Dancing in the Philippines By David Castillo, Le Nguyen, Tyler Whipple

Philippines Cebu and Leyte

History Tinikling Legend has it that the peasants, when punished were beaten, between two bamboo poles, against their ankles having to jump to escape. Tikling bird is a bird with long legs and a long neck. This dance imitates the movement of this bird as it moves in the forest and fields.

The Tinikling dance originated in Leyte. When Spain conquered the Philippines, the Filipinos were made slaves. They were punished rather harshly by being hit by two bamboo poles on the ankles. This punishment evolved into a song and dance. The costume varies in this dance. The women can wear one of two things: the balintawak, and the patadyong. The men wear: Barong Tagalog

Formal Atire, made from pineapple fiber Patadyong A plaid dress in bright colors Barong Tagalog Formal Atire, made from pineapple fiber Balintawak A dress with wide-arched sleeves and a panuelo or handkerchief

The Tinikiling involves two people beating, tapping, and sliding bamboo poles on the ground. A man or women steps over and in between the poles to dance. It involves five steps: The first four steps, the dancers dance opposite each other. The last step, they start from the same side of the poles

Instruments: the bamboo sticks are also used as an instrument, by using a staccato beat every 1st beat per measure for four measures. Space: A boy and a girl face each other and jump together to the beat. Following a four counts per measure. Props: Bamboo Sticks As they dance the girl holds their skirt and the boy’s hand on her waist. Not all the time.

Modernized Tinikling dance influenced by American culture http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asgQ4lWug3s

History of Sinulog Dance

The costumes are basically the same as the Tinikling But, the props and the music is way different. The dance movement is also different. Because of the name Sinulog, which means wave, it has a the same motion as a wave.

Props: Prayer book, candle, Santo nino de Cebu. Costume: They wore almost the exact same thing as in Tinikling. The women wore brightly colored headdresses. The men wore their formal attire, a pineapple shirt with red trousers.

Instuments: Drums, wooden sticks. Culturally the Sinulog dance has changed to include more religions and more cultures, in the U.S. the dance evolved into competitions with new instruments, such as the flute, and more creative costumes and different types of chanting.

The dance steps in Sinulog is based on the form of a wave. When they dance they move up and down, with one step forward and one step back and two more steps forward. The dancers will carry a candle in their right hand and a prayer book in their left hand while chanting the words “this dance is for my father, this dance is for my mother, etc”

Modern Changes of the Sinulog Dance

During the reign of the Spanish, the Filipinos had a hard time adjusting to their rule. When most of the land was in the “pure” Spanish and Mezitos. During this time many of the Filipinos migrated to the U.S. to get better jobs. They worked on plantations in Hawaii and California. When certain laws were passed, to prevent Asians from immigrating to U.S., the Filipinos were able to do immigrate without any formal bureaucracy. When the Philippines won independence from Spain, the United States made them a commonwealth, or territory of the U.S. This eventually led to some discriminating actions take by some citizens of the United States.

They were literally forced off the land, so they could not work They were literally forced off the land, so they could not work. A funny thing was that the state of California did a survey and found out that the whites still didn’t want to do these jobs. A perfect example of discrimination is. During the start of the great depression, many Americans were afraid that this people would take their jobs. While for the longest time the Filipinos worked doing the worst jobs, busboy, janitor, and working in the fields. Another thing was that any Asians weren’t allowed to marry any white person. During this era. When working in the fields, they were accosted. While many of the buildings, and equipment was burned, or damaged, by the whites. Also when an expert in a certain field came to the U.S. they had to work at other jobs before they could work at what they learned.

Also they passed a law called the Tydings-Mcduffie act Also they passed a law called the Tydings-Mcduffie act. Which basically stopped the flow of all Filipinos to the U.S. This brought around a greater reform of the U.S. so the Philippines could gain independence ruling themselves. While in recent years this has changed. With the radical changes of the sixties, Filipinos slowly gained a better chance in the U.S. With the increase of better immigration laws, smarter Filipinos immigrated to the U.S. Like doctors, and engineers, this was called the “Brain Drain” While through it all the Filipinos have held onto their beliefs. While American culture has effected them for the good. Even when oppressed they did not change their on personal and religious beliefs. But, it did take a few more years before they had their own church in the U.S.