Philippine

Philippine Dances
Dances
 Objectives

• Understand the background and nature of dance,

precolonial dances and Colonization-influenced
Dances
• Distinguish the Folkdance Programs in the Philippines
• To enhance the cultural values demonstrated in
various folk dances aesthetically, morally, and
physically.
 DANCE

• refers to movement set

to music where there
emerges organization,
structure and pattern.
• It is a composition that
implies arrangement of
parts into a form.
 DANCING
• is a means of expressing one’s emotions
through movement disciplined by rhythm.
• It is an act of moving rhythmically and
expressively to an accompaniment.
• The word dancing came from an old
German word “danson” which means to
“stretch”. Essentially, all dancing is made
up of stretching and relaxing.
 Question

Can you mention

some different types
of dance/dancing?
BALLET
BALLROOM
HIP - HOP
TRADITIONAL DANCES
Philippine
Traditions on
Dance
 Question

For you, what is

traditional dance?
 Philippine Traditions on Dance

• Dance has been a part of Filipino life since time

immemorial.
• Since the ancient times, Early Filipinos have used
rhythmic movements to express their emotions,
beliefs, and faith.
• Most of these movements are imitations of what they
see in their environment such as the swaying of trees
and the movements of animals
 Philippine Traditions on Dance
• Tradition is “a way of
thinking, behaving, or
doing something that
has been used by the
people in a particular
group for a long time”
(merriam-
webster.com)
 Philippine Traditions on Dance

• Traditional dances, or
commonly known as folk
dance, are dance
practices that have been
passed on or handed
down from one
generation to another.
• These dances have
evolved naturally over
time.
 Philippine Traditions on Dance
• According to Basilio Esteban S. Villaruz in his book
Treading Through: 45 Years if Philippine Dance (2006),
Philippine dance is generally composed of the following:
1. Those that propitiate the spirits
2. Those that are imitative of animal life or activities
3. Those meant for socializing and celebrating
4. Those that were inherited from colonizers
5. Those mentioned above that have now been performed
for tourism programs for both cultural and economic
use.
 Question

1. What are the

compositions of
Philippine traditional
dances?
Precolonial Dances
 Precolonial Dances
• In the Philippines, many of the precolonial or
indigenous dances are basically Malay in origin
until Western colonizers came and influenced
the native dance traditions.
• Nevertheless, precolonial can be classified,
according to Villaruz (2006), as religious,
imitative of life activities and of movements in
the environment, and for socialization.
 Precolonial Dances
• Religious Dances – which
often involve communicating
with the gods, include dance
rituals on death, afterlife,
recovery from illness, and
veneration of gods through
the babaylan or catalonan, a
female spiritual leaders who
was regarded as an expert
in communicating with the
divine.
• In such dances, dancers
normally make offerings to
the spirits.
 Precolonial Dances
• Occupational
Dances – which are
dance rituals that
mimic work-related
activities such as
hunting, planting,
and harvesting.
 Precolonial Dances
• Mimicry – is actually
common in many
traditional dances.
• For instance, dancers
imitate movements
that they observe in
nature.
• Examples are the
tinikling and itik – itik.
 TINIKLING PERFORMANCE
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQwXXiK1gIo
 Precolonial Dances
• War or martial dances also
feature mimicry as their
steps imitate the movements
usually seen in duels,
combats, and battles.
• Examples are the mangayaw
of the Bontoc and idaw of the
Kalinga, which are both
related to the kayaw or
headhunting expeditions.
 Questions

1. How are the Philippine

precolonial dances classified?
2. Why is mimicry common in
traditional dances in the
Philippines?
 Colonization-
influenced Dances
 Colonization-influenced Dances
• During the Spanish occupation, the lives
of the early Filipinos were restructured in
terms of politics, economics, religion, and
culture.
• The same thing happened in dance, as
the Spanish colonizers brought in their
own dances.
 Colonization-influenced Dances
• Most popular Spanish dances
are the jota, polka, waltz and
fandango.
• Paseo and the pateado as well
as the surtido and the habanera,
which both came Cuba.
 Sayaw sa Obando
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqskf4b4YrI