in Bacolod.

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One Generation Holding the Mask

Perhaps this is the most important thing I have learned from writing these two articles.

MassKara does not belong to one person.

It does not belong to one artist.

It does not belong to one choreographer.

It does not belong to one administration.

And it certainly does not belong to one generation.

Every generation receives something from the one before it.

Then we add our own interpretation.

And eventually, we hand it forward.

As someone whose work today has become closely associated with MassKara mask-making, I find that both humbling and inspiring.

I don’t know what MassKara masks will look like decades from now.

Perhaps the materials will be completely different.

Perhaps technology will transform them in ways we cannot yet imagine.

But I hope one thing remains:

The story behind the smile.

Because the MassKara mask does not tell us that Bacolod never experienced hardship.

It tells us how Bacolod chose to face it.

And those of us creating MassKara today?

We are simply one generation holding the mask before passing it to the next.

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A Continuing Invitation

Just like my first article on the origins of MassKara, I consider this history a continuing work.

There are undoubtedly designers, dancers, choreographers, costume makers, commercial groups, barangays and artists whose contributions I have not yet uncovered.

There may be photographs, programs, competition records and personal stories sitting in old albums and family collections.

I want to find them.

If credible information emerges that adds to—or corrects—something written here, I will continue improving this article.

Because documenting MassKara should not only be about identifying the famous names.

It should also be about remembering the people history almost forgot.

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References and Further Reading

These are among the principal sources I consulted in researching the evolution of MassKara Festival.

SunStar — Three Distinguished MassKara Choreographers Recognized
An important source on Donna Porter, the Lopue’s contingent, Segundo Jesus Cabalcar and Ulyses Valerio and their contributions to MassKara choreography.
Read Three Distinguished MassKara Choreographers Recognized

Bacolod City Government — MassKara Festival Sapphire Celebration 2024
Documents Bacolod City’s recognition of Donna Porter as Choreographer and Dancing Queen of Bacolod City, alongside other major figures in MassKara history.
Read the Bacolod City Government report

Philippine News Agency — MassKara Festival Dancers Conquer Disneyland in US
Documents the 2019 Disneyland performance, international appearances in California and MassKara’s participation and recognition in South Korea.
Read the Philippine News Agency report

Bacolod City Government — City Ordinance No. 1020
The official MassKara Cultural Property Rights Ordinance, documenting the city’s policy to preserve and protect cultural property rights over MassKara Festival and MassKara Dance.
Read City Ordinance No. 1020