THE DANCE DOCUMENTATION OF MANOBO, SIBAGAT, AGUSAN DEL SUR

DANCE DOCUMENTATION OF MANOBO, SIBAGAT,

AGUSAN DEL SUR

A THESIS Presented to the

Faculty of Graduate Studies and Teacher Education Research
Philippine Normal University
Mindanao

In Partial Fulfillment of the

Requirements for the Degree
Diploma in Teaching Arts Major in Dance

ELLENMEL G. CHAVEZ
October 2019

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Rationale
The Manobo are several people groups who inhabit the island of Mindanao in
the Philippines. Manobo simply means “people” or “person”; alternate names
include Manuvu and Minuvu. The term may have originated from “Mansuba,” a
combination of man (people) and suba (river). Manobos are concentrated in Agusan,
Bukidnon, Cotabato, Davao, Misamis Oriental, and Surigao Del Sur.

The Manobo usually build their villages near small bodies of water or
forest clearings, although they also opt for hillsides, rivers, valleys, and
plateaus. The communities are small, consisting of only 4-12 houses. They
practice slash-and-burn agriculture.

The various dances among the Manobo entertain, educate, and

propitiate the gods. Among the Agusanon are the sinundo/singangga, dance
ritual to ward off epidemic busau; pangaliyag, courtship dance; pangasawa,
marriage ritual; kinugsik-kugsik, squirrel dance. Those witnessed and described
by Garvan (1931) in 1910 are the bathing dance, honey gathering dance, hair
plucking dance, sexual dance, and dagger or sword dance.

The Agusanon and Umayamnon saet, Cotabato saut, and Western

Bukidnon kedsaut is a war dance of one or two warriors, each holding either a
war bolo or a spear with a bell attached to it, and a shield.

The State shall recognize, respect and protect the rights of ICCs/IPs to
preserve and develop their cultures, traditions and institutions. It shall
consider these rights in the formulation of national laws and policies; (R.A
8371)

The word Sibagat is from the word bagat which means "meet" or
"meeting place". According to the oral history, the Sibagat River near Sibagat
was the place where the warring tribes meet and fight. Sibagat River is
tributary of a bigger river, the Wawa River. The losing tribe would retreat
downstream to the Wawa River and disappear.

This research will focus mainly on the documentation of the manobos

found in the mountainous province of Sibagat, Agusan del Sur. The study will
be more on observation and documentation of the manobos living in Sibagat,
Agusan del Sur.
Keywords: Manobo, culture and arts, documentation

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 THE DANCE DOCUMENTATION OF MANOBO, SIBAGAT, AGUSAN DEL SUR

Conceptual Framework

This research focuses on the documentation of the Manobo tribal dance

in Sibagat, Agusan del Sur. The findings of the study are hoped to benefit the
follow- ing people for they are the direct beneficiaries. The study may
encourage designing a program for the preserva- tion, protection, conservation
of the culture, beliefs and prac- tices and for the designing of community
improvement plan with the tribal leaders of the community.

The significance of this study will help more not just the Manobo but
also the whole community of Sibagat. The Arts and Culture reflect how the
community started, Manobo dance is a huge part of the culture. This
determines their way of living and dance is a way of communication.The Local
Government Officials, as part of their municipality, It will bear in mind among
the residents that they consist of varied cultures that they can be proud of.
They can integrate the results of this study in their plans especially in
improving the economic lives of the community. For the teachers, the data
from this research may encourage them to undertake educational campaigns
to arouse wide-spread public interest and respect the rights, cultures, practic-
es of our indigenous people particularly their children in school.

The Agusanon as a whole, migrants and natives in the province can take
pride that their culture stands in the test of time. Although they have thoughts
that come a time their practices and beliefs will be forgotten in the coming
genera- tions hence, they will be documented for them to be remem- bered, the
unique culture handed down by their forefathers. Most and foremost the
Manobo people, they can take pride of their culture and take stand to preserve
and value it.

Research Questions:

1. What were the practices of Agusan

Manobo tribe in the past and in the
present?
2. What strategies do Agusan Manobo
tribe used to preserve their culture?

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3. What are the hopes and aspirations

of Agusan Manobo tribe?
4. What are the significance of the
Manobo dance into their culture and
beliefs?
5. What are the instruments,
accessories and materials used during
Manobo dance?

METHODOLOGY

This paper is more Qualitative Observation it is the research process of

using subjective methodologies to gather information or data. A researcher
can do the ground research work to find a common bond and then conduct the
actual interviews to get their point of view – this is qualitative data.

Investigating and Analyzing the Manobo community of Sibagat, Agusan

del Sur and how it reflects into their society. This study is going to be holistic
approach; it assumes that the whole is greater than the sum of all the parts.
This means that every action or communication in a research study has to be
accounted for as part of their culture or community.

I. SAMPLING TECHNIQUE

This study is purposive and selective sampling, purposeful

sampling is a sampling technique there is a need of where and
who is our specific target in this study. That can provide in-depth
and detailed information about the Manobo dance under
investigation. Further, our study focuses on the community of
Manobo, Sibagat, Agusan del Sur.

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II. DATA COLLLECTION PROCEDURE

The researcher will provide essential papers that allow us to

conduct to the place of Manobo in Sibagat, Agusan del Sur. It is
not a thing to consider, that we go to their respective community
and will conduct easily our study. The Municipality of Sibagat,
Agusan del Sur will provide us more details and authorize our
study to conduct to the Manobo tribe. The papers is a letter of
consent that allows the study to conduct, from the munisipyo to
barangay council it should be complete. Information and grounds
before conducting is vital to the researcher as well as the subject
of the study.
The researcher will be able to attend the “panagtigum” with
the permission of the tribal council to interview the subject of the
study and to gather more information. I, the researcher also
obtained permission from the tribal leaders after introducing my
research plan.The issue of this re- search were the Manobo dance
reflecting to real life experiences of the respondents partic- ularly
their culture, beliefs and practices. Aiming that each answers makes
sense and I can give meaning to every social experience they have.
My immersion with the tribe was based on casual conversations,
taking notes of what had happened, documentation to the Manobo
dance performance, there was a formal interview. It is also
important to have an interpreter so that we can understand each
other. The cameras and videos are well-prepared so that taking the
performance with no interruption and the presentation goes well.
The questions will follow after the presentation.

III. MEASUREMENT

The following measurements and instruments will be used to document to

gather informations regarding to the Manobo tribe of Sibagat, Agusal del Sur:

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Interview Guide Questions. Subjects of the research will be interviewed using

the guide questions. The questions were translated into their dialect for them
understand and to answer fluently. These questions will help the research to
gather important facts regarding to the practices, cultures, and norms of the
Manobo tribe of Sibagat, Agusan del Sur.

Video and Photo Documentation. To be able to provide concrete evidence of

the research, the researcher taped the interview, dance, music, steps, musical
instrument, as well as the significant factors of the ritual dances. Photos were
taken to verify the improvement and development of the research from the
beginning up to the end. These measurement is important in the whole
process of research.

Community Immersion. The researcher communicate and spent time with the
locals. The researcher shows to the locals the interview guide questions, taped
interview, and photos. At first the locals were asked by the researcher by the
questions administered by the researcher. These measurement is significant to
the gathering of information of the researcher.

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