History of Balangbang Folk Dance

The Philippines has remote areas where natives practice long-held traditions.

The people who live in the mountain province of the Philippines are sometimes referred to as the Bontoc. They all speak the same language and have similar customs, but each village's residents speak their own dialect and have their own variation on common traditions. Dance is an important part of the mountain people’s traditions and religious belief system. One such dance is the Balangbang, the history of which is connected to war.

Significance

The Bontoc's religion is essentially monotheistic, with the God Lumawid, the hero, and his father, God Kabunian, two parts of the same being. Dance is used to implore the gods for aid and to thank the gods when blessings are bestowed. The religion places value in bravery, and so it places great emphasis on battle and triumph. The Balangbang reflects that.

Purpose

The most elaborate of the Bontoc dances are intended to celebrate or bless warriors headed into battle. Historically, the war dance Balangbang was performed when a village’s army returned with its enemy’s head. The head was placed in the center of the dancers’ circle to be danced around. This custom is not practiced today.

Participants

A large group of elderly men and women dance the Balangbang to celebrate the return of victorious warriors. In the past, it was preformed with weapons, including axes, shields, bows, spears and knives. Today, the dancers' hands held in the blade position are thought to represent those items. The dress worn to perform the Balangbang was commonly elaborate, made of brightly colored cloth. In some villages, it was common to wear feathered headdresses while performing the dance.

Form

The Balangbang's movements represent the battle between two warriors, and two of the dancers wear clothing that makes them stand out as the combatants. The dancers move to create hide and seek movements to the rhythm of the gongs as they act out the slaying of the enemy. Both open and closed dance formations are used to represent the shielding or slaying of the warriors. Today, the Balangbang is performed only ceremonially or for entertainment purposes.

Accompaniment

During the dance, flat gongs, called ganzas, are pounded with sticks to keep the beat and to produce musical tones. This dance accompaniment is ornamented by only vocalizations. The name "Balangbang" is derived from the sound that the gongs make when struck. The pounding of a drum represents, and communicates to the spectators, the the enemy warrior's moment of death.

References

• Philippine Literature: Bontoc; Christina Sianghio
• National Commission for Culture and the Arts: Philippine Martial Dance; Larry Gabao, Ph.D.