Philippine Folk dances

We went to my nephew’s school since they had practice for their folk dance. There are supposed to be 8 of them (4 girls and 4 boys) but only 3 girls were around when we came and it was the mother of one of the girls who was teaching them to dance the carinosa. He did not want to dance at first since he was the only boy around but when his mom asked him to join he did. My nephew is in grade II and I could not help myself from smiling as I see him dance. He was awkward but he did his best to follow the steps and he could actually follow and he was better than the other boy who came later. His awkwardness was actually cute. And as I watch them dancing I was telling my sister that folk dancing should be part of all our school’s curriculum. You get to appreciate a lot of our culture from the dance and the more so if you know the history of each dance.

Such thought made me decide to compile some Philippine folk dances. Just getting them and watching from the ‘net (plus a hangover of our group’s winning the folk dance contest yesterday) affirmed my desire to have the dances taught in all our school. Here are some of the dances I found on the ‘net:

Cariñosa




Pandango sa ilaw




Itik-Itik




Tinikling




Kuratsa




Singkil




Maglalatik




And thinking back, I remembered that I went on vacation to the province on the enrollment for my first year second semester in college and my father enrolled for me (it was easy since I was in a block section) and he got Philippine folk dance for my PE. As part of the Final exam, we had to do a complete folk dance routine... I could not remember the dance anymore but it was definitely NOT the maglalatik..hehehe... Anyway after our performance our instructor called me and I got scared wondering what i did wrong... I knew I was playful while doing the routine but I did not think there was something wrong with it.

Anyway, I came to her with my heart pounding and when I heard the words came out of her mouth, I laughed (well not a loud one but more inside laugh). She asked if I wanted to join our school dance troupe! Geez, I said NO of course but I guess she felt my joy while dancing. And I really think several of our folk dances are great and should be taught.

Pandango sa ilaw

Our sector had its early (really very early) Christmas party today and part of it was a Philippine folk dance competition which required 16 participants per group. All the groups prepared well and their costumes were good, however, from the start it was obvious that our group would win… hmmm I say our group but truth is I was not one of the dancers. However, I think I gave the loudest cheer plus synchronized clapping and dancing on the side to the beat of the music also.

Our group danced the Pandanggo sa Ilaw, a lively folk dance which requires the dancers to hold glasses with lighted candles on their palms. Here is one video I’ve seen of the dance…



As you can see the lights are better appreciated when it is dark since the swaying lights are like fireflies dancing. However, even if our dancers performed on daytime the “lights” got highlighted too especially since their presentation is a bit different from the youtube entry. All our dancers are women and had the same dress but 2 sets of color – yellow and green at the start of their presentation they formed a line and knelt with only the first lady at the end bringing 32 candles in glass on a bilao (yellow native tray) and she handed this to the next lady beside her who takes the glass from her then hands it in turn hand it over to the next lady with their hands alternately moving their hands crisscrossed (even if they still do not get the glass) until all of them had glass in their hands. And when they all got the glass stood up once again and performed different formations similar to the one in the video… they did not have a routine with the glass on their heads though since that would have taken longer to practice.

Their start was pretty impressive already but they never lost the momentum… each of their formation drew applause from the audience and at their exit I actually saw our sector head stood up and clapped (and she was one of the judges also) and I thought how could anyone else top their presentation considering we were the first to perform. And I was right, the others were also good but ours was really great!

LOVE letter from School!

For the first time I got a LOVE letter from my John-john's school.
Actually it was a letter from the guidance counselor apologizing because John-john had a big lump on his head after his classmate threw a bottle and hit him! Well they were actually playing and became a bit rough that he ended up getting hit. It was an accident and even John-john says so. Anyway, I have been called to the principal's office that an apology was definitely a change.

The last time I was in the principal office, I also brought my mom along since John is basically not just my care but ours and plus they get to interact most of the time since I go to work. We were called because John-john with other classmates was naughty again and teased two of their classmates when they saw them sort of hugging. There were a lot of other classmates involved but I guess John-john is a becoming a favorite of his teacher… Arghhhh! I know my nephew is naughty but he is in Grade IV plus an active boy so there’s bound to be lots of teasing!

Anyway, the principal is always nice when I visit her office (sometimes I wonder if he is called so frequently also because the principal likes talking to me…. Hehehe). She was giving us (me and mama) pointers on how to discipline John-john so he’ll improve in school not just on the academics but also on conduct. I am not sure at what part of our talk but at one point I told the principal that John was good at mechanical things (and indeed he is!)... assembling stuff… trying to figure out how physical things go together or connect to each other and she appreciated me for finding and acknowledging John's genius.

Well he showed his genius again tonight. The pull-up handle of his huge bag would not go up the previous day and I couldn't fix it... my brother couldn't also but lo and behold he showed it to me all fixed up tonight. He fixed it himself! And I was really impressed. It sure would be difficult to carry the very heavy huge bag! And i told everybody at home how good he was!

Now.. if only his genius would trickle down to the math and reading and everything else! Ahhhhh in time I'm sure... in time!

Boxing and Job

Manny Pacquiao did it again! He made history by winning 7 titles in different division and The Philippines is proud of him. Not just The Philippines but a whole lot others that even before the fight Time magazine already featured him in their covers.

People at home watched the game live through video streaming as they have done in the past and I could imagine their excitement as they watched. I had to meet some people so left home early and I watched the game when I got home later from the video copy they made. They know that I would be more at ease watching the fight after I’ve learned the outcome. I have watched some of his games live before and they were all laughing at me since I seem to be candidate for a heart attack watching the game and I could sure feel the pressure on my heart watching… continuously praying that he wins!

It is not really as exciting watching the game after you know the outcome but the assurance that whom you’ve been routing for won somehow makes up for the thrill… there is still the element of Joy.

I have just finished watching the game when I thought about the story of Job from the bible. How he had everything…lost everything… even being judged by his friends to have done something wrong that he was being punished…yet in the end was justified when God restored to him everything. It is one of the most popular stories in the bible to see you through during your adversity and difficulty. Every time I read it or hear of it, I would think that I could appreciate it because I already know the outcome… that in the end he was victorious. But to be in his shoes (or sandals for that matter) during the time when he lost everything and was sore from all over his body… I would think that I would want to die already… pretty much like the “heart attack” feeling when I watch boxing fight when I am routing for somebody... hoping it to be over so I know the outcome of the game!

It is only through determination and HOPE that you could actually go through your life or game when you feel uncertainty or things going wrong… but you move on and you fight even harder and never losing hope. Then you feel the sweet taste of victory even more after the struggle.

Yup the sweet taste of victory indeed!