In one YAHOO page, a question was posted, supposedly by Chris Tiu, as to what we should do to interest people in the Philippines in sports other than basketball. Fancy that considering that Chris Tiu is a basketball player. The question reminded me of another issue that is somehow similar in a subtle way...
Months back, in a contest in Eat Bulaga, the participants were very young ballroom dancers, and when I say young, I mean dancers who weren't yet in their teens. When one of them was asked if she could dance the tinikling, she looked puzzled. When one of the hosts asked her if she knew what tinikling was, she shook her head. She didn't know what maglalatik was either. How sad. Can't schools teach those dances again or invite performers to show these to the students?
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That, indeed, is sad. In the school where I used to teach, I noticed that whenever we had the annual dance competition contests, the gym would be filled to the rafters only when the events were modern dance (ballroom, hiphop, etc) but would be almost empty when the folk dance contestants were performing as the audience would then take this as a chance to go to the toilet or grab some snacks in the canteen. :(
The two times that I and my siblings watched the Bayanihan dance troupe perform here are treasured memories to this day.
My memory of the Bayanihan was scary. I guess I was way too young because the sound of bamboo striking against each other in Singkil frightened me silly.
It's really a shame how culturally deficient the Filipinos have grown over the years. If Imelda had one saving grace, it's how she nourished Philippine culture when she wasn't busy doing unsavory things.
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