01
As seen in the video, the body, actions, space, time, and energy all complemented the slow beat of the music.
02
A group performance of Dugso, a ceremonial dance among the Manobo people in Bukidnon, Agusan and Misamis Oriental.
03
As the haka continues to evolve, this study posits the question: how is haka situated in popular culture?
04
In creating this video, we made sure we internalized this theme. We then divided ourselves into different teams: Storywriting, Choreography, Interview, and Editing.
Learning Blog 1: Dance Review
As discussed in Module 1, the body is a dancer’s immediate medium to express their emotions and to communicate what can’t be said in words.
Using the background music as reference, the actions that the dancer’s used are a combination of both axial and locomotor movements. The stretching, sinking, twisting, bending, and kicking in one place all defined the perplexed reaction one feels on the verge of losing someone, while the running, leaping, galloping, and spinning was utilized to show the “bargaining or confused phase” while deciding whether or not to finally set someone free.
The movements of the dancers also had a sense of lightness (axial movements to locomotor) and smoothness (switching from galloping to sliding to stay in place) even when there are changes in the rhythm of the music.
Furthermore, the energy utilized in the dance were weak and light which matches the tempo of the music. However, when the tempo changes during the chorus, rapid but soft and flowy movements were used to highlight the slight change in timing whilst staying in character.
It can also be noted that the range of space that the dancers utilized is fairly wide as they move from one space to another, which allows them to maintain proper distance to show the freeflowing movements of their arms and legs.
As seen in the video, the body, actions, space, time, and energy all complemented the slow beat of the music. If the dancers were to move in a different pace or choose sharper movements in their choreography, the interpretation of their dance would be entirely different and perhaps may seem out of place. In the video choreography, the smooth and slow arm and leg movements away from the body can be interpreted as a way to express the sorrow one feels when letting go of someone they love, therefore complementing the chosen music.
The dance collaboration for the ceremonial dance Dugso was an amazing experience for our group. We had fun conceptualizing the design for our headdress, although it was a bit challenging to finding the materials we need. Some members had to improvise the feathers used through the use of special papers, but it all seemed realistic from afar.
One of the things I enjoyed in this particular assessment is that I get to work with people that I’ve already worked with before.
Learning Blog 3: How Dance Connect?
Assessment 3 was a great learning experience for me and Bea because we’ve always been curious with the Haka dance that is gaining so much attention on social media. Through Assessment 3, we were able to situate Haka in popular culture making us understand how it is viewed by the people and how where it originated from.
It was also a great experience because Bea and I held Zoom sessions while working on our paper which made us feel as if we are working in the same room.
Learning Blog 4: Staging the Dance
Assessment 4 is all about discovering ourselves through dance. I think the reason why we chose the song “Perfect to Me” is because we want to share an important message to the rest of the class.
As one of the scriptwriters of the group, it was empowering to dissect the song line by line because it made us understand the message of the song better and that is: the importance of embracing one’s imperfections.