Are We a Nation of Dancers?

Since Youtube offered its services to the world, videos from our country proliferated. Youtube has provided international careers to relatively unknown, as in the case of Arnel Pineda and Charice Pempengco (soon, CouchPatatas, haha).


But another type of posting generating millions of hits are videos about dancing. The Cebu Inmates started it all with their Michael Jackson dance routines. It hit millions of views.

Since then, many followed suit.


One of my favorite so far is this video (hope I get a freebie from them).





I want to join them one of these days.


But going back to the topic, why are we Filipinos so fond of dancing? In every festivities, like weddings, birthdays, funerals (yes, it's true), part of the merry making is hiring, in the early days cumbancheros, or a whole orchestra for those well-endowed, and in present days, sound mobiles complete with lights and lasers.


Every town and city has its own version of festivals (chami, saging, litson, longanisa, kwekkwek(?)), and part of these festivals is the street dancing competition. Participants donning the city or towns produce dancing to the pulsating beats in retro, hiphop and at times trance.


I remember in my elementary and high school days, part of our PE requirement was performing field demonstrations, dancing, again, to the current hits at that time.
I've danced to the tune of In the Navy, Christmas Polka, and the like.


So, is dancing part of being a Filipino?


We, Filipinos, love fun and merry making. Even in crisis, we find time to celebrate. I remember an incident when a fluvial parade turned to tragedy killing dozens of devotees (and even churning a movie out of it). The succeeding year, they downsized the parade, but the mass dancing continued.


We, Filipinos, also dance as part of age-old traditions. We dance to the Virgin of Turumba, to Santa Clara, and the likes. Sometimes, faith can be expressed in dance.


We, Filipinos, join dance contests in all scales and sizes. From barangay, city/town, to nationwide dance contests, our youths express their angst, their hopes, their ambitions, through dancing.


Perhaps, one of the Greek muses, Terpsichore, ruled over us, playing her lyre to her delight, as she watched the mass of human bodies gyrating to the beat of one nation.


Dancing is our way of expression, our way of life, our way to fame.

Before I go, a word from my sponsor.

One word, ha ha, I hope the passengers remember the safety instructions.