Maria Cecilia Ann Reyes CBET 01 302 P 42

ORIGIN OF PHILIPPINE FOLK DANCE

The history of Philippine folk dancing incorporates influences from immigrants and
conquerors while at the same time maintaining distinctly Filipino roots. Philippine folk
dancing is a true reflection of daily life in past centuries while enchanting modern
audiences at the same time.

 Pre-Colonial

Before the recorded history of the Philippines, before the Spanish conquistadors
conquered and Christianized the populace, the people danced. They danced to
appease the gods, to curry favor from powerful spirits, to celebrate a hunt or harvest, to
mimic the exotic life forms around them. They danced their stories and their shamanic
rituals, their rites of passage and their remembered legends and history.

 Muslim Merchants

Muslim traders from the Malay Archipelago reached the Philippines in the 14th
century, well ahead of the Europeans. They also created their own folk dances in the
areas where they settled. Singkil is one of the most famous. It depicts the plight of a
princess caught in a magical earthquake in a forest. Her faithful servant tries to shield
her with a parasol as the princess gracefully dodges falling trees, and is eventually
saved by a prince.

 Spanish Colonization

Folk dances survived the European invasion, and the dancers adapted imposed
Christian belief and culture to their own dances, borrowing court choreography but
imbuing it with Philippine spirit. The Maria Clara dances merged Spanish court style
(and its stylized courtship conventions) with Philippine exuberance. Maria Clara is the
pure and noble heroine of a novel who represents the finest qualities of Filipino
womanhood. The dancers wear European 16th-century dress but move to the sounds of
bamboo castanets.

DIFFERENT DEFINITIONS OF DIFFERENT FOLK DANCES

A folk dance is developed by people that reflect the life of the people of a certain
country or region. Not all ethnic dances are folk dances. For example, ritual dances or
dances of ritual origin are not considered to be folk dances. Ritual dances are usually
called "Religious dances" because of their purpose. The terms "ethnic" and "traditional"
are used when it is required to emphasize the cultural roots of the dance. In this sense,
nearly all folk dances are ethnic ones. If some dances, such as polka, cross ethnic
boundaries and even cross the boundary between "folk" and "ballroom dance", ethnic
differences are often considerable enough to mention.

Idudu: A Snapshot of Ancient Culture

From the area of Abra, Cordillera comes the Idudu, which is a celebration of the
family as the fundamental building block of Philippine culture. Depicting a typical day in
the life of a family, the father is shown working in the fields while the mother cares for
the children. As soon as the father is done, the mother goes into the fields to continue
the work while the father goes back to the house to put the baby to sleep.

Maglalatik: The Dance of War

A dance from before the conversion of the Philippines to Christianity is called the
Maglalatik. It represents a fierce battle between the Moro tribesmen (wearing red
trousers) and the Christian soldiers from Spain (wearing blue). Both groups wear
harnesses with coconut shells attached tightly to their bodies which are struck
repeatedly with other shells held in the hands.

Pandanggo sa Ilaw: Grace and Balance

Derived from the Spanish word fandango, this dance is one of several designed
to show off the grace, balance, and dexterity of the performers. Three glasses of wine
(or, in modern times, water) are held in hands and on top of the dancers' heads as they
move, never spilling a drop.

Tinikling: Birds Dancing Over Bamboo

Perhaps the best-known dance in Philippine folk dance history, the Tinikling
mimics the high-stepping strut of birds in the Philippine jungles over the bamboo traps
the hunters would set for them. Two dancers, usually male and female, gracefully step
in and out of crossed sets of bamboo poles being moved together and apart to the
music.

CLASSIFICATION OF PHILIPPINE FOLK DANCE

 RURAL AND BARRIO DANCES (NORTHERN LUZON)

Perhaps the best known and closest to the Filipino heart are the dances from the
rural Christian lowlands: a country blessed with so much beauty. To the Filipinos, these
dances illustrates the fiesta spirit and demonstrate a love of life. They express a joy in
work, a love for music, and pleasure in the simplicities of life. Typical attire in the Rural
Suite includes the colorful balintawak and patadyong skirts for women, and camisa de
chino and colored trousers for men.

A good example of rural or barrio dance is Sinulog. It is a ceremonial dance

performed by the people of San Joaquin, Iloilo, during the feast of San Martin. It was
believed that the image of San Martin was found at the edge of a beach, and that it
could not be removed until the people dance the Sinulog.

 MARIA CLARA DANCES (LUZON AND VISAYAS)

The coming of the Spaniards in the 16th century brought a new influence in
Philippine life. A majority of the Filipinos were converted to Roman Catholicism. These
dances reached their zenith in popularity around the turn of the century, particularly
among urban Filipinos. They are so named in honor of the legendary Maria Clara, who
remains a symbol of the virtues and nobility of the Filipina woman. Maria Clara was the
chief female character of Jose Rizal's Noli Me Tangere. Displaying a very strong
Spanish influence, these dances were, nonetheless, "Filipinized" as evidence of the use
of bamboo castanets and the abanico, or Asian fan. Typical attire for these dances is
the formal Maria Clara dress and barong tagalog, an embroidered long-sleeve shirt
made of pineapple fiber.

 MUSLIM AND MORO DANCES (SOUTHERN MINDANAO)

Mindanao and Sulu were never conquered by Spain. Islam was introduced in the
Philippines in the 12th century before the discovery of the islands by Magellan in 1521.

The dances in Muslim however predated the Muslim influence. Like Ipat which was a
dance to appease ancestral spirits. Before Islam, the Maguindanaons held the view that
diseases are caused by tonong (ancestral spirits).Thus; a folk healer performs the pag-
ipat while being possessed by the tinunungan (spirit).

 CORDILLERA DANCES (NORTHERN LUZON)

Cordillera, a name given by the Spanish Conquistadors when they first saw the
mountain ranges. Meaning "knotted rope", the Spanish term refers to the jumbled rolls
and dips of this long-range traversing the northern part of Luzon Island.

Today, if one is to generalize one of the six ethno-linguistic tribes as an "Igorot" is

considered degrading. Living amidst the rice terraces that tower over Northern Luzon
are a people whose way of life existed long before any Spaniard or other foreigners
stepped foot on the Philippines. The Bontoc, Ifugao, Benguet, Apayo, and the Kalinga
tribes reign over Luzon's mountain terrain.
  TRIBAL DANCES (MINDANAO)

The cultural minorities that live in the hills and mountains throughout the Philippine
Archipelago considered dances as basic part of their lives. Their Culture and animistic
beliefs predated Christianity and Islam. Dances are performed essentially for the gods.
As in most ancient cultures, unlike the Muslim tribes in their midst, their dances are
nonetheless closely intertwined with ceremonials, rituals and sacrifices.

The only dance that is believed to have evolved during the Spanish colonization is
the Talaingod dance which is performed to the beat of four drums by a female, portrays
a virgin-mother bathing and cradling her newborn baby, named Liboangan. She
supposedly had a dream, or pandanggo, that she was to bear such a child. This
concept of a virgin-birth may have been derived from the Catholic faith.