Primitive Culture

The term ''primitive cultures'' was used by the first anthropologists to describe non-
European groups of people and their customs because they believed, and not always correctly,
that they were closely related to prehistoric cultures. As the term has a somewhat biased and
negative connotation, especially when used in comparison to Western culture, contemporary
anthropologists use other words, like ''bands'' and 'tribes.''
Based on paintings and figurines dating back as many as 30,000 years ago and inferences
made from later historical periods, anthropologists and sociologists have concluded that dance
was likely used for a variety of purposes. First, it was used for celebrations tied to changes in the
calendar marked by important festivals, or major changes in life, like marriage.
Second, dance was likely used for religious purposes during rites performed by
specialized shamans or priests. It was also likely used as a method of healing, which was
connected to religious beliefs.
Lastly, dance was used as a means of self-expression, communication and bonding.
Whether people danced to bring about rain, honor their dead or celebrate a successful hunt, they
were communicating an idea and re-establishing the social order by participating in the practice.
Primitive Culture Dance Era in the Philippines
The following are various indigenous dances of the major ethnic groupings of the
Philippines
Igorot
There are six Igorot ethnolinguistic tribes living in Luzon's mountain terrains: the Bontoc,
Ifugao, Benguet, Apayo, and the Kalinga tribes, which retained much of their anito religions.
Their lives have been centered on appeasing their gods and maintaining a harmonious
relationship between spirits and man. Dances are usually linked to rituals for a good harvest,
health, prayers for peace, and safety in war.
Moro
The Moro people are the various usually unrelated Muslim Filipino ethnic groups. Most
of their dances are marked by intricate hand and arm movements, accompanied by instruments
such as the agong and kulintang.
Lumad
The non-Islamized natives of Mindanao are collectively known as the Lumad people.
Like the Tagakaulo, they still practice worshiping anitos through dance.
Ancient Egypt
The ancient Egyptians were a dance-loving people. Dancers were commonly depicted
on murals, tomb paintings and temple engravings. Ideographs show a man dancing to
represent joy and happiness. Pictorial representations and written records from as early as
3000 B.C. are offered as evidence that dance has a long history in the Nile kingdom.
According to the “International Encyclopedia of Dance”, “dance was part of the Egyptian
ethos and featured prominently in religious ritual and ceremony on social occasions and in
Egyptian funerary practices regarding the afterlife.”The study of ancient Egyptian dance is
based mostly on identifying dance scenes from monuments, temples and tombs and
translating and interpreting the inscriptions and texts that accompanied them. [Source: “
International Encyclopedia of Dance”, editor Jeane Cohen]
According to the “International Encyclopedia of Dance”, dances were performed “for
magical purposes, rites of passage, to induce states ecstacy or trance, mime; as homage; honor
entertainment and even for erotic purposes.” Dances were performed both inside and outside;
by individuals pair but mostly by groups at both sacred and secular occasions.
Dance rhythms were provided by hand clapping, finger snapping, tambourines, drums
and body slapping. Musicians played flutes, harps, lyres and clarinets, Vocalizations included
songs, cries, choruses and rhythmic noises. Dancers often wore bells on their fingers. They
performed nude, and in loincloths, flowing transparent robes and skirts of various shapes and
sizes. Dancers often wore a lot of make-up, jewelry and had strange hairdos with beads, balls
or cone-shaped tufts, Accessories included boomerangs and gavel-headed sticks. “ Ab” , the
hieroglyph for heart, was a dancing figure.
The oldest depictions of dance comes from pottery from the predynastic period (4000 to
3200 B.C.) from the Naqada Ii culture that depicts female figures (perhaps goddesses or
priestesses) dancing with upraised arms. Similar dancers are joined by men brandishing
clappers in what is thought to represent mourners in a funeral procession. Some scholars
believed that ballet moves such as the pirouette and arabesque originated in ancient Egypt.
Erika Meyer-Dietrich of Johannes Gutenberg-Universität wrote: “According to the
Egyptian iconographical and textual sources, dance is performed by animals, human beings
(dwarfs, men, women, and children appear in the reliefs), the bas of Pe, the deceased king or
individual, the living king in a divine role, and gods and goddesses...According to ancient
Egyptian sources, contexts in which dance occurs spontaneously, or is performed according to
traditional ideas, include sunrise, banquets, funerals, the afterlife, joyousness, royal
ceremonies, and religious festivals. [Source: Erika Meyer-Dietrich, Johannes Gutenberg-
Universität Mainz, Germany, UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology 2009, escholarship.org ]

