Manariwa: A Filipina Perspective on Indigenous Contemporary Dance

Abstract

This thesis is an auto-ethnography utilizing dance, performance, and practice-as-research as cognitive methodologies to document indigenous contemporary dance from a Filipina perspective. There are three main segments of analysis: 1) my participation as a dancer in three indigenous contemporary dance projects that took place on Mannahatta/Manhattan, Guåhan/Guam, and Molokaʻi, Hawaiʻi; 2) conducting a survey of dance in Antipolo, Manila, Nabua, Baguio, and Laoag, Philippines; and 3) producing a dance performance on Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi entitled Manariwa. All of these events show how dance and performance are utilized to cultivate inter-cultural collaboration and community gathering. Impetuses of this thesis are to critically inquire Philippine cultural identity, cultivate indigenous relationships, and strategize how dance can be conducted as healing and as a method of cultural innovation. To do this, I question in each segment: How does place inform choreo-graphy? How do dance and performance help build communities and sustain cultures?