Thesis About Weaving

Philippine Folk Dances: A Story of a Nation
Monica Fides Amada Santos
I n Philippine Folk Dances and Songs (1966) by National Artist Francisca

Reyes-Aquino,1 there is a photo of a group of Isabela province’s Kalingas
accompanied by the caption: “Note how the baby is carried by the mother.
Influence of their association with their Christian brothers may be seen in
the use of a pair of shoes by one, the dress of one girl, and the shirt of the
man. All others are still primitive.” The photo is under the Costume section,
which includes various images of persons wearing native garb representing
different cultural communities in the Philippines. This section is meant to be
a guide on how to dress “authentically” or appropriately when performing
the dances described in the book.
The caption alludes to an evolutionist imaginary emerging from
colonialism, i.e., “the primitive” unblemished by the trappings of modernity.
Here, the impositions of colonialism are presented as endangering the
“purity”, if not the entire existence, of traditional cultural expressions. Such
sentiment is echoed by Lucrecia Kasilag, another National Artist, in her
research with fellow National Artist Jose Maceda and with Aurora Diño,
on the music of the Buid of Mindoro in 1953, in the interest of developing
the repertoire of the Bayanihan2 (Santos, 2004):
Most of the tribes were relatively untouched by modern civilization,

but sadly there were a number of cases wherein only the elderly remembers
their tribe’s old songs, and the young boys could not even speak their
own dialect. The researchers realized that there was a very distinct
possibility that many ancient Filipino cultures could be lost forever. The
studies therefore assumed a sense of urgency; the preservation of tribal
1
2 Narrativizing Dancing Bodies
music became one of the Bayanihan’s most enduring contributions to the

reestablishment of Filipino cultural heritage. (cited in Santos, 2004, p. 10)
Such sentimentality characterizes salvage anthropology, which aims

to document cultures under “threat” of irreversible changes brought on
by cultural impositions of colonizing forces. In postcolonial times, where
newly liberated nation-states sought to define their existence through an
internal search for their “own” identity, such anxieties persist.
In the context of the Philippines’ colonial experience, Christianity
is perceived to be the social force that brought about change to its
“primitive” peoples. However, contrary to colonial goals that would perceive
such transformation as a positive cultural development, the comment
highlighting the changes in the attire of Isabela Kalingas is meant to point
out how their culture has been gradually changing. The shoes, dress, and
shirt are not part of their “costume”, and by extension, their culture. Thus,
it is the “primitive others” that represent what “true” or “authentic” Isabela
Kalingas wear. Kasilag articulates the popular view of cultural workers
and researchers in the country who see tribal cultures as the repository
of what it means to be Filipino, and express the compelling need to do
research on these cultural communities before their cultures “disappear”.
This kind of perspective subscribes to a concept of culture that suggests
the existence of a set of bounded objects that represent the lifeways of a
particular group of people, and obscures the social and political processes
involved in legitimizing the authenticity of such representations (Wright,
1998). In the Philippines, nation-building rests on a strategic essentialism
that relies on the assumed primeval roots of particular cultural groups.
This was facilitated through the promotion of their expressive traditions
including their “dances”.3
In this paper, I take off from Geertz’s understanding of culture as the
“stories that people tell themselves about themselves” (1973, p. 448), and
ask: What stories do Filipinos tell themselves about their nation through
discourses articulated in the performances and literature of their folk
Monica Fides Amada Santos 3
dances? By exploring the postcolonial context of storytelling, I argue that

such act is informed by a desire to assert a national identity that is rooted
in a pre-colonial past. And as the process of Philippine nationhood and
its attendant cultural formations continue to be informed by legacies of
colonial politics, it renders particular ethnicities as representatives of fixed
temporal points in the country’s cultural history.
Institutionalizing Folk Dances in the Philippines
I use the term “folk dances” to refer to dance forms, dancing practices,
and dances identified by local practitioners and writers as locally practiced
or having local origins. These are comprised of expressive traditions
perceived as “indigenous”, “syncretic”, or “localized”/”indigenized”.4 Namiki
(2014) makes a distinction between folk dances and folkdances. Folk dances
are expressive forms involving human body movement that are practiced
in the context of community life, while folkdances are representations of
folk dances that are performed for the stage. Castro (2011) labels the latter
representations as “folkloric” in nature and are comprised of “performance
practices and the associated material culture deriving from the folk but
recontextualized for audiences” (p. 68). This paper is about both folk dances
and folkdances (as defined by Namiki); it considers all as “folk dances”,5 and
calls attention to the ways in which the presentations and descriptions of
these dances tell a local narrative of the Philippine nation. I argue that
the positioning of dances along the lines of the dominant version of the
country’s cultural history reify cultural identities and mark them as fixed
temporal points. Such positioning can be seen in the classification used
by scholars and performers to categorize folk dances in the country,
which resonate with Hobsbawm’s notion of invented traditions (2013, p. 4).
This classification involves a “process of formalization and ritualization,
characterized by reference to the past if only by imposing repetition”, as
particular dancing traditions practiced in different cultural communities in
the Philippines are folklorized (Castro, 2011; Namiki, 2014, 2011; Gilmore,
2000; Perillo, 2017).
Handler (1999) documents a similar case in Quebec, where folk

ways, specifically folk dances, were subjected to cultural objectification
“influenced by both romantic and nationalistic ideology and contributed
to a vision of the peasant roots of the nation” (p. 71). He highlights the
role of academia in this legitimizing process (see also Said, 1979). In the
Philippines, similar efforts can be seen in the initiative of Jorge Bocobo,
former President of the University of the Philippines (UP), to conduct
research on the music and dances of different ethnic communities in
the Philippines (Goquingco, 1980; Santos, 2005; Castro, 2011; Villaruz,
2006; Alcedo, 2014).6 In 1934, Bocobo tasked particular members of the
university faculty from the Conservatory of Music and the Department of
Physical Education including Francisca Reyes (later, Aquino), a physical
education teacher who did a preliminary survey of Philippine folk dances
for her thesis on folk dances and games in the Philippines, to be part of the
research team. This project allowed Reyes-Aquino to expand her research
on folk dances, resulting in the publication of six volumes of Philippine
Folk Dances, which were published between 1953 and 1980 (including new
editions). These six volumes feature dances from different parts of the
country, including Hispanized or Christianized dances, localized forms of
European dances, as well as ethnic dances or those practiced by different
indigenous communities in the Philippines.
As indicated in the foreword of volumes 1 through 5, all by Serafin
Aquino7 who was then Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the Philippine
Amateur Athletic Federation (PAAF)8 and later Chief of the Division
of Physical Education at the Department of Education, Reyes-Aquino’s
works serve as guides for the ‘authentic’ reproduction and performance
of the dances in different social activities, including recreation. They are
also meant to instill a patriotic and nationalistic spirit. In the first volume,
Aquino (1953) remarks, “[t]he work being done to collect Filipino folk
dances and to preserve their authenticity for future generations deserves
the support of every patriotic citizen. We should be proud of, and keep
for posterity, the best traditions and culture of our people” (p. I). In the
second volume, Aquino describes folk dances as “really for and by the
common people. A recreation program for these people, which includes
folk dances that will uplift their spirit and provide a welcome relief from
the monotony and dreariness of manual labor.” He continues, “This new
volume on Philippine folk dances by Mrs. Aquino represents many years
of continuous labor in the interest of preserving for posterity the genuine
culture, customs, and traditions of the Filipinos as depicted in their folk
dance.” (Aquino, 1960a, p. I). In the third volume, Aquino notes:
The value of folk dancing as a cultural and recreational activity is

