Philippine Dance Organizations

San Francisco - Parangal Dance Company - www.parangaldance.org
Maui - La Galeria - http://www.home.roadrunner.com/~mauidzyn/dance/

Filipino Dance is a hands on way that you can learn Philippine culture and history. Philippine dance is broken down into "suites": Igorot, Maria Clara, Lumad, Moro and Pistahan. In the Igorot, Lumad and Moro dances, you can experience how different tribes' cultural practices of courtships, weddings, battles, planting/harvesting, child rearing, coming of age, etcetera, took place. Each tribe also has a distinct musical style that reflects the diversity and uniqueness of Philippine peoples, and how they reflect their local cultures and ecologies.

Through "rural" and Maria Clara dances, experience the Spanish aesthetic melded with Native cultures through costumes, posture, hand and feet movements. Also, listen to the music, and hear stringed lutes, also known as the "rondalla." How did the Spanish come to the Philippines? The Philippines were colonized by the Spanish in the 16th Century. The Philippines was part of the Spanish controlled Manila-Acapulco trade that linked the Americas (like Mexico) to Asia. Read an article on Sapatya, a "rural" Pangasinan dance dedicated to farming, that has Andalusian Spanish origins.