Philippine dance

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FOLK DANCE FESTIVAL The Pang-a/ay, an annual folk dance fesHval sponsored by the Cultural Center of the Philippines, showcases the folk tradiHons In Philippine dance. (Julio Samba/on, Cultural Center of ttJe Philippines Ubrary Collecffon)

AMERICAN COLONIAL AND CONTEMPORARY TRADITIONS

research has been expanded by the Bayanihan Folk Arts Center, Folk Arts Theater, Folk Dance Society, UP, Philippine Normal University, Ligaya Fernando- Amilbangsa, and Ramon Obusan. Among the foreign dances and steps that have enriched Philippine folk tradition is the American lan- ceros, a kind of quadrille. (Earlier, the Spanish brought over the stately rigodon that graced high official func- tions.) The lanceros was popular for some 50 years in England. Perhaps the few English residents assisted the Americans in popularizing the lanceros among the Tagalog in Pagsanjan, the lanceros de lingayen in Pan- gasinan, and the lanceros de negros in the Visayas. There were also the pasakat (pas de quatre) and minuetos, as in los bailes de ayer, alcamfor, and minueto yano. According to Reyes-Aquino, the ba-ingles (for baile and ingles) was brought in by the early English traders. The dance survived in Cabugao, Ilocos Sur, danced in Ilocano peasant clothes and embel- lished with the kumintang hand movements. Using more formal clothes like the mascota or Maria Clara, the birginia is often thought of" as derived from the virginia reel, as it reels in and out in the final figure of the caracol, a spiral pattern. Formal affairs of such elite clubs as Smiles, Kahirup, Mancomunidad Pampan- guefta, and Club Filipino featured these dances. American colonialism would later change Philip- pine social life. While the folk continued to dance the jota and pandanggo in the towns and barrios, the urban public tried out the fashionable foreign dances in cabarets, locally called kabaret. At first, a "color line" separated Caucasians from Malay Filipinos, but Nick Joaquin tells how Manuel Quezon and Gov Gen Fran- cis Burton Harrison broke the line by dancing across it. The most famous of the cabarets were in Santa Ana (supposedly the biggest dance floor in the world), Maypajo in Tondo, La Lorna in Santa Cruz, and the Rainbow in San Juan del Monte. They hosted floor shows, like the carioca in the Astaire-Rogers films. With the establishment of the Commonwealth in 1935, there were fireworks in Luneta, balls, and a floor show with Carmen "Miami" Salvador, Bayani Casimiro, and the Diaz Sisters at the Santa Ana. In the 1950s and 1960s, there were still cabarets in the small towns. Aside from the dancing clubs, there were many dancing schools and grand balls at the Oriente Hotel. Rich Chinese, like the Palancas, threw balls as well. The musical and dance rages were ragtime and the cake- walk. Holdovers from the previous century were the can-can, habanera, square dance, and two-step. The first years of the century saw a dizzying array of dances: the boston, bunny hug, camel walk, crab, fish

tail, grizzly bear, maxixe, one-step, slow drag, tango, veleta, turkey trot, and other dances named after the horse, eagle, kangaroo, moose, etc. There were also the newfangled foxtrot, Iindy hop in the 1920s, the black bottom, charleston, rhumba, shimmy, variety drag, and quickstep in the 1930s, the beguine, big- apple, hokey-pokey, jitterbug, Iambeth walk, conga, paso doble, and samba in the 1940s. The idols of the day were Irene and Vernon Castle for their class and elan, and Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers for their agility and panache. In the 1960s, there were still ballroom dancing schools in Quiapo. Today, dancing clubs and societies continue to offer instruction. If the 1950s and 1960s saw Philippine folk dance troupes winning the critics' approval abroad, the 1980s witnessed the export of phenomenal numbers of dan- cers purely for entertainment-mainly to Japan, but also to the Middle East and Europe. Today, thousands of young women go through what passes for training and auditions, and take jobs abroad that help reduce domestic unemployment and increase government re- venue. But "cultural dancers"-so called because they entertain with folk dances-will perform any kind of dance required by the club or hotel, and many double as prostitutes. Spanish dance has declined steeply; today, only Guillermo Gomez and his pupils perform. Ruben Nieto has long since moved to Madrid, his partner Rose Borromeo to Singapore, while their colleagues and pupils Lito Arellano and Marilen Martinez have retired from the stage. The same has happened to Polynesian and Tahitian dancing, now replaced by aerobic dancing in popularity. On the whole, historical and character dancing are neglected except by the Royal Academy of Dancing syllabus for children.

