Bright, sparkling costumes glistened under the colorful stage lights as traditional Filipino music blasted from the speakers.

"Ang galing yan," means "it's good" in Tagalog, the Filipino language -- and good it really was.

About 250 people came out Saturday night to see the 10th annual Penn State Filipino Association's Barrio Fiesta, a compilation of cultural dances and skits in HUB Alumni Hall. The fiesta was started in 1995 in an effort to teach about the Filipino culture.

Bernadette Masangcay (junior-chemical engineering) said the Filipino Association started practicing for the Barrio Fiesta in early January. She said the fiesta makes other students aware of the group's presence on campus.

"The dances celebrate our cultural heritage from the Philippines," she said. "The performance will say, 'We exist at Penn State; we're here.' "

The Barrio Fiesta kicked off with the introduction of the Filipino Association's officers, followed by the singing of the Philippines' and the United States' national anthems.

Forsythia Igot (senior-agricultural and biological engineering), an event choreographer, said the performance included traditional and modern dances as well as skits and comedy clips.

Igot said her childhood in the Philippines helped her convey her experience of the culture to other students.

"I'm one of the true Filipinos born and raised in the Philippines, so I have a good grasp on the traditional culture and music from our country," she said.

Act one of the Barrio Fiesta included three cultural dances with colorful scarves, bamboo sticks and customary costumes and dance steps.

"I love the dances with [props] in them, like the bamboo sticks," Tammie Calingasan (senior-hotel, restaurant and institutional management) said.

During one dance with male dancers, there were technical difficulties with the music track, so the men were left standing, half-naked with shells on their chests and knees. "At least now you have more time to look at our bodies," one dancer said jokingly.

The second act had three more traditional dances but finished with songs by Ciara and Usher in a more modernized finale.

"We wanted the finale to be modern to give the performance a little twist and to separate it from the Filipino dances," co-cultural director Natalie Rodriguez said. Her mother, Maria Rodriguez, came from Connecticut with the rest of her family to see her daughter perform in her last Barrio Fiesta as a senior.

"The dances show that my daughter is in touch with her background as a Filipino-American," she said. "It's her last year in the show, but she loved being a part of the group."