Dancing the way our ancestors taught us

There are six provinces in the Cordillera Region: Benguet, Mountain Province, Kalinga, Ifugao, Abra and Apayao. The two cities are Baguio, in the province of Benguet, and Tabuk, in Kalinga.

Most of the residents of the Cordillera Region are indigenous peoples (IPs) who prefer to be collectively called “Igorots” or people of the mountain. Some of them prefer to be called by the names of their tribes or sub-tribes.

Kalinga people belong to the mother tribe of Kalinga or simply “Kalinga.” In Abra they are called “Tingguian” or “Itneg.” In Ifugao, there are three major ethnolinguistic groups — the “Tuwali,” “Ayangan,” and the “Kalanguya.”

In Apayao, they are called the “Isneg;” in Mountain Province, there are the “Kankanaey” and the “Bontok;” and in Benguet, there are the”Kankanaey,” “Ibaloy,” Karao,” and “Kalanguy.”

Baguio City is in the province of Benguet. Its first settlers were the Ibaloy, followed by the Kankanaey. The American colonizers established the city in the early 1900s as a rest and recreation area. As the years went by, people from different places in the Cordillera migrated to Baguio City and the neighboring towns of Benguet, looking for greener pastures, especially in the mines of Benguet.

Baguio City served as the educational center for Cordillera and the whole of North Luzon.

People of different tribes and ethnicities from other parts of the country and different nationalities now reside in the city, so Baguio has various cultures.

Tourists and other visitors come to Baguio for its beautiful scenery and cool climate. To attract more visitors and give them a glimpse of the different cultures of its people, colleges and educational institutions, as well as local government employees, formed cultural dance troupes to showcase the various dances of the Cordillera.

At first, members of the college dance troupes, many of whom were born and raised in the Cordillera, performed the dances of the communities they came from properly and with authenticity.

As the years went by, dance troupes accepted Igorot youth who were born and raised in Baguio but did not live by the traditions and customs of the provinces.

They were told that to impress audiences and add “aesthetics” to the dances and make them more “beautiful,” they should add moves to the cultural dances, which made them different from the original.

Former Baguio City Mayor and Rep. Mauricio Domogan, who is a former member of a college dance troupe in the 1950s and ‘60s, said there was nothing wrong with choreographing the Cordillera dances as long as they do not veer too far from the original steps. And the dancers should know the actual steps the forefathers taught their parents.

Aside from mixing the dances of the different tribes and provinces of the Cordillera, the youngsters also tended to mix up their attire. This sends a wrong message to non-IP people, especially those who have no idea of the proper look and use of the attire of the IP of the Cordillera because they would assume there were no differences between tribes. Thus, traditional attire is seen as “costumes” for display and entertainment.

Some cultural dance troupes also mix up the dances. It is not wrong to showcase the dances of our forefathers, but it should be our responsibility to properly execute the dances our ancestors taught us.

There is nothing wrong with introducing innovations to the traditional dances of the Cordillera Ips, but it is best to know the original steps to explain to people the differences between authentic dances and choreographed and modified ones.

Culture will slowly change eventually, yet knowing where we came from is most important.