PEH

• Folk dances are dances identified with and performed by a specific community or tribe, and can be cultural, traditional, or recreational dance styles.
• The majority of folk dances are related to religious traditions, deriving from passions, superstitions, festivals, birth ceremonies, courtship, marriage, death, and war.
• Traditional dances of a particular country are folk dances, and national dances are also traditional folk dances with a national dimension.
• Ethnic dances or ethnological dances imitate nature and life and have maintained close links to religious rituals and customs of communities.
• There are three distinct categories of ethnic dances: ceremony, life-cycle, and work.
• Folk dances have deep historical roots and are often passed down through generations, embodies the shared values, traditions, and history of the Filipino people across different regions, is closely tied to specific regions, ethnic groups, and local customs in the Philippines, and are performed during significant ceremonies, rituals, and tribal gatherings.
• National dances often feature elaborate costumes, precise formations, and synchronized choreography, reflecting the discipline and unity of the Filipino people.
• The Bayanihan Philippine National Folk Dance Company (1957) has been instrumental in popularizing traditional Filipino dances both locally and internationally, is the first Philippine dance group to perform at the Lincoln Center in New York, and is the first non-American folk dance group to receive the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award for their significant contribution to the preservation of Filipino cultural heritage.
• Tinikling is the national dance of the Philippines, inspired by the tikling bird as it nimbly avoids bamboo traps set by rice farmers, and incorporates influences from Spanish and American dance styles, reflecting the Philippines' colonial history.
• Nine categories of Philippine folk dances include Life-cycle dances, Festival dances, Occupational dances, Ritual and ceremonial dances, Game dances, Joke and trickster dances, Mimetic or drama dances, War dances, and Social Amenities dances.
• Tribal dances from the Cordilleras include the non-Christian dances.
• Lowland Christian dances have a Hispanic and European influence.
• Muslim dances are influenced by the Arab and Indo-Malayan cultures.
• Form in dance is the arrangement or combination of ideas and elements into a coherent pattern that ends in harmony and continuity.
• Phrases are the smallest units of form in the whole dance, and are formed when multiple movements are merged.
• To communicate the purpose of a dance to the viewer, successful choreography must have a concept or motif.
• Life-cycle dances are dances that act as a rite, celebrating the milestones in life from birth to maturity, courtship to marriage, and life to demise.
• Festival dances are dances performed in honor of something sacred or secular, usually a patron saint, and are also related to recurring occasions of particular importance such as harvest season that includes festivities.
• Occupational dances are dances that show people's livelihood activities.
• Ritual and ceremonial dances are dances performed as part of the customs of a particular community of people.
• Game dances are dances that are local folk games derivation.
• Joke and trickster dances are dances that include jokes or tricks performed by a dancer on another dancer or a group of dancers.
• Mimetic or drama dances are dances that imitate creatures, subjects of animals, objects, or other people.
• War dances are dances expressing feud and enmity, in which two male dancers engage in physical combat.
• Social amenities dances are dances that expressed social graces, entertainment, and gift offerings to friends.