A
slight mention of Traditional Dances typically conjures up images of Singkil,
Tinikling, Maglalatik, Sayaw sa Banga, Cariñosa and other popularized dances.
These styles, along with other regional art forms have painted a collage of
what most people make of as Philippine Culture.
Indeed,
these icons have represented our heritage well. Yet, little do people know
about a dance style where gestures and emotional metaphors are principally
expressed through the arms and hands sometimes amplified by metal claws or janggay. This is the Pangalay;
an ancient dance style native to the Badjao, Tausug, Sama ang Jama Mapun
peoples that has been the life’s calling of Prof.
Ligaya Fernando Amilbangsa (born Ligaya Flores Fernando in 1943 in Rizal), a
scholar and the primary researcher of the dance which is also known as igal (Badjao) in the Sulu or paunjalay (Yakans of Basilan). Pangalay literally means a gift
offering (a temple of dance in Sanskrit).
Based
on the extensive researches of master Amilbangsa, the antiquity of the pangalay
is such that it antedates Islam and Christianity in the Philippines. As a
living cultural link it affirms our connection with the traditional dance
cultures of Asia with closest affinity to the Indian, Javanese and Indochine
classical dance styles.
The
pangalay probably has the richest movement vocabulary among Philippine
indigenous dances that offers a broad range of expression. Various elements derived from nature such as
flowers, sea waves and birds as well as feelings are symbolized through
postures and artistic gesticulations executed in defiance to the western
concept of time. It is, without a doubt, a cultural gem that is Filipino, Asian
and universal.
1964
was a pivotal year for pangalay. It was in that year when tita Ligaya (as Prof.
Amilbangsa is fondly called by her students), married Datu Punjungan Amilbangsa,
the younger brother of Sultan Mohammad Amirul Ombra Amilbangsa. What was a union
and affirmation of love between the two also served as an impetus for Prof.
Amilbangsa’s lifelong quest to preserve and conserve the traditional cultures
of Sulu, especially the pangalay; which led to the establishment of the Tambuli
Cultural Troupe in 1974 and the AlunAlun Dance Circle in 1999 upon her return
to Luzon. Her mission spurred the publication of two award-winning books
“Pangalay: Traditional Dances and Related Folk Artistic Expressions” (1983) and
“Ukkil-Visual Arts of the Sulu Archipelago” (2005).
Unfortunately,
despite the meticulous scholarly endeavours of scholars like Prof. Ligaya
Fernando Amilbangsa, the pangalay along with other traditional arts and culture
of Sulu is being pushed to the brink of obscurity even before these are known
or documented. Inevitably, it seems that social, cultural and political changes
are catching up fast in their milieu.
In
her late sixties, Prof. Ligaya Fernando Amilbangsa; still witty, agile and
graceful returned to Tawi-Tawi to
reconnect with the people and the culture she has embraced and loved. What she discovers
about the state of arts and culture in her return to the archipelago after
three decades is captured in a full-length documentary entitled “Ang Pagbabalik
sa Tawi-Tawi,” written and directed by Nanette Matilac who also serves as the
managing director of the AlunAlun Dance Circle.
The
film was featured at the 10th Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival:
Pinoy Pride Philippine Documentaries category on August 4, Monday, 12:45 pm at
the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) Little Theater.
Much to the delight of the audience a dance performance by the AlunAlun Dance Circle was in order after the screening.
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