Epilogue

Several leaders in Philippine dance have returned from studies and performing abroad to continue the pioneering work of Adameit's durable pupils. Younger dancers and/or choreographers like Denisa Reyes, Agnes Locsin, Enrico Labayen, Noordin Jumalon, Odon Sabarre, Hazel Sabas, Joy Coronel, Manuel Molina, Toni Lopez Gonzalez, Nina Anonas, and Lisa Macuja came home and set the Philippine dance scene in new directions. Others of their generation occa- sionally visit to guest with Philippine companies. Among them, Nicolas Pacafta, Maiqui and Mia Maftosa, all of Atlanta Ballet; Elizabeth Roxas of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater; Anna Villadolid of Munich's State Opera Ballet; Rey Dizon and Yvonne Cutaran, both of Les Grands Ballets Canadiens. Still

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HISTORICAL ESSAYS

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AMERICAN COLONIAL AND CONTEMPORARY TRADITIONS

CONTEMPORARY DANCE. The search for fhe Filipino expression In dance lives on wlfh Edna VIda's Pagsamba, 1976. (Rudy Vldod, Ballet Philippines Collection

1990, was a panoramic merging of Southeast Asian styles and traditions. The tradition of dance is deepened with the inten- sive treatment of ethnic rites, mythic themes and their mysteries in Leonor Orosa-Goquingco's "Eons Ago" and "Long, Long Ago" in Filipinescas, Alice Reyes' Amada, Denisa Reyes' Diablos and For the Gods, Agnes Locsin's Bagobo and Encantada, Julie Borromeo's Babae at Lalake (Woman and Man), and Basilio's more universal Between Sky and Sea. In contrast, there are the more contemporary setting and styles in Douglas Nierras' use of jazz, Labayen's minimalist yet metaphorical Icarus or his politically satirical Imagin- ary Patriot, and Denisa Reyes' ironic One-ton Pinay and A Girl Who Left Home. Dimension is found in the universal metier in Denisa Reyes' Muybridge!Frames, Firebird, and Te Deum; Basilio's Testament, Tchaikovs- ky Fantasy, and Sweet Warfare; and Antonio Fabella's Three Tchaikovsky Waltzes, Glazunov Variations, and Dancing to Donizetti. Dimension is also found in Basilio's indigenized Misa Filipina and Fabella's Ang Ka- sal (The Wedding). These examples show a broad spec- trum of subjects, styles, and approaches that have

flowered in the 1970s and 1980s, amid the diminishing American presence, the shrinking of the global village, intensifying of consciousness, and exploration of national forms and directions. These works are the traditions from which the 21st century will draw resources, examples, and challenges. • B.E.S. Villaruz

References: Algeranoff 1956; Alejandro 1975, 1976-77, 1978; Alvarez 28 Feb 1958; Banas 1975; Bayanihan 1987; Blount 1913; Bocobo-Olivar 1972; Buenaventura 1991; Clarete Mar 1982; Craig 1916; Cummins 1992; Dance Philippines, Mar 1983; De Guzman 21 Jul 1991, 15 Nov 1991; Del Rosario 1976; Dizon 28 Feb 1958; Dolin 1953, 1960; Enriquez 16 Jan 1991; Fajardo 1961; Franks 1963; Fernandez 1990; Fernandez and Vidad 1981; Foreman 1906; Friend 1969; Hartendorp Nov 1939, Dec 1940, Oct 1941; Jardin Sept 1982; Joaquin 1 Apr 1961, 1977, 1990; Layag-Radaic 7 Sept and 9 Dec 1987; Lopez-Gonzaga 1991; Lorenzo 31 July 1988; Malay 28 Feb 1958; Mallo Feb 1982; Maynard Oct 1929, Nov 1929; Nuguid 4 Jun 1988; Orosa-Goquingco in Sayaw Silanganan 1976-77, 1980; Palmer 1978; Pamintuan Mar 1982; Pangan 1979; Pastrano 20 Mar 1991; Reyes in Sayaw Silanganan 1976-1977; Reyes Jan 1983; Reyes-Aquino 1953- 1975; Reyes-Tolentino 1976; Rimpos Dec 1983; Roxas-Pacis May 1982; Rodriguez 1958; Schirmer 1987; Schlundt 1962; Sheridan 1900; Sherman 1976; Sietereales 1973; Sison-Friese 1980; Stier; Tariman 20 Sept 1980, 31 Jan 1989; Tiongson 1989; Vidad Aug 1981, Oct 1982, Jan 1983; Villaruz 1971, 1972, 1974, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991; Yu 1990; Zulueta May and Jun 1989.