… more fundamental than its being a means towards development of
nationalism. Its higher value lies in the wholesome recreation and spiritual
satisfaction it can provide, and the preservation of the people’s culture …
Care must be taken, however, to preserve the authenticity of the Philippine
folk dances. It is therefore essential that for the real meaning and value
of these dances, they be performed in their original form. In every case,
authentic music, steps and costumes should be used. (1960b, p. I)
Aside from anthologizing the different folk dances in the country, Reyes-
Aquino is also responsible for the inclusion of folk dancing in the physical
education curriculum of public schools in the Philippines. She left UP after
18 years and joined the Department of Education, where she eventually
became the Superintendent of Physical Education for the Bureau of Public
Schools. By the fourth volume, the series would highlight the value of folk
dances in education, and in defining and presenting ‘Filipino culture’ to
the wider world. Note the foreword of the fourth volume:
During the past few years, marked interest in folk dances has been
manifested throughout the country. Folk dances are generally given in
school programs and community social affairs. The Philippine Folk Dance
Society, of which Mrs. Francisca R. Aquino is the adviser, has helped much
in popularizing the folk dances. It has established chapters in the cities and
provinces and encouraged schools, colleges and universities to organize
their folk dance troupes.
To acquaint other countries with Filipino culture and contribute to

the promotion of international understanding, the Philippine Government
encouraged the sending of folk dance troupes abroad. (Aquino, 1960c, p. I)
The foreword of the fifth volume is also worth quoting: “The public
school … awakened to the potential of folk dancing for entertainment as
well as a means for the preservation of our culture, took it up, and from
then on folk dancing became a regular part of the school curriculum”
(Aquino, 1960d, p. I).
Finally, the foreword in the sixth volume by Manuel (1975) states:
An educational system, to be effective for the present social milieu,

should aim to achieve triple objectives. These are: transmitting to future
generations the values of society, fostering creativity, and developing
reflective and critical thinking in the individual. (p. III)
For the achievement of these objectives, the dance, particularly the

Philippine folk dance, easily becomes an effective medium of the schools…
In its cognitive aspects, the student learns historical facts, customs,
traditions and knowledge of the art—the native dances and their music.
The affective aspects are such values as aesthetic appreciation, morality,
proper decorum, love for our cultural heritage and patriotism, all of which
may be developed through lessons in folk dancing. (p. III)
To this day, the public school system incorporates the learning of “folk,
indigenous, ethnic, traditional and creative dances” as part of the physical
education curriculum (Department of Education, 2013). In the Philippine
High School for the Arts (PHSA),9 folk dance is one of the two tracks for
dance majors, the other being ballet. In addition, folk dances are regularly
featured in student presentations during the Buwan ng Wika or National
Language Month,10 an annual month-long homage to the national language
of the Philippines, which is Filipino.
Aside from being part of the school curriculum, the formation of school-
based and professional folk dance troupes further formalized the place of
folk dance as one of the categories of dance traditions in the country.

Reyes-Aquino would form the UP Folk Song and Dance Club, now the
UP Filipiniana Dance Group, a school-based dance troupe of UP Diliman
which performs in school-related events as well as in folklore festivals in
the country and abroad (Alcedo, 2018). Other university-based groups
that perform and promote Philippine folk dances include the University
of the East Silanganan Dance Troupe, Darangan Cultural Troupe based in
Mindanao State University in Marawi city from the southern Philippines,
and the FEU (Far Eastern University) Dance Company (formerly FEU Folk
Dance Group).11
Professional folk dance troupes in the country include the Ramon
Obusan Folkloric Group (ROFG)12 and the Bayanihan. While the two
groups differ in their approach to presenting folk dances in the country,13
their performances continue to be dynamic embodiments of particular
constructions of Filipino identity. Their performances of different folk
dance traditions in the country are grounded on research, with the objective
of promoting awareness about these expressive traditions, and Filipino
culture in general, in mainstream performance venues locally and abroad.
As such, these professional troupes have become important symbols of
national patrimony and its effective disseminators. The Bayanihan has
regular performances and outreach projects in different parts of the country
and goes on regular tours abroad, visiting many Filipino communities in
different parts of the world. Their level of influence can be seen through
folkloric groups that have been established in the United States, which
use the Bayanihan model (Castro, 2011; Gaerlan, 1999),14 including noted
cultural shows such as the Pilipino Cultural Night or PCN (Gilmore, 2000;
Gonzalvez, 2010).
In 1998, the role of the Bayanihan as one of the country’s cultural
ambassadors was legally recognized through Republic Act 8628, which
designated the Bayanihan as “The Philippine National Folk Dance
Company”. The law describes the role of the Bayanihan as an organization
tasked to research on Philippine culture, specifically folk dances, to
disseminate this knowledge. In the meantime, the ROFG is to continue its

work of promoting and educating the public about Filipino culture through
folk dance presentations. The members ensured the continuity of their
organization through the Batang ROFG program, in which children and
teens are trained in music and dancing in the tradition instituted by Obusan.
Folk Dances and the Cultural History of the Philippines
The dynamic embodiment of the national imaginary through dancing

is not uncommon (see, for instance, Reed, 2010; Foley, 2001; Chakravorty,
1998; Fisher, 2003). As a visual spectacle, dancing can be easily recruited as
a convenient symbol of the nation. In the Philippines, this is accomplished
by presenting the diverse cultural communities in the country through
stage performances of what is documented as dances in their culture. The
Bayanihan compiles these different dances into four suites: the Cordillera
suite, the Muslim Suite, the Maria Clara or Hispanic Suite, and the Lowland
Filipino suite.15 These suites are meant to display the array of cultures in
the Philippines, from the non-Christian groups in the northern Philippines
(Cordillera suite), the Islamized groups in the southern Philippines (Muslim
suite), and the Christianized communities in the country (Hispanic and
Lowland Filipino suites). While the Bayanihan has expanded its repertoire
to include newly discovered dances, these four suites remain staples in
their performances.
Leonor Orosa Goquingco, another National Artist for Dance, who wrote
one of the major texts on Philippine dance, reinforces these groupings of
Philippine dances. Goquingco (1980) uses two general categories to describe
the different “ethnic” dance traditions in the Philippines: “Dances of Non-
Christian Filipinos”, which is further divided into “Dances of traditionalist or
pagan groups” and “Dances of Muslim Groups”, and “Dances of Christian and
Lowland Filipinos or Western-Influenced Dances”. The twinned categories
follow her categorization of the “chief cultural groups” in the Philippines:
Major Christian Groups, Minor Christian Groups, Muslim “Moro” Groups,
Principal “Pagan” or Traditionalist Groups, Negrito and Dumagat Groups,
and Multiple-Belief-Holding Groups (such as partially-Christianized “pagan”

groups) (p. 23). As with the Bayanihan’s dance suites, the various cultural
communities in the country are grouped under broad categories roughly
based on their degree of Christianization.
The use of the category “Muslim” to refer to a particular set of dances is
reminiscent of the frustrations of the Spanish colonial forces in their failure
to convert the followers of Islam to Christianity. The significance of this
struggle is evidenced by the Moro-moro, a specific form of komedya popular
in the country from the seventeenth century until its decline in the late
nineteenth century (Santos, 2003). The Moro-moro depicts Christians and
Muslims as opposing forces, but always ends with the Muslims converting
to Christianity. Jacinto (2011) lays out the problematic use of the category
“Muslim dances”, noting that the use of the term “Muslim” is an orientalizing
generalization of cultural communities that practice Islam but are culturally
variegated. In what follows, I offer a critical reading of the categories of
folk dances in the Philippines and how they bolster a cultural history that
is informed by colonial politics.
Goquingco offers an eloquent elaboration of ethnic dances that depict
a dominant view shared by other literatures of Philippine dances:
The ethnic and regional dances of the Philippines are of profound