“The most common noun for “dance” is jbAw, which was used continuously from as
early as the Old Kingdom, where it is found in the Pyramid Texts, through the Ptolemaic
Period (304–30 B.C.), where we find it featured in temple inscriptions. The determinative of
the verb, and of the corresponding noun (“dancer”), is a man standing on one leg with the
other leg bent at the knee. Nevertheless, the iconographical sources show both male and
female dancers, and in a variety of contexts. Without exception dancers who appear in pairs
or groups are of the same gender. Their representation is abundant on reliefs and wall
paintings in the tombs of private individuals from the Old Kingdom to the end of the New
Kingdom. Dancers of non-Egyptian origin are a prominent feature in processions of the 18th
Dynasty. A Ramesside ostracon bears a satirical illustration of dance. Textual sources for
dance in religious ritual dominate in the Ptolemaic temples.”
Greek and Bacchanalian Dance
Dance, according to Greek thought, was one of the civilizing activities, like wine-making
and music. Most Greek Mythology was written by poets, like Homer, and as the spiritual
sustenance for its people, dance communicated its wisdom and truth as effectively as words. The
strong dancing tradition prevalent among the Greeks was likely inherited from Crete which was
conquered by Greece around 1500 BC but Greece was very effective in synthesizing the best
from surrounding cultures, its poets and artists borrowed significantly from surrounding Pyria
and Thrace and its scholars were being initiated into the Egyptian mysteries by temple priests
long before Alexander the Great conquered Egypt. Learning to dance was considered a necessary
part of and education which favored learning an appreciation of beauty. Ancient Greece drove a
sharp distinction between the Apollonian dance and the Dionysian dance. The former – the
Apollonian dance – was accompanied by guitars called lyres, lutes and kitharas. It was a
ceremonial dance incorporating slower cult dances performed during religious festivals, 12 as
well as martial and social dances performed during communal events and funeral practices. The
Dionysian or Bacchanalian dance, associated with the cult of Dionysus, is about passion, panic
and desire. It is an “orgasmic” dance with breathtaking moves whose purpose is to connect all to
a frenetic dance vibration. The synthesis of the Apollonian and the Dionysian is the art of dance.
The tension between these opposites played an instrumental role in the shaping of the ancient
Greek theatre and the birth of tragedy in the evolution of the arts for civilization.
Christianized Filipinos
Pre-Colonial

Before the recorded history of the Philippines, before the Spanish conquistadors conquered and
Christianized the populace, from the earliest occupation of this volcanic archipelago, the people danced.
They danced to appease the gods, to curry favor from powerful spirits, to celebrate a hunt or harvest, to
mimic the exotic life forms around them. They danced their stories and their shamanic rituals, their rites
of passage and their remembered legends and history.

Rural dances include such favorites as the high-stepping Tinikling, which mimics a bird, and the
Gaway-Gaway, which features the movements of children pulling the stalks of the gaway roots during a
bountiful harvest. The pagan tribes, the Higaonon, Subanon, Bagogo, and others who have inhabited the
Philippines for thousands of years, preserved their customs and symbolic dances. Partly through
isolation, they kept their culture free from the influence of the waves of immigrants who settled the
archipelago over the centuries. Today, tribal dances like Dugso (a dance of gratitude for a good harvest
or a male heir, danced with ankle bells), Sohten(an all-male war dance) and Lawin-Lawin(another male
dance which mimics a swooping, soaring eagle) are carefully documented and kept alive in performance
by Filipino folk dance troupes and cultural institutions, such as the Parangal Dance Company.

