Posts Tagged ‘Ethnic Philippine Folk Dances’

To the folks of Surigao del Norte, Itik-itik is the popular dance for them. Various dancers have different steps of the dance. Hinted from its name, the dance steps are likened to the way a duck walks. A duck or itik in Filipino walks in a choppy and short step manner. Water is also splashed on its back while walking. The dance is to attract mates.

Based on beliefs, Itik-itk originated from Sibay. Sibay is a dance which is performed using the Dejado music. The Sibay, which originated from the neighboring islands in the Visayas, is also a bird dance. It is from Samar where Sibay came from as identified by Reynaldo Gamboa Alejandro, one of the authority in Philippine dances.

His identification is consistent with the book Fr. Ignacio Alzina wrote in 1668. Alzina is a Jesuit missionary who was assigned to Samar. In his book, he described a popular dance in Samar called Sabay as a dance that imitates the movements of flying birds. In his book, one of his designs has a subtitle that reads, “su danza para hombre y mujer.” When translated, the caption means dance for man and woman. The caption is fitting to the Waray amenudo dances’ characteristic.

It is from the towns of Carrascal, Cantillan, Lanuza, and Carmen where Itik-itik’s present from came from. The said towns are located in the province of Surigao del Norte which can be found in the Caraga Region.

The popular version of the dance was introduced by a lady named Kanang. This is based on a certain tale. The story explained that Kanang was mesmerized by the ducks she saw from a nearby pond. Shen then attempted to mimic the actions of the birds. This happened when she was attending and dancing at a baptismal party. The other attendees got interested in her imitation of the birds so they also dance following her steps. After that, the dance and the step was handed down from geeration to generation.

There are many versions of the dance but the most popular version is the Itik-itik Surigaonon. Most of the versions of the dance are found in Visayas. Tibiao, Antique and Sibonga, Cebu has its versions of Itik-itik.

Pandanggo or Pandanggo sa ilaw literally means the ‘Fandango with the Light’ in English language. And yes from the name itself, this dance is that dance that involved the manipulation of the lights. This dance is from the Lubang Island, Mindoro. The term ‘pandanggo’ which means ‘fandanggo’ in the Spanish language is actually dance that is characterized by marking time with the use of clack of castanets, the snapping of the fingers and the stomping of the feet in the triple-time rhythm. The person that dances this elegant dance is frequently called as the ‘pandanggera’. The ‘pandanggera’ then performs carrying three oil lamps that are called the ‘tinghoy’.

Another description of this dance, the dance looks like the steps that are danced by the dancers of the ‘pandanggo’. This other version of the dance is called the ‘Oasiwas’ and this dance has its origins in Lingayen in Pangasinan. This town in the province is known for its fishing industry and their version of the ‘pandanggo’ is related to the fishing industry. Right after their good catch, the fishermen in this town will usually celebrate by drinking wine and by dancing, and by swinging and circling with the lighted lamps on the hands of the dancers. The swinging and the circling moves of the dancers gave the name ‘Oasiwas’ which in the local dialect is known as ‘swinging’.

This unique dance from the province of Pangasinan is a colorful dance that requires the dancers to balance the oil lamps on their head while doing their circling in their hands the lighted lamps that are wrapped in the porous cloth or wrapped in the fishnets. And the music that accompanies the dancers is similar to the music that accompanies the dancers of the ‘pandanggo‘. In Oriental Mindoro, this traditional Philippine dance is at present the center of a celebrated festival. And the dance is now considered as one of the rituals that the females perform in order to send off and to welcome the fishermen of the town.

In Oriental Mindoro, they call the fiesta with the dance at the center ‘Pandang Gitab’ or the ‘Festival of Lights’. This festival was coined and developed after the now famous Filipino folk dance called the ‘pandanggo sa ilaw’ and the ‘dagitab’ or the flicker of light. This festival that is hosted in Oriental Mindoro is celebrated every second week of November and this is done as a major event as part of the commemoration of the founding anniversary of Oriental Mindoro. The festival is a new festival that showcases the dance the culture of the province and this festival is often participated in by hundreds of performers and participants coming from the many sectors in the province.

