Tinikling
The tinikling dance is one of the most popular and well-known of traditional Philippine dances. The tinikling is a pre-Spanish dance from the Philippines that involves two people beating, tapping, and sliding bamboo poles on the ground and against each other in coordination with one or more dancers who step over and in between the poles in a dance. The name is a reference to birds locally known as tikling, which can be any of a number of rail species; the term tinikling literally means "tikling-like." The dance originated in Leyte among the Visayan islands in the central Philippines as an imitation of the tikling bird dodging bamboo traps set by rice farmers. The dance imitates the movement of the tikling birds as they walk between grass stems, run over tree branches, or dodge bamboo traps set by rice farmers. Dancers imitate the tikling bird's legendary grace and speed by skillfully maneuvering between large bamboo poles.
Legend says that Tinikling originated during the time when the Spaniards took over the Philippines. Natives worked on large plantations under the control of the King of Spain. Those who didn't work productively were punished by standing between two bamboo poles.
For this traditional folk dance, females wear a dress called balintawak or patadyong, and males wear a uniform called barong tagalog. The balintawak are colorful dresses with wide arched sleeves and the patadyong is a pineapple fiber blouse paired with checkered skirts. The barong tagalog uniform is usually lightweight long sleeved shirts and worn with red trousers. Dancers wear no footwear while performing.
Tinikling involves five steps; during the first four steps, the dancers dance opposite each other, and during the last step, they start from the same side of the poles.
The bamboo is also used as a percussive instrument as it is banged against the ground (or a piece of wood to make it easier to hold) and each other in a pattern. The bamboo has to be closed hard enough to make a sound, and the dancers must be quick enough to not get their foot (or feet) caught. As the dance continues, the banging of the bamboo becomes faster and harder, the sound of the clashing bamboo and the quickness of feet demonstrated by the dancers thrilling and awing the crowd. In the United States, this dance had been altered into a four-beat rhythm to adjust to popular music. In some cases, it has been used in conjunction with traditional Filipino martial arts to demonstrate fleetness of foot and flow of movement.
Vicente I. De Veyra compiled tinikling music in his book, Mga Ambahan. Today Tinikling is taught throughout the United States. In grades K-12 they use this type of folk dance as an aerobic exercise for physical education classes to help expand physical movements such as hand coordination, foot speed, and also their rhythm. Tinikling is commonly performed on special occasions such as the Filipino Independence Day Independence Day (Philippines). This traditional dance is a celebration of Filipino culture and Filipino pride.
Guide Questions:
1. What is Tinikling?
2. How does Tinikling oringinated?
3. What are the costumes used in dancing the Tinikling?
4. Where did the Tinikling traditional dance come from?
5. What is the basic equipment in dancing the Tinikling?
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