TRADITIONAL DANCE IN THE PHILIPPINES

ANGELO R. VIDAL
4. Tinikling
Is a traditional Philippine folk dance which originated during the Spanish
colonial era. The dance involves two people beating, tapping, and sliding bamboo
poles on the ground and against each other in coordination with one or more
dancers who step over and in between the poles in a dance.
HISTORY
The dance originated in Leyte, an island in the Visayas in the central
Philippines. It imitates the movement of the tikling birds as they walk between
grass stems, run over tree branches, or dodge bamboo traps set by rice farmers.
Dancers imitate the tikling bird's legendary grace and speed by skillfully
maneuvering between large bamboo poles.
MUSIC
Two or four parallel pairs of bamboo poles, each around 6 to 12 ft (1.8 to 3.7
m) long, are held by two or more sitting or kneeling people ("clappers" or
"clickers"). The poles are used as percussive instruments accompanying rondalla
music played with string instruments (usually bandurrias, guitars, laúdes,
octavinas, or ukuleles). They produce clapping sounds as they are struck against
the ground (or two raised pieces of wood) and each other in a triple metre pattern.
Traditionally, the poles are tapped twice on the ground on the first two beats, then
brought together on the third beat.
COSTUME
For the dance, females traditionally wear a dress called balintawak or
patadyong, and males wear an untucked embroidered shirt called the barong
Tagalog. The balintawak are colorful dresses with wide arched sleeves and the
patadyong is a pineapple fiber blouse paired with checkered skirts.

REFERENCES:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinikling
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kB9eM4VCOE8