BhangraBhangra is a lively form of music and dance that originated in the Punjab region in Southeast Asia. While it began as a part of harvest festival celebrations, bhangra eventually became a part of such diverse occasions as weddings and New Year celebrations. Moreover, during the last thirty years, Bhangra has enjoyed a surge in popularity worldwide, both in traditional form and as a fusion with genres such as hip-hop, house, and reggae. While Bhangra historians speculate the dance may have originated in the time of the wars with Alexander no one is sure it existed until about five hundred years ago. Around the 14th or 15th Century, Punjabi wheat farmers danced and sang songs about village life to help pass the time while working in the fields. With time, these became part of harvest celebrations at Bhaisakhi festivals, as the sight of their crops growing invigorated the farmers. From here the dance quickly moved through all divisions of class and education, eventually becoming a part of weddings, New Year parties, and other important occasions. Traditionally, men wear a lungi, which is a colorful piece of cloth wrapped around the waist, while doing Bhangra. Men also wear a kurta, which is a long Punjabi-style shirt. In addition, men wear Bhugaris - also known as turbins - to cover their heads.Women wear the traditional Punjabi dress, salvar kameez, which is composed of a long colorful shirt and baggy, vibrant pants. Women also wear duppattas, colorful pieces of cloth wrapped around the neck.
(http://www.cs.cuw.edu/csc/csc175/project/hrpsingh/historyoffolkdance.html) |
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HulaBefore Western contact, hula was danced for social enjoyment but its chants also preserved epic tales, myths, history and philosophy. A dancer's rigorous training and performance were taken seriously with dancers paid and materially supported by the ruling ali`i. Multiple tales describe the mythic beginnings of hula but the most-often heard is probably that of Pele and her sister Hi`iaka. In this rendering, the first hula was born when Pele begged her sisters to dance and sing for her. Only Hi`iaka stepped forward to perform. She danced for Pele using movements she’d practiced with her good friend Hopoe. In the Hawaiian pantheon, Hi`iaka is joined by Kapo and Laka as the spiritual patrons of hula. Also a sister of Pele and associated with healing and sorcery, Kapo could be caring or vengeful. Laka is more prominently associated with hula and was symbolized in the halau (hula school) as a block of lama wood placed on an altar and swathed in yellow kapa. Laka was sister and wife to Lono, god of agriculture, and hula was a major part of celebrations during Makahiki, the harvest festival.
Hula dancing is the traditional art of movement, smooth bodily gestures and vocals. You may notice that Hula Dancing seems to have an incredibly smooth "flow" and the movements are extremely fluid. These movements are said to actually tell a story or represent movements of nature such as trees blowing in the wind or fish swimming smoothly in the ocean. What most people don't know about Hula Dancing is that all hula dances originate from a series of only six traditional moves. Of course, there are a wide variety of interpretations and different ways of using these base movements to create unique and beautiful performances. Traditionally, you will find both men and women wearing knee level skirts made of palm leaves as well as flower leights around their arms, lower legs and heads. However, prior to 1820, women wore skirts that were much shorter and men simply wore loin clothes. It was in 1820 that missionaries made them wear a less revealing wardrobe during their performances. (http://www.hawaiihistory.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=ig.page&CategoryID=288 http://www.huladancehq.com/hula-dancing-history.html) |
tahitianThe Polynesian culture testifies to its resilience of ancient times through the beautiful and powerful drama of the Tahitian dance. Each dance portrays a symbol of life in one way or another.Someone would dance for joy, to pray to a god or worship a king. Other dances would include a challenge to an enemy or to flirt or seduce a mate. There are also dances of matrimony, or a celebration, such as a birth, as well as dances to welcome visitors to the islands. The dances would also be accompanied by musical instruments such as nasal flutes, conch shells, drums and singing. Today’s modern Tahitian sound would often blend its Polynesian rhythm with western Melody. A dancer’s training is extensive. The Movements of the hips and the gracefulness of the hands tell a complete story. The beat of the drums keep the dancers in rhythm as they move around the floor with ease. Tahitian dance is not a hobby. It’s an art and a way of life.
(http://rusticliving.hubpages.com/hub/Tahitian-Dancing-and-Its-Story) |
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TiniklingThe tinikling dance is one of the most popular and well-known of traditional Philippine dances. The tinikling is a pre-Spanish dance from the Philippines that involves two people beating, tapping, and sliding bamboo poles on the ground and against each other in coordination with one or more dancers who step over and in between the poles in a dance. The dance originated in Leyte among the Visayan islands in the central Philippines as an imitation of the tikling bird dodging bamboo traps set by rice farmers. The dance imitates the movement of the tikling birds as they walk between grass stems, run over tree branches, or dodge bamboo traps set by rice farmers. Dancers imitate the tikling bird's legendary grace and speed by skillfully maneuvering between large bamboo poles.When the Spaniards came from Spain and conquered the Philippines, the natives were sent to the hacienda. The natives had to work all day to please the Spaniards. The people who worked too slowly would be sent out of the paddies for punishment. Their punishment was to stand between two bamboo poles cut from the grove. Sometimes, the sticks would have thorns sticking from their segments. The poles were then clapped to beat the native's feet. By jumping when the bamboo sticks were apart, the natives tried to escape this cruel form of punishment. This type of punishment became a cycle - the more bruised the person's feet were, the less work he would do, the less work he would do, the more punishment. The punishment later became the dance it is today. When the Tinikling is danced, there is music of plucked strings in Iberian-influence staccato interspersing with tremolos and kept in time with double stepping sway balances. By practicing to escape the bamboo sticks during punishment, the Tinikling soon became a challenge, an art, and a dance.
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UkuleleIt is considered a creative adaptation and redesign of the Portuguese machete de braga, commonly referred to as the machete. The machete was introduced to Hawaii about 125 years ago by Portuguese immigrants from the island of Madeira who came to work in the sugar cane fields. When the ship Ravenscrag docked in Honolulu in August 1879, the immigrants celebrated their safe arrival with Portuguese folksongs accompanied on the little four-stringed machete—the instrument that was known in Madeira. The machete – renamed ukulele in the Hawaiian language, meaning, literally, "jumping flea" – rose quickly to popularity among the native population and became regarded as Hawaii's national instrument. Apart from royal patronage, the creative redesign of the machete into the easier-to-play ukulele—with its endemic koa-wood construction and a slightly different tuning—helped the popularity of this portable instrument. Because of the use of Hawaii's native koa wood, which had been long associated with royalty on the islands, the ukulele became a symbol of aloha aina, or love of the land, and of support for Hawaiian sovereignty during that era of great political turmoil, when the monarchy was struggling to preserve Hawaiian independence.
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