I recently did some research on the Maranao Singkil dance from the southern part of the Philippines. Turns out, the versions we normally see in cultural shows, as popularized by the Bayanihan Dance Company, are NOT authentic. These are agglomerations of 3 Muslim dances into one. The original Singkil does NOT have a male dancer. The introduction of the male lead was inspired by the Darangen ni Bantugen, the Maranao adaptation of the Ramayana story. According to a research paper done by Kanami Namiki in 2005, the Bayanihan also did similar treatments to other ethnic dances. The most notable one would be theatrical use of 10 pots in the Kalinga Banga dance vs. the authentic having only 2. The question is what will they do next? Replace the kulintang with stainless steel drums?
From my perspective, it is ok to stylize a work as long as it is continuously communicated that it is so. Problem is, as far as I can remember, the Bayanihan treatment has been folk dance dogma in schools. I think there should be a deliberate effort to teach our students authentic folk dance to build appreciation for indigenous people their cultures. I am not surprised if kids in urban centers like Metro-Manila demonstrate a cultural illiteracy of the highest degree. They probably imbibe American street and gangsta culture than ours. While I have not started to teach my kids authentic folk dance, I have begun to read them epics. We read excerpts of “Darangen ni Bantugen” and “Lam-ang. It is high time for us to take back our heritage and pass it on to the next generation.
