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Tinkling

Tinikling is a traditional Philippine folk dance that originated during the Spanish colonial era and involves dancers stepping over and between bamboo poles tapped on the ground in coordination with music. The dance imitates birds dodging traps and represents Filipino field workers learning to avoid punishment by Spanish colonizers. Today Tinikling is taught in schools as exercise and performed on special occasions to celebrate Filipino culture.

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sandovalprincess2004
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50 views1 page

Tinkling

Tinikling is a traditional Philippine folk dance that originated during the Spanish colonial era and involves dancers stepping over and between bamboo poles tapped on the ground in coordination with music. The dance imitates birds dodging traps and represents Filipino field workers learning to avoid punishment by Spanish colonizers. Today Tinikling is taught in schools as exercise and performed on special occasions to celebrate Filipino culture.

Uploaded by

sandovalprincess2004
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Tinikling

Tinikling is a traditional Philippine folk dance that originated during the Spanish colonial era.
The dance involves at least two people beating, tapping, and sliding bamboo poles on the ground
and against each other in coordination with one or more dancers who step over and in between
the poles. The name Tinikling is a reference to birds locally known as Tikling, which can be any
of a number of rail species. The term Tinikling literally means “to perform it tickling-like.” The
dance originated in Palo, Leyte, an island in the Visayas. It imitates the movement of the Tikling
birds as they walk between grass stems, run over tree branches, or dodge bamboo traps set by
rice farmers. Dancers imitate the Tikling bird’s legendary grace and speed by skillfully
maneuvering between large bamboo poles.
However, other known stories also explain where this national dance originated from. A more
popular one is that legend says the Tinikling dance originated from Filipino field workers during
the time of Spanish colonization. It was a form of punishment for workers who worked too
slowly in the large haciendas the Spanish had. More specifically, two spine-tipped bamboo poles
were used to hit the feet of the field workers. Legend claims that after a while, the workers
trained themselves to dodge the strikes of the bamboo poles. What was once a way to avoid
punishment now became a form of art and dance.
Today, Tinikling is taught throughout the United States. In grades K-12, the dance is used as an
aerobic exercise for physical education classes, to help expand physical movements such as hand
coordination, foot speed, and also rhythm. Tinikling is commonly performed at schools and on
special occasions, such as the Filipino Independence Day, as a celebration of Filipino culture and
Filipino pride.

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