Philippine Folk Dance: Singkil
The Singkil dance is the most difficult of the Philippine traditional dances. It requires skill to navigate the bamboo poles while gracefully dancing with a fan, an umbrella or ones bare hands. The dance is native to the Maguindanao people, and is performed alone by a woman of royal blood who is advertising herself to suitors. With the modernized steps of folk dance companies, singkil now includes an entourage of dancers. Tinikling is nothing compared to Singkil, although both use bamboo poles.
A group of my friends attempted to perform the Singkil and I can’t tell you how many times our feet got caught in the bamboo poles, so instead of showing my version of the dance, here is the Leyte Dance Theatre to mesmerize you with the SINGKIL –
Part two is even more complicated, especially as you watch the dance up close. And yes, feel free to clap your hands!
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