[1] A multi-awarded company, both nationally and internationally,[2] Guillermo Gomez Rivera has called it the "depository of almost all Filipino dances, dress and songs.
"[3] The company was founded in 1957 by Helena Z. Benitez and debuted May 27, 1958 at Expo '58, the Brussels World Fair responding to the request of then President Ramon Magsaysay.
The Bayanihan Dance Company was then featured as one of the "Highlights of the Brussels Fair" on The Ed Sullivan Show that beamed to about 40 million television viewers in the United States.
[5] For eight months, the Bayanihan Dance Company toured with 187 performers in the United States, Mexico, France, Belgium, England, Italy, and Israel before an estimated audiences of 232, 300.
During that time, the dance company was featured at USA Hanover Industrial Fair in Germany and received first prize in Theatre des Nations Award in Paris.
Alejandro Roces, author and National Artist of the Philippines for literature, argues that the company showed the distinct diversity and multiplicity of cultures in this country.