significance, for they furnish students of history, sociology, psychology,
religion, and so forth with a rare and living documentary marking various
and recognizable strata of cultural development.
This phenomenon has been made possible by the preservation, in

certain (usually isolated) regions, of “pure pockets of culture”. What one
can find among these groups are, therefore, dance traditions providentially
still untouched by the West and thus of inestimable value in reconstructing
the nation’s prehispanic heritage. The aboriginal Negritos and Hanunoos,
the primitive Bataks, and the Ilongots living in the hinterlands are among
communities, groups, tribes, which were never conquered by the Spaniards
and which live largely as they did before the arrival of Westerners in the
Archipelago. To visit them is figuratively to take a trip centuries back,

through the time-tunnel of history, and to see how well they have preserved
for us a great source-body of cultural traditions that might otherwise have
vanished forever.
The so-called “primitive” or traditionalist peoples are particularly

interesting because they have generally adhered to their traditions and
religious beliefs.16 These traditions, rituals, and dances, retained in near-
pristine form, could offer valuable clues in today’s search for the authentic
roots of prehispanic Philippines. (p. 29)
Goquingco’s characterization of ethnic dances and her expressed

concern over their preservation (which is similar to Kasilag’s sentiments)
illustrate a reified view of culture reminiscent of cultural evolutionist
Edward Tylor’s understanding of culture as a “complex whole” and of his
categorization of world cultures as being in different stages of cultural
development.17 Goquingco’s representation of ethnic dances as “a rare and
living documentary marking various and recognizable strata of cultural
development” echoes Tylor’s views, and in this case, shows an undisguised
appreciation for such primitivism. Moreover, Goquingco presents (and
celebrates) these communities as ahistorical entities—as cultures with no
past and no future. The assumption that their practices have remained
unchanged does not acknowledge the cultural exchanges that these
communities might have had with other nearby communities and the
attendant changes that might have ensued even prior to the arrival of the
Spanish colonial forces.18
The Dance volume of the CCP Encyclopedia of Philippine Art19 describes
ethnic dances as those that “have not been substantially Westernized”
(Villaruz & Obusan, 1995, p. 34). The articles in the CCP Encyclopedia that
discuss dances of ethnic groups refer to specific expressive traditions
practiced by specific cultural communities but somehow resort to a
generalized view of ethnic groups as the repository of the whole country’s
cultural roots. Perhaps what captures this sense of rootedness is the way
ethnic dances are represented as closely associated with social functions;
thus, labels for sub-categories of ethnic dances include “ritual dances”,

“the life-cycle dances”, and “occupational dances” in the historical essay on
ethnic dances.20 Elaborating on her previous comment on the ‘traditionalist’
character of the country’s primitive peoples, Goquingco further observes
that ethnic dances:
are dances that arose from the communal rites to conciliate the gods,
to solicit rain, to seek deliverance from pestilence; or dances that came
from special combat, and victory celebrations, or simply to lighten … such
everyday tasks such as the planting, harvesting, pounding, winnowing of
rice, fishing, rowing and tuba (coconut-wine) gathering. (p. 31)
On the other hand, this segregation of dances is not found in other

historical essays on “The Spanish Colonial Tradition” and “The American
Colonial and Contemporary Traditions” in the CCP Encyclopedia. In these
essays, dances are categorized by dance form. While the CCP Encyclopedia
acknowledges that “ethnic Filipinos” have continued to practice their
dances, the romanticized representation of ethnic dances as expressions
of social life seems to be a form of strategic essentialism as these “rites and
dances provide substance to present-day documentation and presentation”
especially to Filipinos living abroad (Villaruz & Obusan, 1995, p. 34).
Such way of describing ethnic dances follows a narrative of Philippine
cultural history that places indigenous cultures as belonging to the past,
untouched by Christianity and modernity. This is consistent with the
historiography presented in Philippine history books used in primary and
secondary education in the country. History of the Filipino People by Teodoro
Agoncillo (2012; first published, 1960), one of the main resources used in
educational institutions in the country,21 has the following general headings
for its many chapters: Pre-Colonial Philippines, The Spanish Period, Reform
and Revolution, The American Period, The War Years, and The Third
Republic. In the Pre-Colonial Philippines section, Agoncillo elaborates on
the culture of “ancient Filipinos”. Here, a four-page description of the music
and dance of “ancient Filipinos” includes some specific examples of musical
and dance traditions of the Visayans, the Negritos, the Bontok Igorots from
northern Luzon, the Tagbanua of Palawan, the Ilocanos, and the Tagalogs.
However, Agoncillo does not follow through with the specific histories of
these cultural groupings in his account of the history of the nation. Instead,
he reverts to the term ‘Filipino’ to give a more encompassing image of
inhabitants of the Philippine islands prior to Spain’s arrival and subsequent
colonizing of the country. In the last paragraph of this section, he writes:
It should be noted that the ancient Filipinos had music and dances for
all occasions and that because of their frequent association, their social
organization was more well-knit than it is today. Looking backwards,
one may say that during the Spanish empire days, the Filipino social
organization remained substantially as it was before the conquest, but
under the impact of American influence that same organization has
suffered a little loosening of social ties. (p. 66)
As noted above, this generalizing view of Filipino culture is informed by

the sentiments of salvage anthropology and promotes the idea that so-called
pre-colonial cultures are “pure”. Such a view disregards the persistence of
strong family ties among rural and urban communities in the Philippines
and obscures the rich, diverse, complex and ongoing history of cultural
engagement these communities have with nearby communities within
the country and elsewhere. At the same time, this cultural history also
suggests an imagined continuity between cultures in the country, where
indigenous cultures are made to represent the early forms or the past of the
more urbanized and modern parts of the country. This is the framework
that informs the literature on Philippine dances, and is articulated in the
distinctions and categories made based on perceptions about the degree of
Christianization (or Westernization) of particular dances or dance forms.
Thus, it is the notion of transformation that characterizes descriptions
of dance forms and dancing practices associated with the Spanish
colonial period, which have either European origins and/or bear the
influence of Christianity. The cultural processes that contributed to

these transformations are described in the CCP Encyclopedia. Editor and
contributor Basilio Esteban Villaruz (1994) opens the section “The Spanish
Colonial Tradition” in the historical essay “Philippine Dance”:
With the coming of the Spaniards and the spread of Christianity, the
people transferred the object of their worship to the saints, though they
did not abandon their native impulse and style … Christianity turned native
to a certain extent and became a vehicle for the Filipino way of spiritual
and communal expression. (p. 20)
A few paragraphs later, Villaruz discusses how European dances fared

when these were introduced to the locals:
[European dances] underwent regional transformation in the colony,

as is evident in the variations of the jota from the northern Cagayan to
the southern provinces. As they became localized, these dances gained
regional characteristics, adapting bamboo, coconut or shell castanets,
scented handkerchiefs, paypay, Ilocano kumintang gestures, etc. Musical
accompaniment was also indigenized through a variety of native
instruments. (p. 20)
These dances include imported forms such as the jota, habanera,

