The Philippine-American League hosted its annual fall banquet, “Mirasol Debut,” on Friday, inviting Binghamton University students to experience the energy, warmth and collective spirit of Filipino culture in the Mandela Room.

Rather than focusing on a more generalized concept of Filipino culture, PAL strived to emphasize the “debut” aspect of the banquet, which celebrates the milestone of a Filipina woman turning 18, typically in the company of family and friends, dancing and gifts. The banquet was inspired by the annual Sunflower Festival in Ligao City, the Philippines, where dancers take to the streets in performances and costumes reflective of the abundant golden sunflower fields growing nearby.

To encapsulate this radiance, vases of faux sunflowers sat at the center of each table and a vine garland draped across the tablecloth as the flames of LED candles twinkled beneath the darkness of the space.

Johann Belizario, PAL’s educational chair and a junior majoring in industrial and systems engineering, helped kick off the festivities by describing the significance behind this year’s banquet.

“A Filipino debut is a huge celebration of a young woman’s coming of age on her 18th birthday,” said Belizario. “It is one of the most significant social celebrations in a Filipina’s life. It symbolizes her transition from childhood to young adulthood. Mirasol is a Tagalog translation for sunflower. The Ligao Sunflower Festival is a festival that focuses on the natural beauty of a particular town in Pangasinan, and the blooming of sunflowers.”

After an introduction video set to Daniel Padilla and Moira Dela Torre’s “Mabagal,” E-Board members and freshman representatives performed a traditional Tinikling folk dance, agilely weaving in and out of bamboo poles, rapping against the ground to rondalla music and trending hits like SZA’s “BMF.”

The event was hosted by Monica Gnajewski and Giankyle Vallarta, PAL’s social chairs and sophomores majoring in computer science. While there were some challenges during the planning process of the banquet — namely the University’s new policy that prevented PAL and other Asian Student Union organizations from catering from off-campus Asian establishments — Jhon Milo Nunez, PAL’s president and a senior majoring in computer science, reflected upon the dedication and collaboration behind the scenes that brought this event into fruition.

“[Gnajewski and Vallarta] have done an amazing job of bringing this theme to life,” Nunez wrote in the event pamphlet. “As for the rest of this year’s E-Board, I couldn’t be anymore proud of the hard work that everyone has put in to make this banquet one to remember. Whether it be deco, dance, or simply being there for one another in times of stress, it truly warms my heart to see everyone contribute to the success of this event.”

The night’s itinerary featured a combination of live performances presented by talented student groups and interactive games calling for audience participation. One of the organizations highlighted was the Binghamton Taekwondo Club, which showcased synchronized form motions known as poomsae and pre-choreographed fight sequences, followed by an intense series of board-breaking demonstrations and aerial stunts to soaring, suspenseful music.

Members of Undivided, an R&B group dedicated to uplifting multicultural voices through musical expression, also performed later that night, singing a rendition of Kehlani’s “Folded.”

While the event was challenging to plan, Gnajewski said that hosting the banquet was incredibly rewarding.

“Seeing the vision that my co-chair and I had finally come to life was such a surreal experience, and getting to present our hard work to almost 300 people was indescribably gratifying,” Gnajewski wrote. “Being in PAL has not only given me the opportunity to execute and host this banquet, but also connected me to a large community of wonderful people and allowed me to spread our shared Filipino culture to the rest of campus.”

Three games followed each performance, inviting enthusiastic attendees to compete on the stage. Prizes on the line included a “performative male” basket featuring stereotypical essentials like wired earbuds, a tote bag, matcha powder, a set filled with sunflower-themed trinkets and a brand-new Stüssy hoodie.

The first game was based on the custom where 18 men close to the debutante bestow her with 18 single roses as a symbol of their affection and admiration. Participants raced around the Mandela Room in search of items like the shortest person, the largest shoe size and the most followers on Instagram. The second game was the newspaper dance, a classic party game in the Philippines, where pairs of two were tasked with dancing and freezing on a sheet of newspaper as it was progressively folded smaller and smaller after each round.

The final game, “ligaw,” was inspired by family-centric elements of traditional Filipino courting culture like the “harana,” or a romantic serenade, and “paninilbihan,” or acts of service. Contestants competed to win over the hand and heart of Gnajewski‘s “titas” and “titos,” roles assumed by PAL’s senior advisors. One of the highlights of the night, the crowd erupted into applause and laughter at each interpretation of the different rounds as the suitors were prompted to try “serving” and rizzing up the judges on the spot.

After a dynamic hip-hop number soundtracked to songs like Kendrick Lamar’s “tv off” from Liga Modern, a dance troupe from the University of Albany’s Liga Filipina, the evening closed off with line dancing. All attendees were invited to shuffle along on the dance floor to Earth, Wind & Fire’s “September.”

Nunez explained how he hoped the banquet’s atmosphere brought together attendees from the Binghamton community and beyond as part of a shared familial unit.

“I hope that the attendees were able to immerse themselves into a mock debut, as one of our emcees, Monica, played the role of a girl who just turned 18 and sought to accomplish everything that typically happens at a debut,” Nunez wrote. “From line dancing to traditional games played [at] Filipino family gatherings, I hope that anyone in attendance was able to feel as though they were part of the PAL family, or in Tagalog, Kapamilya.”