Kara Nepomuceno '20

Winter Term 2019

Traditional Gestures, Contemporary Meanings: Pangalay dance in Manila, Philippines

Kara spent Winter Term in Manila, Philippines to study pangalay dance with AlunAlun Dance Circle (ADC), an organization which practices and shares pangalay through open classes, research, and performance. She studied with artists Joy Cruz, Nannette Matilac, and ADC founder Ligaya Fernando Amilbangsa. In addition to practicing gestures for bula-bula and linggisan, or seagull, she learned physical techniques for posture, breathing, and footwork. She also learned about the formation of ADC and the significance of pangalay in the artists' contemporary lives, as cultural performance, physical exercise, and mindful practice. Pangalay, practiced in Tawi-Tawi in the Tausug community, is popularly staged for cultural performance as a "Muslim dance" in Manila and the Filipino diaspora; at the same time, audience support for the dance contrasts with continued state violence against Muslim and indigenous communities. Kara interviewed Kerlan Fanagel and other indigenous community leaders at the Lumad Bakwet school in University of the Philippines, Diliman to learn more about the relationship between dance performance and the struggle for rights.

Returning to Oberlin, Kara guided an open workshop and discussion where participants learned pangalay basics, focusing on slowed breath and wavelike movements, such as nilimbayan. Through movement and reflection, the class explored the ways that living movement traditions not only impart cultural knowledge, but also inform urgent and dynamic concepts of nation and citizenship.