malagueña, fandango, cachuchas, rigodon and lanceros, that eventually took
on localized versions with more simplified movements and Filipinized
names, as well as regional variations. In some cases, movements from these
dances have been combined in what is known as surtido, which also has its
own regional variations.22 Hispanized dances or forms that existed prior to
colonization, but only continued to exist as part of Catholic-related rituals
include the subli, putong, and turumba (Goquingco, 1980; Villaruz, 1994).
There are also dances that are labeled “Christian” folk dances but are not
religious in nature. The CCP Encyclopedia lists the tinikling, itik-itik, kalapati/
sinalampati, and the pabo as examples. While the term “Christian” may
mean nothing more than that these dances are performed by Christianized
communities, the use of the term indicates the significance of Christianity
as an important cultural force that shaped the transformation of these local
aesthetic forms.
The idea of cultural transformation lends itself to a view of Filipino
culture as composed of ‘syncretic’ forms. Scholars have used this framework
to explain particular religious (see for instance, Schumacher, 1984 and
Macdonald, 2004), culinary (see Fernandez, 2003 and Zialcita, 2005) and
artistic practices of Filipinos. Irving (2010) observes that music culture in
the Philippines during the Spanish colonial period included the rise of
Manila as a multicultural center or “a forum for the intercultural exchange
of ideas and commodities” (p. 32). He highlights the role of the galleon
trade (1565-1815) in the intercontinental transfer of cultural practices and
artifacts during the Spanish colonial period, especially between Spain,
Mexico, and Manila.
Tiongson (1998) relates how theater forms with foreign origins, Spain
specifically, have been localized in the Philippines and in Mexico. He
provides detailed descriptions of the performances of these expressive
forms, the posadas/panunuluyan, pastorela/pastores, and the moros y cristianos,
and contemplates on the direction of influence between Mexico and the
Philippines. In the end, he leaves this discussion in favor of an exploration
of how these performative genres became integrated into the repertoire
of expressive forms in different Filipino communities. He views these
developments as acts of revitalizing the “traditional forms”:
So entrenched are the Hispanic/Christian forms in Philippine life

today that they have become part of the Filipino’s cultural consciousness
and his vocabulary for expression and communication. The more the
Filipino is able to revitalize these traditional forms with messages that
respond to contemporary national concerns, the more will these forms
validate themselves as Filipino, the greater too will their contribution be
to the definition of an identity unique to the Filipino. (p. 149)
Tiongson views “revitalization” as a process of adoption and adaptation

that “dehydrated” the foreign content of performative forms (in this
case, particular dramatic forms such as those that evolved to the current
panunuluyan, pastores, and sinakulo in the Philippines), and “refilled” them
with locally relevant themes and issues, “[contributing]… to the formation of
a new native culture” (pp. 148–149). In contrast to the purism that underlies
the desire for the preservation of ethnic traditions, expressive traditions
associated with the Spanish colonial period that have been localized or
indigenized are accepted and claimed as “Filipino” because these have been
“mixed” with local temperament, rhythms, and elements. These include
fiestas, processions and similar celebrations throughout the country, which
bear some kind of Christian element.
As such, ethnic and Hispanic dances have figured prominently
in representations of Filipino culture where they are placed along an
evolutionary timeline. However, this history does not tell a story of
progress but is constructed in a way that allows Filipinos to look into their
(assumed) past to catch a glimpse of the Filipino soul. Fabian (2014) points
out the contradictions inherent in the experience and use of time in writing
ethnography. On the one hand, anthropologists share time with their
interlocutors in the process of conducting ethnographic research. However,
in the process of producing an ethnographic manuscript, the ‘other’ comes
to be represented as belonging to a distant time. Fabian refers to this as
the “schizogenic use of time” where “[i]n the objectifying discourses of a
scientistic anthropology, ‘Others’ thus never appear as immediate partners
in a cultural exchange but as spatially and, more importantly, temporally
distanced groups” (p. viii). I mention this here since the production of
knowledge on folk dances in the Philippines is borne out of a process of
knowledge production involving the study of ‘others’ who share the same
historical period as their investigators. The research projects that Reyes-
Aquino and her team, as well as of others, such as those of Kasilag, Urtula,
and Obusan, involved the collection of data from local informants and
dance practitioners that turned into a series of anthologies which all aimed
to preserve and celebrate the rich diversity of cultures in the Philippines

by memorializing their practices as artifacts from (and in) the past. Ethnic
and rural dance traditions were viewed as the country’s cultural treasures,
and, as such, they became signifiers of what is assumed to be pre-colonial
culture in Philippine history. In the process, these dances were reified
synchronically and diachronically despite the fact that these dance forms
are still being practiced today.
The use of such chronology for differentiating indigenous and
contemporary dances is likewise implied in the introduction of the Dance
volume of the CCP Encyclopedia, where the editors write:
[E]ven as the volume seeks to be of service to students, it also hopes to

be a sourcebook for dance artists and designers, who will find in the book
visual and verbal records of the various indigenous, Spanish-influenced,
and American colonial dances that they could study as possible sources for
inspiration and technique for the dances they create for the contemporary
audiences…[M]ore and more choreographers [realize] that they can only
contribute to the history of dance if they express themselves as Filipinos,
and that they cannot create as Filipinos if they do not go back to their roots
in indigenous and folk culture. The encyclopedia hopes to encourage this
return to roots by making available to the would-be choreographer the
essential data on those ancient traditions. (1994, p. 2)
In this passage, the different dance traditions that are practiced in the
country are placed along a historical periodization where indigenous and
folk traditions are considered archaic forms, thus presumed to hold the key
to understanding “Filipino” culture. It also implies a continuous narrative
of dancing traditions in the Philippines, which “begins” with the indigenous
and folk, and continues (or ends) in the choreographed “dances for more
contemporary audiences”.
Historically, though, these dance forms are unrelated to each other.
Joann Kealiinohomoku, cautioning against such assumed continuities,
delivers a critical reading of dance history texts where ballet dancing has
been presented in dance history literature “as if it was the one great divinely
ordained apogee of the performing arts” (p. 35), and excludes itself as a
form of “ethnic dance”. To her, the term “ethnic” refers to a “group which
holds in common genetic, linguistic, and cultural ties” (p. 39). She applies
this to ballet, which has its own community of speakers, practitioners,
and patrons, as well as practices and traditions that characterize it as its
own form of dancing. Moreover, she points out that the history of ballet
as a dance form cannot be divorced from a social history that informs
its origins, development, and practice. Thus, it bears consideration as an
ethnic dance despite its widespread practice in different parts of the world.
In fact, its widespread distribution should bring attention to the dance
form’s various culturally specific individual and social histories involving
class struggle, colonialism, war, social exclusion, and the transnational
movement of bodies.
To follow Kealiinohomoku, one would need a closer examination of the
particular histories of the different dance forms in the Philippines, since
each dance tradition’s history and development cannot be assumed to be
part of the same historical path. For instance, Sally Ann Ness (1997) writes
about a significant development in the repertorial history of Philippine
ballet in her article on the works of Agnes Locsin, a Filipina choreographer
whose works incorporate movements used in expressive traditions practiced
by indigenous communities in the Philippines. Although Ness focuses on
issues of appropriation and cultural responsibility arising from Locsin’s
choreographic innovation, auspiciously labeled “neo-ethnic ballet”, she
calls attention to the need to further examine the historical particularity of
different dancing traditions in the Philippines, in this case, ballet dancing in
the country. In fact, she goes as far as to call neo-ethnic ballet a ‘Filipinized’
form of ballet (p. 76). Locsin (2012) herself capitalizes on her innovative
practice in her own book, where she outlines the choreographic techniques
she uses to create her works. She also narrates the choreographic processes
in some of her more notable pieces and includes notes from the dancers
and her artistic collaborators. In these writings can be extracted a history

