By: Isabel J. Ravanilla
September 17, 2021
Critical Conversations: Can Ethnic Dances Be Modified?
Dancing is an art and an expression that consists of sequenced movements often holding symbolic and aesthetic values (Lumen Learning, n.d.). In ethnic groups, dancing has long been a conveyor of cultural messages, values, stories, and rituals meant to integrate human beings into their everyday lives and as well as acquaint themselves with their surroundings. This significance of the performance is sufficient to have it fixated as a valuable and treasured form of art that must be protected, preserved, and respected in an utmost manner, often being in the pedestals of performance arts that require proper skills, training, cultural immersion, and appropriate cultural appreciation before an outsider is allowed to partake in its performance.
However, the Igorot dance, which is a “Filipinized'' reinterpretation and transformation of the classic Western ballet dance choreographed by Agnes Locsin in 1987 (Jacinto, 2013, 25), has raised speculations and scrutiny due to accusations of cultural appropriation. Cultural appropriation is the term used for when cultural elements of a minority group or a non-dominant ethnicity are picked up and used in a way that does not respect its origins and cultural significance. In this case, Locsin’s Igorot dance is actually a juxtaposition and a mixture of the traditional dance practices of Cordilleran communities such as Tingian, Ifugao, Ibaloy, and Kalinga (Ness, 1997, 64), which questions the choreographer whether or not it was respectful for her to combine these intricate and meaningful dance movements into one dance that has Western origins. Locsin insists that the choreography has been done in a strictly responsible and respectful manner. She says that her intentions leaned towards an emancipatory ideological agenda that decolonizes the dance that is ballet, and instead injects Filipino cultural elements to what is a Western dance.
Arguably, Igorot ballet dance has achieved cultural sensitivity and responsibility in this undertaking. While the significance of a certain dance form remains implicit to a person and his/her socio-cultural community (Giurchescu, 2001, 109), the “Filipinization'' of ballet in Igorot involves the Cordilleran dances which lack representation as of today. Ness in her essay brands Igorot as a dance that is assertive of “respectful cultural appreciation” (Ness, 1997, 72) while also recuperative of the colonial stereotypes, successfully putting forward an emancipatory nationalistic postcoloniality. It is in this regard that a transformation of a dance form on stages can be deemed as “alright”, so long as it steers away from the direction of cultural appropriation.
Giving this pass to Locsin’s choreography, however, does not come easily. Choreographies that deal with valuable and highly-protected cultural pieces and elements must ensure that all movements done come with sufficient research and proper execution. Ethnic groups often interlace each body movement with specific stories and meanings, which means being able to convey the exact story of the Cordilleran cultures entails an experienced and well-trained dancer if he/she may come from outside of the said ethnic groups. No disgraceful and disrespectful acts and movements must be displayed when wearing their costumes, and any unwarranted alterations to the choreographies are not allowed.
Dance, being the quintessential art of movement, has specifications varying across cultures and ethnicities. The movements of a dancer’s torso, hands, fingers, legs, and feet may have cultural and social significance that are unique to them. While it is important to take up new narratives of decolonizing the dances the Philippines is more accustomed to, we must maintain our culture’s integrity and purity from any unnecessary alteration that may make it difficult to transfer them down more generations.
SOURCES:
Giurchescu, A. (2001). The Power of Dance and Its Social and Political Uses. Yearbook for Traditional Music, 33, 109-121. JSTOR. Retrieved August 13, 2021, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/1519635?origin=JSTOR-pdf
Jacinto, J. (2013). The Appropriation of the Dances of the Igorots. SPAFA Journal, 23(2). https://www.spafajournal.org/index.php/spafa1991journal/article/view/21
Lumen Learning. (n.d.). Dance - Cultural Anthropolgy. Lumen Learning. Retrieved September 10, 2021, from https://courses.lumenlearning.com/culturalanthropology/chapter/dance/
Ness, S. A. (1997). Originality in the Postcolony: Choreographing the Neoethnic Body of Philippine Ballet. Cultural Anthropology, 12(1), 64-108. JSTOR. Retrieved August 14, 2021, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/656614
Yaffe, P. (2011, October). The 7% Rule: Fact, Fiction, or Misunderstanding. Ubiquity. Retrieved August 15, 2021, from https://ubiquity.acm.org/article.cfm?id=2043156
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