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HISTORICAL ESSAYS

The Philippines shares with its neighbors not only the seas and the tropical climate, but the cultural influ- ences of two ancient civilizations-India and China. Southeast Asian countries all have in common the gong-chimes ensemble known as the gamelan in In- donesia, gulintangan in Brunei, and kulintang or kulin- tangan in the Philippines. Flat unbossed gongs are common to China, Korea, Japan, and Vietnam. Called gangsa in the Philippines, they may be played with sticks (palook) or with the palms (toppaya). Typical drums are the double-headed kendang of Java and Bali, and the gandangan of the Maranao. The bamboo tong-a- tong of the Kalinga is much like the bamboo stamper of the Senoi tribe in Indonesia. The gambang of Java and Bali, and the Thai ranatek are bamboo or wooden xylophones. All Southeast Asian countries have bam- boo flutes of various types. The music of these instru- ments shapes the dynamics of their dances. The people of Maranao, Maguindanao, and Sulu dance to bossed-gong ensembles and drums. Their kakini-kini walk and percussive music evolved into the fluid pangalay. This is as refined a dance as the noble dances of Indonesia and the royal dances of Thailand and Cambodia. The langka silat (martial dances) of Sulu are swift and dynamic, like the tari silat of Malaysia. Sometimes they are softened or enlarged with the use of fans, as in the burong talo of the Tausug. Supposedly of Malaysian origin, the dance imitates an encounter be- tween a cat and hawk. The Tausug and Samal wear the Chinese- influenced sawal kantiu trousers. Fans are used in Chinese dances, the Thai wichanee, and the Maranao festival dance, pagapir (fan dance). A Darangan chan- ter, who may join the singkil, also uses two fans. Another notable dance property is the light in the pandanggo sa ilaw of Mindoro, and the Pangasinan oasioas (an ancient god was called Oasiasoias) and sigsi- law. Lights are characteristically religious in most Indian dances. The religiosity is echoed in the fon thien of Thailand and dugso of Bukidnon. In these dances, lights are usually carried in a bowl or a coconut shell. Empty shells are used in the mock-war dance maglalatik and the aduk-aduk of the Kedaya tribe in Brunei. Bells are common among the Tboli, Mandaya, and Bagobo. In Singapore, a dance to the Lord Shiva uses

several bells around the ankles, equivalent to the tung- kaling (trinkets) around the waist of the Mandaya bal- yan or of the Tboli singkil (anklets). Dances featuring clashing bamboo or wooden poles include the Thai ram kartob mai, the alae sekap of Brunei, and the Philippine tinikling. The singkil, with its many pairs of clashing crossed bamboo poles, is similar to the Malaysian mangu natip. There are also several Asian sitting dances, such as the Sumatran and the Maranao sayana. These musical and choreographic examples sug- gest centuries of regional exchange and parallel de- velopment. Wide-ranging studies reveal not only com- mon forms but functions as well. In 1990, the Bayanihan Philippine Dance Com- pany and artists of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singa- pore, and Thailand explored their dances' similarities in A Sound of Tambours-An ASEAN Tapestry. They sketched and traced traits and strains that brought to light a common cultural heritage and mutual influ- ence. The early Spaniards observed that Filipinos ad- justed melodic and harmonic music to measured and thematic dancing. The guitar and other European in- struments became most popular, as did the triple jota, balse, mazurka, or the fast duple polka, and subtle danza habanera. The jota proliferated in most Christia- nized areas, the waltz step entered most figures (in- cluding the duple polka in polkabal), and the fandan- go became the pandanggo. The rondalla band accompa- nied these dances. New properties included sombrillas (umbrellas), bastones (canes), paiios (kerchiefs), mantillas (shawls), and castaiias or crotalus (castanets), the last often made of bamboo, wood, or shell. Social dances were formal- ized into the quadrille, as in the pasakat, rigodon, and alcamfor. Local feasts became fiestas honoring saints, and ritual dances became pandanggo or the Mexican pastores in search of the manger (belen). The Mexican curacha became an improvised social or courtship dance. Classical Spanish dances were seen in the thea- ters, perhaps in the shows of Maestro Appiani for his Compania Infantil de Baile. Dances from America came in the 20th century, although the habanera had already been imported from the Carribean. More dances from that area-the

rhumba, samba, conga, etc.---came by way of the US. The South American tango was sleek, seductive, and popularized by the movies. The movies of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers made the dances of the Flapper Age respectable, and the couple came to per- sonify the debonair and fashionable. The social dances of the day, from the cakewalk to the cha-cha, high- lighted vaudeville shows. Although American in form, vaudeville was indigenized into bodabil by Filipino artists and producers. The form lived through the Japanese occupation and its occasional satirical barbs sometimes landed performers in prison. These Asian, European, and American dance forms have become part of Philippine social life and theatrical traditions. They can still be seen in nostalgic revivals, ballet, modem dance, social functions, or on 1V. Philippine rituals, however, have endured. In animist, Muslim or Christian rites, dance is a commu- nal action, motivated by a divine or revered authority. Attended by such paraphernalia as food, votive lamps, incense and other properties found on an altar, in a