of a dance form—the ballet—as it developed in the Philippines. Indigenous
dance forms in the country, as well as those with foreign origins (e.g., hip
hop), have their own histories, although these have yet to be extensively
studied.23 It must also be said that dance forms practiced by indigenous
communities in the Philippines are also hybridized forms which are
borne out of cultural exchanges and creative collaborations with other
communities in the Southeast Asian region and elsewhere (Zialcita, 2005;
Hussin & Santamaria, 2013; Amilbangsa, 1993; Abad & Santamaria, 2011).
At the same time, it is not to suggest here that the historical paths of
the different dance traditions in the Philippines are completely divergent
from one another. Ness’ exposition of Locsin’s work, which Ness claims is
also influenced by Locsin’s exposure to Bayanihan-style movements, is an
illustration of how the histories of dance forms in the Philippines intersect
on biographical and institutional levels. The ongoing social, political, and
cultural encounters and engagements between indigenous communities
and mainstream society in the Philippines (specifically state institutions
and the academia, for instance) remain complex and are fueled by desires
(on both sides) for incorporation, acceptance, and equity on the one
hand, and autonomy and self-determination on the other. These desires
are incarnated in the increasing number of platforms for showcasing
the diversity of cultures and expressive traditions in the country and
the formation of performing groups coming out of public schools and
indigenous communities.
One such platform is the National Music Competitions for Young Artists
(NAMCYA), which is a national competition for young musicians in the
field of Western classical music. Since 1973, however, the NAMCYA has
featured a Traditional24 Music Concert alongside the music competitions.
The Traditional Music Concert is not considered a competition and is held
at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP),25 where the final rounds of
NAMCYA competitions are also conducted. The Concert aims to display
the different indigenous musical traditions in the country and educate the
public about these. Another objective is to discover young musicians who

are carrying on their traditions using local learning methods. In the course
of the competition, different performing groups audition to be part of the
concert. In the early years of the Traditional Music Concert, these auditions
were held during the regional level competitions in the different provinces
throughout the country through live performances in front of judges who
mostly come from Metro Manila. In recent years, audition tapes are sent
in from all over the country and are evaluated by the Traditional Music
Committee in Metro Manila.
In its early years, the Traditional Music Concert mostly featured local
masters and their students, or family ensembles. Today, the performing
groups that audition for the concert are usually those that were formed
in schools and within local communities themselves. These musical
performances26 sometimes include some form of body movement27 (i.e.,
dancing). Recently, they have become more stylized theatrical versions
of their expressive traditions. In the NAMCYA Traditional Music Concert
held in November 2017, almost all performances incorporated some form
of dancing or body movement. In some cases, the dancing was more
prominently displayed than the performance of music, as this kind of
arrangement is deemed more visually striking.
NAMCYA has indeed become a powerful social force that has influenced
the direction of folk expressive traditions (indigenous and Hispanized) in
the country. Here, the encounters between the communities, their local
intermediaries, and the “expert” judges from Metro Manila, who decide on
the performing groups that will participate in the concert, have influenced
the aesthetics of the performance of these expressive traditions. Local
communities have viewed the NAMCYA as an opportunity to participate
in mainstream Philippine society by showcasing their “culture” at the
CCP. Thus, their performances of their local community traditions have
undergone some changes based on their perceptions of what judges might
find appealing and acceptable for Manila audiences. Such rare and limited
occasions for indigenous and rural communities in the Philippines to
display their cultural wares have forged an aesthetic direction for particular
expressive traditions in the country, as schools and communities have
created their own performing groups,28 and more theatrical elements (such
as dramatizations of life events) are incorporated into their performance
(instead of featuring just the musical tradition). Yet, this does not necessarily
mean that the expressive traditions of these communities have been totally
transformed. These folkloric presentations comprise just one strand of the
history of particular dance traditions. As Castro asserts, “folk” and “folkloric”
dances should not be seen as having a unidirectional relationship, where
“folk” is the source of the” folkloric”. Citing Anthony Shay, she adds that
“folk and folkloric exist as ‘parallel traditions’ (p. 68).
Although Castro’s assertions refer to the presumed historical
connections made between indigenous expressive forms and those
the Bayanihan performed, I extend her discussion to the school- and
community-based performing groups that have formed in recent years
with the aim of preserving dance traditions by exposing them to a wider
audience. The mainstreaming of otherwise less popular and marginalized
expressive traditions demonstrate the ongoing, intersecting, and rich
contemporaneous histories of folk traditions alongside what is considered
more “modern” dance forms, such as ballet and hip hop, that are practiced
in the country. It also reflects a social history replete with cultural
engagements between different social groups and cultural communities in
the country. These forms of preservation—which include methods used by
the Bayanihan and the ROFG, as well as the performances in the NAMCYA—
involve some form of intervention from individuals and institutions outside
of the community.
As can be noted, different dance forms and traditions in the country
have their own respective social histories embodied in their performances
and performance practices. These histories may or may not intersect at
certain points, and reveal the cultural exchanges and underlying social and
political relations between individuals, communities, and institutions. As
such, the construction of the or even, a history of “dance” in the Philippines
in linear terms must be viewed as a form of interpretation that is informed

by particular desires and interests. For instance, Pison (2016) writes about
the act of archiving for the second edition of The CCP Encyclopedia, Dance
volume.29 Her role as one of the editors and writers in the Dance volume
has led her to reflect on the implications of the act of archiving the different
dances, dance forms, and traditions in the country, especially in the context
of limited time, resources (in the form of manpower and information),
and conceptual framework. Pison concludes that as much as it was
difficult to “pen down” bodily performances and practices that comprise
the different dance traditions in the Philippines, and that as much as the
encyclopedia is a project informed by nationalist sentiment, the final form
of the second edition of the Dance volume is able to present Philippine
dance as comprised of overlapping narratives of dancing bodies across
the nation and, recognizing the discursivity inherent in the production of
the encyclopedia, “paves the way for multiple iterations of dances, thus
extending their life” (p. 65). It can be argued, however, that the cultural
weight of the Encyclopedia as one of the key sources of knowledge about
dance in the Philippines and the discourse it (re-)produces on “Philippine
dance”’ especially given the relative scarcity of scholarship in the subject
(which Pison also points out), requires closer examination.
Perhaps an interrogation of the label “Philippine dance” can be a
start. The insistence on the existence of such a thing opens a conceptual
space that, on the one hand, seems to promote an inclusivity for all
dance traditions in the country. On the other hand, however, it also easily
accommodates the construction of a singular (and linear) narrative in the
desire for clarity as to what “Philippine dance” is. Kealiinohomoku raises a
similar issue for generalizing labels such as “African dance”, which is used in
various texts written by Western dance scholars. According to her, the use of
the term “African dance” dangerously propagates a monolithic identity for
all the dance traditions of communities within the African continent. It is a
label that does not have any basis in reality, and easily masks the existence of
culturally specific dances and dance traditions within the African continent.
She adds that this label is not an emic,30 or something that different cultural
communities in Africa might use to refer to their own specific dances or
dance traditions. In her review of literature written by Western experts
on dance, she observes that this label is associated with descriptions of
“primitive dances”, also dubbed as “ethnic dances”, “primitive dances”
and lumped together as “African dance” and “American Indian dance”.
Kealiinohomoku makes the argument that such labels serve to distance
these forms of dancing from Western forms of dancing—specifically ballet
dancing—and propagate colonialist views of cultural difference.
The label “Philippine dance”, however, embodies desires to “preserve”
particular dance forms and traditions in the country as a means of promoting
a particular understanding of what being “Filipino” is. Coming out of post-
colonial nationalist discourses by the state, in coordination with academe,
the search for pre-colonial cultural expressions became an imperative. In
the Philippines, this entailed the classification of various dances, dance
forms and traditions that were practiced throughout the country, framed in
terms of a historical periodization that is both temporal and cultural. Ethnic
dances (Christianized and indigenous) occupied a privileged position in
this classification as they served as emblems of national identity. Following
evolutionary logic, traditions of cultural communities presented as being
“prehispanic” carry the burden of representing what is “authentically
Filipino”. Dance forms and traditions associated with the process of
Christianization are deemed Filipino by virtue of their syncretic character;
in other words, these are not totally foreign since they were modified by
Filipinos and woven into the fabric of their social life.
A close examination of how these dance forms and traditions were
made to represent Filipino culture and identity suggests that their inclusion
is guided by the way particular cultural imperialisms of the country’s
colonizers—Spain and the United States—are configured in the social
consciousness of Filipinos. The Spanish colonial period in the Philippines
is marked primarily by the introduction of Christianity. The Catholic
Church was an influential force in affairs of the state, and instrumental
in formalizing the hacienda system that continues to prevail in the rural

