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Tinikling
 
Tiniklingis another Philippine folk dance that is inspired by an endemic bird called“tikling.” The steps of this dance are an imitation of the movements of a “tikling” bird that hops andescapes the traps set by hunters. Moving with poise and grace, the dancers skip in-between two bamboo poles that are held to pound rhythmically against each other. This dance is a specialty of Leyte.When you talk of Philippine dances that help shape the Filipino culture andidentity, then one dance that will always be there on top of the heap is the Tinikling. This dance is animportant part of the Filipino culture and others are saying that this dance is the national dance of thecountry. The dance has that indigenous and Hispanic roots and considered to be one of the oldest in thecountry. The dance has a rich history and everything about the dance has a story to tell- from the name of the dance to the legend how the dance has evolved.The first time audience of this dance will observe that the dance will involve themovements that will require the dancers to avoid being hit by the moving bamboos. Actually there is amore compelling story and movements to it than that. This dance of the country imitates the movement of the tikling birds as these birds move and walk in between the grass stems, run over the tree branches or asthese birds avoids bamboo traps. In this dance, the dancers imitate the fast and the graceful movement of these birds as these birds dodges the many hurdles they faced along the way and dancers do that byavoiding the bamboo poles. Simply put, the name tinikling just means bamboo dance in the Englishlanguage.According to some scholars and observers, this dance is from the Visayas region or more specifically from the islands of Leyte. The people in this province has described the movement inthis dance as the movements of the tikling birds, thus that is how the name of the dance has evolved.There have been a number of stories that tell the origins of the dance, and this lore has been passed on for generations. One story says that the dance was started by the people who worked on the rice fields in the provinces. It was the time when the Spaniards first set foot in the islands and the natives were sent to thehaciendas. This was the time when the natives lost control of their lands since they are under the so-calledencomienda system. Now, the people who worked slowly in the haciendas are often sent to the paddiesfor some form of punishment. And their punishment is to stand in between the two bamboo poles, andthese two bamboo poles are clapped to hit the person's feet. And the natives will jump as the two bambooshit each other in order to avoid the pain. This kind of punishment then brought more harm than good sincethe natives will sustain some bruises and they cannot work faster.And the story has evolved, saying that the punishment has evolved into the dancethat people now know as theTinikling. And when this is danced the music that can be heard is the plucked strings in the Iberian-influence staccato that is interspersed with the tremolos and this music will be kept in time with the double stepping sway balances. And since this dance requires the avoidance of  being hit by two moving bamboo poles, this dance has become an art and a dance.
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