Some of the participants to this festival include the following;

. Schools

. Cooperatives

. Non-government organizations

The typical ‘pandanggo sa ilaw’ that is performed in the coastal towns of Oriental Mindoro and Pangasinan will be performed as a send off to the town fishermen and will be performed as well as a welcome to the participants. But in this festival that is popular in Oriental Mindoro, the dance is taken out of the beaches and into a whole new audience. The people in the province of Oriental Mindoro has taken their famed ‘pandanggo sa ilaw’ out of the beaches and into the streets of its capital, Calapan. And with the dancers holding these lights, the streets leading to the capital can be likened to an oasis of light as these streets are covered by a number of dancers garbed in the traditional dresses of ternos and barongs. The costumes that are used by the dancers of this festival may vary and some of the dresses are plain and some are flashy too. The dresses may also feature floral prints and mostly these dresses are done in orange hues. The participants of the dance and the festival endures the heat of the candles as they travel the length of the 2-km stretch of street in the capital as they carry their candles in glass, in bamboos and in coconut shells. The event not only served to promote tourism in the area, but as a way to promote awareness for the dance called ‘pandanggo‘.

If most Philippine dances are originally patterned after the European dances during the time of the Spanish regime, some dances have evolved from an already known Philippine dance. One such example is your Itik itik- one of the popular dances in the Philippines.

According to one story about the origins of the dance, there was this young woman named Kanang and she was considered as the best dancer and performer in the province of Surigao del Norte. And at one baptismal function, the performer was asked to dance the Sibay- another significant native dance and at the middle of her performance she began making her own steps. The steps try to mimic that of the actions of the ‘itik’. The ‘itik’ is a duck and her actions during the said presentation are like those by the animal- shifting steps and there were splashes of water on its back while attracting its mate. And while the steps were original and strange, the spectators were mesmerized and soon they began copying and mimicking the moves.

According to records, the dance came not only from Surigao del Norte but in the Visayas region as a whole also. in the other version of the story about the roots of the dance, it was said that this dance has originated from the dance ‘Sibay‘ which was then danced to the tune of the ‘Dejado’ music. The ‘Sibay’ is a popular bird dance in the Visayan Islands. This was confirmed by Reynaldo Gamboa Alejanadro and he added that the Visayan Island where the dance originated was Samar. Reynaldo Gamboa Alejandro is considered as the Philippine dance authority. This information was also backed up by a book that was written in 1668 by Fr. Ignacio Alzina who is a Jesuit missionary to Samar.

In that book, the Jesuit missionary explained a dance that copied the bird that was famous in Samar and the ‘Sabay’. In the same book, the missionary said that the dance imitated the flying birds. So how exactly is the dance performed by the dancer? As it was stated the steps of the dance look like the movements of the wading and the flying ducks or the ‘itiks’. The dancers here mimic the swaying gait of the waddling feet and as well as imitate the extreme energy of the close-cropped flapping wings.

There are around six separate foot sequences that the dancer is expected to perform and these series of foot movements form part of the dance steps. Right now, there are modern versions of this dance and this can be seen in many parts of the country.

The present and the modern version of the dance are from the following areas;

. Carmen
. Lanuza
. Cantillan
. Carrascal

These are all towns in Surigao del Norte. However, this version of the dance from Surigao del Norte was a thing of magnificence and very well-liked, there are other versions of the dance that have grown in other parts of the archipelago. Other than the original ‘Itik ittik’ Surigaonon, there were other versions of the dance and these dances can be found in the Visayas. The other versions of the dance can be seen in Sibomga, Cebu and in Tibiao, Antique. The dance is presently performed during particular activities or during the country’s ‘Linggo ng Wika’ that is a celebration of the country’s language during the month of August. The dance forms part of the culture of the country and considered to be one of the dances that help shaped the Filipino culture in terms of dance and identity. Right now, the term ‘Itik itik’ has been used as a name for one small festival in Metropolitan Manila. There is an ‘Itik itik’ festival which is a week-long festival that culminates every last Sunday of February and the festival is hosted by Barangay Kalawaan in Pasig, City.

At the center of the festivities are the ducks- duck races, biggest duck contest, duck catching, swimming contest, best cooking, dancing and a parade in honor of the barangay’s patroness, St. Martha. For the locals, the she is the patroness of the duck-raisers. And more importantly the name of the festival raises the profile and the prominences of the name ‘Itik itik‘ as people are reminded of one important dance in Philippine culture, even though the dance is not specifically performed in the festivities.