areas of the country. It also instituted educational institutions, albeit not
as extensively as the Americans did. In this process, Filipinos learned, or at
the very least were exposed to, various European musical forms, theatrical
traditions, and dances.
For the most part, cultural traditions “inherited” from Spain are viewed
more positively and celebrated more widely. The different fiestas in the
Philippines, which were originally organized by Catholic friars to invite
the curiosity of Filipinos, who had yet to be converted to Christianity
(Wendt, 1998), are at present featured as main attractions for the tourism
industry. Google searches on “Filipino culture” show colorful images of
fiestas that commemorate local community practices, products, or patron
saints. Religious expressive practices associated with the celebration of
Christianity, such as Holy Week processions, Christmas-related rituals, and
other devotions (such as the much-awaited Nazareno and All Saints’ Day),
warrant declarations for nation- or city-wide holidays. Expressive traditions
such as the rondalla, the komedya, and the zarzuela are unquestioned as
“Filipino” especially with their local modifications.
Castro suggests that the inclusion of the Spanish dances in Philippine
folk dance presentations represents a nostalgic desire for “manners, grace
and courtship” that are contrasted with the memory and experience of fast-
paced modernity represented by the cultural developments that followed
the American colonial period. This nostalgia comes from an upper-class
sensibility that legitimizes “oligarchic control of the country” (Castro, p.
92). As such, the presentations reflect and perpetuate a celebratory view
of the Hispanic heritage of the Philippines coming from an ilustrado point
of view and by a persistent fascination for old world cosmopolitanism and
upper class experience. For instance, the uniqueness of “Filipino cuisine”
is represented in terms of its fusion of Asian and Spanish flavors, and is
served with typical ilustrado flair as in the (now closed) La Cocina de
Tita Moning, Heritage Bistro, Barbara’s, Ilustrado, Ristorante delle Mitre.
These restaurants, which feature “Filipino cuisine”, give patrons a glimpse
of ilustrado life during the Spanish colonial period. Heritage cities such as
the City of Silay—the self-proclaimed Paris of Negros31—proudly display the
opulence of their heritage houses32 owned by local landowners and even
celebrate significant events in their locality mostly told from the point of
view of the landowners, with not a single mention of the lives and struggles
of the farmers who work in their fields.
Although there is a general view that legacies from both Spanish and
American colonialisms have contributed to the “richness of Philippine
culture”, there is somewhat more accommodation given to cultural
contributions with Hispanic origins, compared to the lukewarm, at times
ambivalent, and sometimes hostile, sentiments directed toward those
attributed to the United States (US) empire. The use of the English language,
the formal education system, and the democratic political system are
cultural contributions to Philippine society attributed to the US. While
these are still very much in place, they are viewed as impositions that have
barely made any traction in terms of being “Filipinized”. For the most part,
they are viewed as undiluted inheritances. And if by some chance these
elements are “Filipinized”, the local versions are considered (inferior)
imitations of the “real thing”. As a consequence, dance forms introduced
during the US occupation of the country that are still practiced locally such
as ballet, disco dancing or even hip-hop, are not necessarily embraced as
part of the nation’s cultural heritage. This is not to say, however, that local
artists (such as those who practice ballet and hip-hop) who go abroad and
become successful either as members of a foreign-based company or as
winners of some international competition are not received with pride. In
fact, the desire to excel in these dance forms exists alongside the search for
the Filipino soul in ethnic dance traditions in the country. However, the
basis of “Filipino pride” in these cases is the ability of Filipinos to adapt to the
practices and foreign standards of these dance forms, presenting themselves
as equals of their foreign counterparts. As Castro as well as Zialcita (2005)
observe, cultural formations during the American colonial period are
considered expressions of modernity, wealth, power, advanced technology,
and urban sophistication. As such, expressive traditions associated with

the American period in Philippine history are not celebrated as part of the
cultural heritage of Filipinos. This is in direct contrast to the ways in which
folk (ethnic and Hispanic) traditions are perceived.
I argue that these configurations are shaped by a nationalism that is
fueled by a postcolonial desire to define what is “truly” Filipino. In this case,
this means finding cultural markers that do not bear any foreign influence,
or, in the case of practices with foreign origins, have been drained of their
foreign-ness. Ironically, this process is enabled by a persistent (residual)
legacy from centuries of political subjugation by foreign colonizers of the
country. The cultural imperialism shaped by the political and ideological
influence of the Catholic Church not only resulted in its widespread
practice; it also gave rise to a system of categorizing the diverse peoples in
the Philippines. This system would be legitimized and propagated long after
the official departure of Spanish colonizing forces, well into the American
colonial period and beyond.
Although the Christianizing mission of Spain succeeded in converting
much of the country, cultural communities in the northern and southern
Philippines, especially the Muslim communities, were able to resist cultural
imposition. This “problem” was inherited by the Americans and was
addressed through their “benevolent assimilation” of these communities.
They established the Bureau of Non-Christian Tribes (BNCT) in 1901, which
was tasked to “conduct demographic, linguistic, and ethnographic studies of
lives of these ‘tribes’ to ‘determin[e] the most practicable means for bringing
their advancement in civilization and material prosperity’” (Abaya, Lucas-
Fernan, & Noval-Morales, 1999, p. 1).33 The BNCT would be transformed into
the Ethnological Survey in 1903, the Division of Ethnology of the Philippine
Museum (now the National Museum of the Philippines) in 1913, and back to
the Bureau of Non-Christian Tribes in 1916 (Abaya, Lucas-Fernan, & Noval-
Morales, 1999). Succeeding government offices that would carry out the
assimilation of the non-Christian tribes after the Commonwealth period
in the Philippines (1935-1946) are the Commission for National Integration
(CNI), the Presidential Assistant for Cultural Minorities, and the Office of
Muslim Affairs-Cultural Communities, which was later divided into the
Office of the Northern Cultural Communities and the Office of the Southern
Cultural Communities. In 1997, the National Commission for Indigenous
Peoples (NCIP) was formed by virtue of the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act
(Republic Act No. 8371). The NCIP’s mandate is to assist displaced cultural
communities to re-claim ownership of their ancestral lands. Although the
IPRA addresses important and pressing issues related to the displacement
experienced by many indigenous cultural communities in the country due
to government projects, war, and private industry, the NCIP as an institution
also serves as an emblem of a long-standing practice of “othering”, one that
has existed from the early accounts of Spanish chroniclers and throughout
the ethnological projects of the Americans.
In the Philippines, this history of “othering” non-Christian communities
in the northern and southern Philippines by colonial forces and the local
elite can be attributed to a persistent political and cultural marginalization
that conveniently merged with a pervasive evolutionary discourse that
emerged at the turn of the twentieth century. It is this evolutionary discourse
that informed the responses of nationalists such as Reyes-Aquino who were
intent on searching for cultural symbols that were free from any colonial
influence. Her extensive research conducted in the first two decades of the
1900s, and the subsequent publications on Philippine folk dances coming
out of this work, started the path toward this cultural and temporal othering
and continue to inform writings about, and performances of, folk dances
to this day. These are articulated in academic and popular discourses that
promote the constructed primeval beginnings of the “Filipino people”,
as well as the processes of syncretism and localization/ indigenization
that followed it, allowing for a conceptual space that made teasing out
the “indigenous” possible. Thus, cultures that were previously targeted
for assimilation, but are assumed to have continued their resistance to
such advancements, are heralded for their “purity”, “authenticity”, and
“originality” as the country’s primitives. As a consequence, their expressive
traditions remain to be important symbols of the nation, as are the syncretic

