Maglalatik
Maglalatik is danced to mimic the early battle against Christians and Moros towin coconut meat or “latik” during the time of Spanish colonization. This is also performed to pay homage to the town saint of Biñan, Laguna – San Isidro Labrador. This dance is divided intofour parts: baligtaran, palipasan, paseo and escaramusa. This is performed by all-male dancerswho wear blue pants to represent the Christians and red pant for the Moros. All dancers,however, have coconut shells mounted on their body parts.Creative and colorful; these are some of the things that you can use to label thePhilippine dances that define its culture. And for sure you will not be disappointed, since thecountry's dances are all creative and colorful. An example is the Philippine dance called the'Maglalatik' that is sure to catch the fancy of those looking for a traditional dance that goes downto the basics, and of course a dance that is colorful and festive. This dance is also called as'Magbabao' which can mean 'the one using the 'bao' and the 'bao' is the coconut shell. Throughoutthe dance, the viewers of the dance can expect that most of the dance moves that will be performed by the dancers will focus on the use of these 'baos' or the coconut shells and some of the noises or the music that will be used by the dance will be generated by these coconut shells.This dance actually tells a story- and it depicts the fight between the Moros andthe Christians over the 'latik'. The 'latik' is the residue that is left after the coconut milk has beencooked and boiled. This dance is composed of a four-part performance and the first two performance of the dance is called as the 'Palipasan' and the 'Baligtaran'.In these first two performances, the dance will show the opposing squads in anintense battle. The last two parts of the dance are the 'Paseo' and the 'Sayaw Escaramusa'. Thesetwo dances basically show the reconciliation between the two groups and the dance steps of thedancers will show and suggest that the opposing groups are now in good terms. The two groupsin this dance is the group of the Moros and the other group is the group of the Christians. Alldancers that participate in this classic dance are male and they all harness and use the coconutshells. These shells are attached on many points of the body of the dancers- in the chests, the backs, the thighs and the hips. The dancers will also hold their triangular formed coconut shellsin their hands and they used these shells to tap the coconut shells that are fitted on their bodiesand they use these to generate the music that will accompany them when they are dancing. TheMoros in this dance will wear the red trousers and the Christian group will wear the bluetrousers. This dance will involve some simple movements and simple repetitions.
The following will be a listing of the steps that are generally performed in the dance.
. First step will require dancers to make 6 to 8 counts of jogging to settle to their place
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