MODERN ETHNIC. Ethnic movements were stylized In the ballet Non-Pangkat choreographed by Fellcltas Layag-Radalc In 1975. Shown are Emellle Rlgonan and Mltto CasHIIo. (Donee Theater Philippines Collecffon)

SOURCES AND INFLUENCES

comer, or circle, the ritual effects propitiation or thanks- giving. The Tagbanua pagdiwata, which asks for a good harvest, requires an elaborate sacrificial and musical "set and property" and costumes. The rite is officiated and danced by a baylan or shaman, as are most of the rituals of Philippine ethnic groups. The Aeta anituan, meant to cure the ill, is a prophylactic dance that is "metonymical to life movement and signifies positive motion versus its absence" (Hanna 1979:111). Such dances are periodically reenacted by the folk themselves, or staged by folk dance troupes. The Higaonon dugso has been made contemporary in Denisa Reyes' For the Gods, in Bung- katol ha Bulawatt (Golden Law) by Kulturang Atin Foundation of Davao, and adapted to Christian liturgy at the Asian Institute for Liturgy and Music during the inauguration of its Artists Village in 1992. The shaman has been the center of dance and drama renditions, as in the Visayan bangotbanwa, since the time of Datu Sumakwel, whose successors were revolutionary folk heroes and heroines. The sha- man engages in possession or ecstatic dancing that transports him or her into a trance; Ed Defensor re- staged the ritual in Ang Babaylan (The Shaman). Chewing betel nut and buyo leaf induces in the shaman a heightened state of consciousness. A burial rite

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HISTORICAL ESSAYS

in Lanao attunes the main participants, a datu and a calif who dance with scarves and long-stemmed fans, through chanting and reading from the Quran. With chanting and the burning of the kamanyang (incense), Maranao and Maguindanao warriors dance the sagayan that prepares them for combat. Choreog- rapher Ramon Obusan reenacted the Bagobo cleansing or anointing ritual, pamalugu, in the four-day gin-urn celebration. A priestess calls on Pamulak Manobo (Creator of Nature) and Tigayama (Protector of People) and ceremoniously washes 10 times, with areca branches dipped in water, young men who then face east, imitate the flight of young eagles against the wind, and don, while danCing, new, elaborately decorated clothes. Myths and epics have inspired both folkloric and theatrical dance recreations. Among these is the sing- kil, hewn from an incident in the Maranao Darangen. Another tale about the brothers Indarapatra and Sulay- man was turned into furu-Pakal (The Enchanted Kris) by Eddie Elejar. The Sulod epic Hinilawod was turned into a dance drama by Agnes Locsin and Edwin Duero for the Dagyaw Theater and Dance Company. The episode of Labaw Dunggon was rendered into dance by Gener Caringal for the 1985 Singapore Arts Festival. The llocano epic Lam-ang has also been retold in dance by Corazon Generoso-Ifugo for the University of the East Dance Com- pany. Manuvu tales and the Ramayana were both adapted

for rock opera ballets by Alice Reyes. Creation stories are danced worldwide. The battle between the sky and the sea was reenacted in "Long Ago" in Leon or Orosa-Goquingco' s Filipinescas: Philip- pine Life, Legend and Lore in Dance. The work features the first man and woman, Malakas (Strong) and Maganda (Beautiful), as do Julie Borromeo's Babae at Lalake (Woman and Man), Basilio's "Paglalang" (Creation) in Tro- pical Tapestry, and Ramon Obusan's Putok sa Buho (Foundling). Mariang Makiling of Laguna and other diwata (spirits) inspired many a work, including the first full- length ballet named for the goddess and staged in 1939 by Anita Kane and the ballets of Effie Na:ftas, Hazel Sabas who staged Daragang Magayon (Beautiful Maiden), and Agnes Locsin' s Encantada (Enchantress). The mythical bird, sarimanok, inspired dances by Reynaldo Alejandro and Roberto Caballero, Rosalia Merino-Santos, Eddie Elejar, and Steven Patrick Fernandez. Another bird, the ibong adarna, is the hero- ine of dances by Remedios de Oteyza and Inday Gaston- Ma:ti.osa and Edna Vida. Alejandro Races' tale is the basis for Merino-Santos' Of Cocks and Kings. Historical and literary figures are found in Leonor Orosa-Goquingco's Noli Dance Suite, Alejandro's Rizaliana Suite, Lulu Puertollano's dance in Alfredo Buenaventura's opera Diego Silang, Alice Reyes' Itim Asu (The Onyx Wolf) and Rajah Sulayman, Corazon