forms that still bear significant traces of indigenous expressions. On the
other hand, the expressive traditions that are associated with what is
recognized as the more urbanized and progressive period of Philippine
history maintain their foreign-ness despite local developments.
On a hopeful note, there is Locsin’s neo-ethnic ballet, which successfully
integrates the earthiness of so-called ethnic movements into the ballet
movement vocabulary. However, the view on this particular development
sees such ethnic movements as a mere resource material for modern works.
Ballet dancing in the Philippines for the most part remains a “foreign” dance
form, definitely not an “ethnic” one, despite the specific history of the
dance form in the country. But, as Reyes-Aquino’s story tells us, research
on the different dance traditions in the Philippines is a powerful tool for
understanding ourselves. Perhaps with more critical studies on the specific
histories of the different movement traditions in the country, we can recast
the cultural history of the nation by expanding our understanding of our
cultural connections and hybridities beyond and outside our colonial
experiences.
Notes
1. National Artists in the Philippines are individuals who are officially

recognized as having contributed to the development of particular
artistic traditions in the country. For more information on this award,
see http://ncca.gov.ph/about-culture-and-arts/culture-profile/national-
artists-of-the-philippines/.
2. “Bayanihan” is the common moniker of the Bayanihan: The Philippine
Folk Dance Company, one of the leading and influential professional folk
dance companies in the Philippines. Established in 1956, Bayanihan was
founded by the late and former Philippine Senator Helena Benitez.
3. I put the term “dance” in quotes here to indicate the often-problematic
use of this term, especially in the case of identified Philippine dances.
As Drid Williams succinctly explains, “Dancing is generally thought to

be universal among peoples of the world … [and] [b]ecause movement
is a universally used medium of expression among humanity, the shift is
easily made to the proposition that dancing is universal”(Anthropology,
Drid Williams [Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 2004], 33-34).
Following Williams, I question the use of this term to refer to all forms of
organized human body movement within different expressive traditions
in the country. In this paper, however, I follow the local use of the term
in literature and discourses on folk dancing in the Philippines.
4. Briefly, indigenous dances, also called ‘ethnic dances’, are those that are
practiced by indigenous cultural communities or communities that are
considered ‘uncolonized’, ‘pristine’ and ‘authentically Filipino’. “Syncretic”
or” localized”/indigenized dances are those with foreign origins that have
been localized or ‘mixed with’ local forms. I problematize these categories
in the next section of this paper.
5. My use of the term “dance” refers to the different dance forms or genres,
specific works and practices (e.g., performance practices) as identified
in literature on Philippine dance.
6. The University of the Philippines (UP) is the only national university
in the Philippines. While researchers based in other universities
made similar efforts, the work of Francisca Reyes-Aquino through the
support of UP President Bocobo had more wide-reaching effects in the
development of folk dancing in the Philippines.
7. Serafin Aquino is the second husband of Francisca Reyes.
8. The current Philippine Sports Commission, enacted into law as Republic
Act 6847 or “The Philippine Sports Commission Act” (1990), traces its
history to the Philippine Amateur Athletic Federation (PAAF). The
PAAF is considered the first sports organization of the government. It
was established in 1911. “PSC Profile,” Philippine Sports Commission,
updated June 22, 2017, http://www.web.psc.gov.ph/index.php/about-us/
psc-profile.
9. The PHSA was established in 1977 by then President Ferdinand Marcos

as a specialized training school in the different fields of art. (“Profile”,
Philippine High School for the Arts, updated 2012, https: http://www.
phsa.edu.ph/about/profile.html)
10. The Buwan ng Wika (National Language Month) is a national event that
was mandated into law in 1997 by then President Fidel V. Ramos, under
Presidential Proclamation 1041: Nagpapahayag ng Taunang Pagdiriwang
Tuwing Agosto 1-31 Bilang Buwan Ng Wikang Pambansa (Declaring the
Annual Celebration Every August 1-31 of National Language Month)
https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/1997/07/15/proklamasyon-blg-
1041-s-1997-2/
11. CCP Encyclopedia of Philippine Art, Vol. 5, s.vv. “Far Eastern University
Dance Troupe,” “University of the East Dance Company,” “Darangan
Cultural Dance Troupe.”
12. The Ramon Obusan Folkloric Group was established in 1972 by Ramon
Obusan, a National Artist for Dance. Obusan is a former member
of the Bayanihan who while performing in the company found their
presentations too stylized. His folk dance presentations claim to be more
faithful and authentic (https://ramonobusanfolkloric.wordpress.com/).
13. As stated in the website of ROFG: Ramon [Obusan] became critical of
the Bayanihan’s approach to folk dances, which he felt gave too much
emphasis on formulas, appearances, and over decorated costumes.
To Obusan’s mind also, Bayanihan was too elitist and classicist,
concentrating too much on the looks and the social status of its dancers.
He also disagreed with Bayanihan’s costume mistress Isabel Santos’
reinterpretation of indigenous clothing with brightly colored sequined
costumes and of Bayanihan choreographer and fellow National Artist
awardee Lucrecia Urtula’s treatment of folk dances with exaggerated
clockwork precision movements, all in the name of theatricality and
showmanship. In 1971, Obusan founded the Ramon Obusan Folkloric
Group (ROFG), which was acclaimed for its faithful and authentic
Filipino folk dance performances” (Ramon Obusan Folkloric Group n.d.).
14. I witnessed this personally as a graduate student at the University of

