THE DAY THE DANCERS CAME

BIENVENIDO SANTOS
The Author
• Bienvenido Nuqui Santos

• March 22, 1911 – January 07, 1996

• Was a Filipino-American fiction, poetry and non-

fiction writer.

• Born and raised at Tondo, Manila .

• His family roots are originally from Lubao,

Pampanga, Philippines .

• He lived in the United States for many years

where he is widely credited as a pioneering
Asian-American writer.
The Author
Short stories: The Day the Dancers Came, Even Purple
Hearts, The Enchanted Plant, The Transfer

Awards: Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for short

fiction (1956, 1961 and 1965),
American Book Award from Before Columbus Foundation

Nominations: Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Short

Story

Education: University of the Philippines (1932)

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (1941-1942)
Harvard University (1941–1946)
Columbia University
The era during the literature was written
• The '50s were a time of prosperity and growth in many places around the
world—the Philippines included. Manila, specifically, had almost recovered
from the Battle of Manila and was entering its golden age as it was tagged
the "Pearl of the Orient." Here's what life was like in the city of Manila
during the decade.
The Literature
Summary by Celeste Marie Del Mar Bermejo
Fil and Tony were both old Filipino men living in Chicago ever since World
War II ended. Fil described himself as an ugly old man and described Tony as
a good-looking gentleman that looked younger than he really was.
The story was basically about how a group of Philippine dancers were arriving
in Chicago that day and Fil thought that it would be an excellent idea if he
took the dancers around the city, showed them the sights and invite them back
to his place for some adobo and chicken relleno. For the first part of the story,
Fil constantly talked about the dancers to his friend and roommate Tony. Fil
and Tony have been friends pretty much ever since they moved to the US and
the entire time, Tony had been suffering from a disease that frustrated many
doctors in which caused gradual peeling all over his body.
The Literature
When Tony left for the doctor, Fil left a little later to meet the dancers at
the hotel. When he got there and saw all the dancers, he completely
forgot what he wanted to say and lost all train of thought. So when he
finally managed to gather up all the confidence he had left to invite them
to his house, they would just move away or say, "No, thanks, we’re too
busy." Later that night, he ended up going to the show alone since Tony
hadn’t yet returned from the doctor. Despite the disappointment he had
earlier that day, Fil contemplated that if he would just record the show
on his tape recorder, he would have the sounds with him to help him
remember the dancers, the show and bring back past memories.
The Literature
When he got home, he noticed that Tony was back. Tony commented that the
dancers weren’t with him and that he knew they never would’ve came home him
in the first place. Fil then started to listen to his tape recorder and his failure
from earlier that day no longer mattered to him because his recording had
brought him a certain feeling and it just filled him up with different memories
and emotions. While he listened, Tony was yelling from his room telling him to
shut his recorder off. When he asked Tony what the doctors had to say, Tony
wouldn’t answer. Tony then asked what the dancers were like and Fil told him
that they were really beautiful, young and graceful. He heard Tony let out a sigh
but as he looked down to the tape recorder he held in his hands, he noticed that
the spools were spinning and he finally realized that he had pressed erase. When
he tried to play it back, there was nothing except for a screaming part of the
finale with drums and the tolling of the bell. When he looked outside, it was
already morning.
Literary Criticism
Characters

-Fil - 50 y/o U.S. citizen but a Filipino. He experienced many types of work
including being a Corporal in the U.S. army, current job is special policeman
in the post office.

-Tony - retired Pullman porter. He is Indifferent in the story because of his

suffering from a wasting disease that frustrates doctors.
Setting
Chicago, USA
Literary Criticism
Plot

Fil was excited to see the Filipino dancers who were about to perform in Chicago

Tony went to his doctor for check-up. Fil went to the airport for the dancers' arrival but
was rejected and dumb-founded when he saw the Filipino ladies but still, he went to
their performance and recorded it in his tape recorder

He went home then played his recordings when suddenly Tony shouted.

Tony was in pain and due to the panic, Fil accidentally deleted all significant
recordings from his "sound mirror"

Fil tried to play back the recordings but heard only meaningless sounds.
Literary Criticism
Rising Action – Due to his homesickness and some personal issues, Fil made
it a habit to record any sound that he may find necessary to preserve for they
resemble memories that he might not hear again with the experiences abound
therein after a long period.
Resolution The story however ended not in a good way, With the deletion of
the recordings, his "only" source of memories was lost.
Societal Situation - In the short story, the author examined the growing
tendencies of Filipinos to enter the contemporary world.
Literary Criticism
Theme - The story revolves mainly about preserving their origins. It was
stated that both time and memory are villains of preservation. For Fil, time
was his enemy. "In the beginning, the words he often heard were: too young,
too young; but all of a sudden, too young became too old, too late." Also,
memory was treated as a betrayer evident in the statement "He wondered ...
what took care of the moment if memory didn't. Like time, memory was often
a villain, a betrayer." These are the reason why Fil had his "sound mirror", a
portable tape recorder.
Greatest contribution in Philippine Literature
• The Day the Dancers Came" was adapted and made into a play
entitled First Snow of November by Filipino fictionist and playwright
Alfonso I. Dacanay.
• The stage version won first prize in the One-Act Play in English category
during the 2005 Palanca Awards. 
• Santos's tale was also adapted and made into a twenty-seven-minute film
with the same title as the short story.
 "He wondered ... what took care of the
moment if memory didn't. Like time,
memory was often a villain, a betrayer."
References
• https://www.studocu.com/row/document/
univerzita-j-selyeho/literature/the-day-the-dancers-came-by-bienveni
do-santos/19691995
• http://www.seasite.niu.edu/tagalog/modules/modules/Literature/day
_the_dancers_came.htm
• https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bienvenido_Santos