This is done in coordination with one or more dancers who step over and in between the poles in a dance. The locomotor movements used in this dance are hopping, jumping, and turning.
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 grace and speed by skillfully manoeuvring between the bamboo poles.
Learning the dance helped students discover more about Filipino culture and Filipino pride. It helped them expand their physical movements including hand coordination, foot speed, and rhythm. Luckily, students had been training for Cross Country so they had a good level of fitness . Room 13 worked with their buddy class, Room 5. After learning some basic steps the students were challenged to create a dance they could perform in front of an audience. It was great to see them persevering, communicating, and supporting each other.
It was really hard when I first tried it. I couldn’t get the rhythm and I almost tripped over. After keeping on trying I got better and more confident.
Banging the sticks together was hard. I did it way too fast and the dancer fell over. I had to help him up and slow down my counting and banging.
I am good at the Tinikling Dance but I didn’t want to do the dance on the stage. I liked doing the Basic Step, left, right, left, right, left, right.
I liked it when the clappers were in time with the dancers and when me and my partner were dancing. It was hard dancing when my feet got tired. When I was on stage I enjoyed dancing with my partner. My mum was in the audience and she said I had done well. Mum came up onto the stage and I taught her the Dip, the Basic Step, and then the Jump Step. She was good!
It felt really nice that I could teach my parents how to dance. I gave them lessons at home. My dad told my mum to get up on stage. He was unfit and worried he would fall over. Mum did pretty well remembering the steps.
The Tinikling Dance was fun trying to keep in time with a partner. When we were practising I got my foot stuck inside the sticks. Everyone in my group practised hard and got better with the timing. I felt happy performing on stage and I was a great teacher of the steps to my Dad. I think he did his best. He wasn’t as good as me.
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