Illinois, when the Philippine Student’s Association, mostly composed of
Filipino-American students, would have yearly cultural presentations,
which feature folk dances from the repertoire of the Bayanihan.
Gonzalvez writes extensively about these presentations in his book The
Day the Dancers Stayed (2010).
15. Guillermo G. Rivera, “Bayanihan’s Beyond Folklore II: Brings Out
Bits of Philippine History,” News and Features, Bayanihan The Phlippine
National Folk Dance Company, accessed October 15, 2018. http://www.
bayanihannationaldanceco.ph/ mestizajearticle.html
16. The way Goquingco links the continuing practice of traditions—especially
religious rituals—as a marker of being primitive should be noted given
how the spectacular displays of Catholic rituals in the Philippines have
been extensively documented without suggestions of Catholic followers
as being “primitive.” However, as I discuss below, these displays are
oftentimes viewed as bearing traces of pre-Christian practices.
17. Edward Burnett Tylor’s full definition of culture is “the complex whole
which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other
capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society”. This
definition of culture served Tylor’s understanding of cultural difference,
which he attributed to the degree to which a society conforms to the
civilized ways of “higher nations” (Tylor [1871]1920, 1).
18. See, for instance, MCM Santamaria’s studies (Santamaria 2010,
Santamaria 2014, and Hussin and Santamaria 2013) on the igal as a shared
practice among cultural communities in Southeast Asia.
19. The CCP Encyclopedia is the most extensive and comprehensive
compilation of information about artistic traditions in the Philippines.
It was conceived as the repository of, and authority on, knowledge about
Philippine arts. It is intended to “shed light on the most vital affirmations
of being Filipino through the centuries and thus help to define and
harden the core of the nation’s identity” CCP Encyclopedia, ed. Nicanor
G. Tiongson (Manila: Cultural Center of the Philippines, 1994), V: iv.
Each of the seven volumes that covers the seven major fields of the fine
arts (architecture, visual arts, dance, music, theater, film, literature) is
divided into the following sections: Historical Essays, Forms and Types,
Aspects of Production, and Artists and Organizations.
In this article, the discussed content from The CCP Encyclopedia of
Philippine Art comes from the first edition, published in 1994. A second
edition was released in late 2018.
20. This perception of ethnic dances raises questions about the application
of the term ‘dance’ to the movements associated with social practices—are
these ‘dances’ at all? Or are these culturally specific rituals that involve
human movement? As Drid Williams (2005) asserts, not all human
practices that involve body movement can be considered dancing.
21. History of the Filipino People has eight editions, the last two of which were
published after his death in 1985. While it was initially published for use
in the University of the Philippines, History became widely used by other
secondary and tertiary education institutions in the country (Totanes
2010).
22. CCP Encylopedia, Vol. 5 (1994), sv. “Surtido.”
23. Aside from books with sweeping histories of Philippine dance, literature
on dancing in the Philippines are mostly instructional materials for
the performance of different folk dances. These include the works of
Francisca Reyes-Aquino mentioned in this article as well as Ligaya
Fernando-Amilbangsa’s Pangalay: Traditional Dances and Related Expressions
(1983). Recently, more in-depth studies of particular dance forms have
been published including the works of Peterson (2003) and Jacinto (2015)
on the pangalay, Santamaria (2010; 2014; 2017) on the igal, Mirano (1989)
on the subli, and Perillo (2013) and Luna (2015) on hip-hop dancing in
Manila.
24. The use of the word “traditional” in this context recuperates the term’s
meaning, which refers to the oral transmission of practices from one
generation to the next.
25. Located in Pasay City, Metro Manila, the Cultural Center of the
Philippines is the premiere performance venue in the country. It is
situated in Pasay City, Metro Manila. It was built in 1969 during the
Marcos regime for the purpose of displaying the best creative works of
local and foreign artists as well as the different expressive traditions in
the country.
26. The category ‘music’ has been problematized by Ramon Santos (2005),
who suggests that some performative forms or genres in communities
that do not practice European-derived musical traditions may not be
perceived locally as such.
27. As argued by Santos (2005), and reiterated by Santaella (2016), expressive
forms in the Southeast Asian region have integrated sonic and kinetic
elements.
28. The guidelines of the NAMCYA Traditional Music Committee indicate
that performing groups must prominently feature at least one ‘young’
performer—that is, an individual who does not exceed 18 years of age.
This guideline, as well as the direct institutional involvement of the
Department of Education, could have also encouraged the formation
of school-based performing groups.
29. Pison’s article recounts her experience as one of the editors of the second
edition of the CCP Encyclopedia of Philippine Arts, Dance Volume.
30. In anthropological research, the emic perspective is the “insider’s” or
“native’s” point of view. This is contrasted with the etic perspective or
the “outsider’s” or researcher’s point of view.
31. The City of Silay is part of the province of Negros Occidental, one of the
provinces on the island of Negros in the Philippines.
32. Some of these houses are recognized by the United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as Tangible Cultural
Heritage.
33. Ethnographic accounts of the different peoples in the Philippines

documented by chroniclers and missionaries as well as those found in
Spanish dictionaries of Philippine languages (see Scott 1994) and reports
about the diasporic communities in Manila (see Irving 2010) certainly
did exist as early as the sixteenth century. And even at that time, these
ethnographic descriptions were, as Scott (1994) observes, “hopelessly
skewed by Spanish ethnocentricity and the reactions of aliens caught
in the grip of culture shock” (p. 3)
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Philippine Folk Dances: A Story of a Nation

Monica Fides Amada Santos

I n Philippine Folk Dances and Songs (1966) by National Artist Francisca

Most of the tribes were relatively untouched by modern civilization,

music became one of the Bayanihan’s most enduring contributions to the

Such sentimentality characterizes salvage anthropology, which aims

dances? By exploring the postcolonial context of storytelling, I argue that

Institutionalizing Folk Dances in the Philippines

Handler (1999) documents a similar case in Quebec, where folk

The value of folk dancing as a cultural and recreational activity is

To acquaint other countries with Filipino culture and contribute to

An educational system, to be effective for the present social milieu,

For the achievement of these objectives, the dance, particularly the

folk dance as one of the categories of dance traditions in the country.

disseminate this knowledge. In the meantime, the ROFG is to continue its

Folk Dances and the Cultural History of the Philippines

The dynamic embodiment of the national imaginary through dancing

and Multiple-Belief-Holding Groups (such as partially-Christianized “pagan”

The ethnic and regional dances of the Philippines are of profound

This phenomenon has been made possible by the preservation, in

Archipelago. To visit them is figuratively to take a trip centuries back,

The so-called “primitive” or traditionalist peoples are particularly

Goquingco’s characterization of ethnic dances and her expressed

thus, labels for sub-categories of ethnic dances include “ritual dances”,

On the other hand, this segregation of dances is not found in other

As noted above, this generalizing view of Filipino culture is informed by

influence of Christianity. The cultural processes that contributed to

A few paragraphs later, Villaruz discusses how European dances fared

[European dances] underwent regional transformation in the colony,

These dances include imported forms such as the jota, habanera,

So entrenched are the Hispanic/Christian forms in Philippine life

Tiongson views “revitalization” as a process of adoption and adaptation

to preserve and celebrate the rich diversity of cultures in the Philippines

[E]ven as the volume seeks to be of service to students, it also hopes to

and her artistic collaborators. In these writings can be extracted a history

public about these. Another objective is to discover young musicians who

in linear terms must be viewed as a form of interpretation that is informed

in formalizing the hacienda system that continues to prevail in the rural

and urban sophistication. As such, expressive traditions associated with

traditions remain to be important symbols of the nation, as are the syncretic

1. National Artists in the Philippines are individuals who are officially

As Drid Williams succinctly explains, “Dancing is generally thought to

9. The PHSA was established in 1977 by then President Ferdinand Marcos

14. I witnessed this personally as a graduate student at the University of

33. Ethnographic accounts of the different peoples in the Philippines

Aquino, S. (1960d). Foreword. In F. Reyes, Philippine folk dances (Vol. 5, p.

Gilmore, S. (2000). Doing culture work: Negotiating tradition and

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