Ancient to Modern Dance History

The history of dancing in the Philippines is a long and rich story that shows how
intertwined the dances are with daily life and important events. Learn a few of the dances in
order to really increase your understanding and appreciation of this dance genre; while the
choreography may seem difficult at first, a little focused study can go a long way.
Nobility
Baroque dance is the conventional name given to the style of dancing that had its origins
during the seventeenth century and dominated the eighteenth century until the French Revolution.
Louis XIV was a major influence in its development and promotion. Even at the age of fourteen,
Louis was an accomplished dancer: as the sun god Apollo in the ‘Ballet de la 14 Nuit’ (1653), he
became Le Roi Soleil, an image that he was to cultivate throughout his life. His courtiers were
expected to dance in his new style at the formal balls, and they performed in court ballets, in rather
a similar fashion to what was considered appropriate to Stuart court masques. During 17th century
dancing had not only a great social importance, but could also carry political importance. In 1661,
Louis founded the Académie Royale de Danse. This academy was responsible for devising a
system of notation (first published by Raoul Auger Feuillet in his book Chorégraphie in 1700) to
enable dancing masters more readily to assimilate the new style of dancing and to learn new
dances.
It became customary to publish each season’s new dances in this notation, in readiness for
performance at court balls and other grand occasions.
While the French style of dancing had prominence throughout most of Europe (including Britain,
Germany and Russia), contemporary Italy saw the parallel development of a distinct Italian style
continuing Renaissance traditions of dance. This area remains to be thoroughly researched, but in
2004 Barbara Sparti edited the manuscript of Ercole Santucci’s manual of 1614. Dancing masters
in Italy were described as either ‘French’ or ‘Italian’ in accordance with the style they specialised
in.
The French Noble Style, or La belle danse
Various styles of eighteenth-century dance existed: ballroom, ballet, a number of
traditional styles of theatrical dance, regional differences. The French noble style was danced both
at social events and by professional dancers in theatrical productions such as opera-ballets and
court entertainments. Other styles included the comic/ grotesque and mixtures of comic and
serious. At the Académie Royale de Danse, where professional dancers, both male and female,
were trained. The most distinctive features of the new style were the complex use of arms raised
in opposition to the foot, the turnout of legs and feet and a rise to mark the beginning of the step.
An important discussion of the preliminary plié and rise is to be found in Ken Pierce’s article,
‘Saut what? (Sauts in early eighteenth century dance)’, Proceedings (Society of Dance History
Scholars) 11th annual conference, 1988.
The same step vocabulary was used in social and theatrical dance, but it was in the theatre
that the most demanding and complicated steps were seen. Professional male dancers could
execute aerial beaten steps such as entrechats six and cabrioles. La Camargue or Camargo
shortened her skirt to show off her footwork. Such dancing was the immediate precursor of
classical ballet, which inherited the range of step-names while developing the actual steps,
sometimes beyond recognition. Social dancing too required skills of footwork, upper
body movement and timing. Complex dances were often popular adaptations from the stage. By
this time, the left foot start that marked Renaissance dances, had been abandoned in favour of
beginning steps on the right foot. However, couples dancing a duet would relate to each other in
mirror symmetry, the male dancer starting on his right foot and the female on her left.
The standard notation outlined the floor pattern as a continuous line divided into musical bars.
Alongside are placed the symbols for the required steps. This system could become immensely
complex for specific dances. To learn how to do the actual steps, we have to consult the dancing
manuals of the period (see below). The placing of the arms was not generally notated, but certain
rules applied which were described in the manuals, and the dancers could choose the most
appropriate ones to follow for each dance or devise their own system. Floor patterns were generally
made up of flowing symmetrically curving lines, “the line of beauty”, with dancers relating closely
together, coordinating both steps and hand movements. A wealth of information enables
researchers and dancers to reconstruct dances from this period with a fair amount of accuracy,
although interpretative differences are legion.
The Dances
There are over 350 extant dances published in notation. There was a basic vocabulary of
approximately twenty steps, though these were performed with many subtle variations and at least
20 different types of dances were notated, their names familiar from the dance suites of baroque
composers. The minuet became a rite of passage at courts across Europe. Dances can be
categorised in accordance with their basic rhythm:
duple rhythm: bourée, gavotte, rigaudon, etc.
triple rhythm: chaconne, courante, minuet, sarabande
compound duple rhythm: canarie, forlana, gigue, etc.
French contredanses (the French adaptation of English Country dances) were given in simpler
notation. Fleurets or pas de bourrée were generally used, with full notation only for more
unusual steps such as pas de rigaudon.
Early Renaissance Period
As the arts and sciences flourished in the European Renaissance, dance quickly rose to
preeminence. Dance increased in sophistication and social importance through the 14th century,
but unfortunately no choreographic descriptions survive from this century. It is from preserved
music tabulatures and literature, such as Boccaccio's Decameron, that we know the names of
these lost dances, which include the balli, carola (carole), stampita (estampe, istampita,
stantipes), salterello, rotta, trotto and farandole. Only treatises from later centuries give us any
hint as to what these 14th century dances might have looked like.
The 15th century is the first period in western history to have dances documented well
enough for reconstruction. Several surviving manuscripts describe the dances of the aristocracy,
for whom dance was an important courtly pastime. The dances from the northern courts
(primarily Burgundy – a large area north of the Alps including some of present-day France,
Germany and the 15 Netherlands) tended to be conservative and Gothic. Southern France
(Provence) was more innovative, while Italy was the hotbed of the avant garde.
The primary dance of the Burgundian court was the stately Bassedanse. This was a
memorized sequence of steps performed as a processional, danced to music in "perfect" (i.e.
triple) time. One surviving Burgundian dance source is the beautiful handwritten Brussels
manuscript, penned in gold and silver ink by an anonymous scribe. The Italian courts also
danced the Bassadanza (as they spelled it), although it was lighter in spirit and somewhat more
intricate than the Burgundian Bassedanse. But the epitome of Italian court dance was the Ballo.
The 15th century Balli was beautifully designed choreographies for a set number of dancers that
featured a wide variety of steps, figures and rhythms. Unlike the Bassadanza, the music and
dance phrases of the Balli were inseparable.
Both Bassadanzi and Balli were composed by highly respected dance masters, following specific
guidelines of scientific and artistic movement. The first and most important dance master of the
Renaissance was Domenico da Piacenza (ca. 1395 - ca. 1465). Two of his students represented
the next generation of dance masters: Guglielmo Ebreo (also known as Giovanni Ambrosio) and
Antonio Cornazano. Fortunately all three left detailed manuscripts describing dance theory,
deportment, specific choreographies and corresponding music.

While these surviving 15th century instruction books described the dances from the highest
courts, the dances of the artisans, burghers, lower classes and peasants remained unrecorded until
the end of the 16th century.
Courts of Europe
Renaissance dances belong to the broad group of historical dances. During the Renaissance
period, there was a distinction between country dances and court dances. Court dances required
the dancers to be trained and were often for display and entertainment, whereas country dances
could be attempted by anyone. At Court, the formal entertainment would often be followed by
many hours of country dances which all present could join in. Dances described as country dances
such as Chiarantana or Chiaranzana remained popular over a long period – over two centuries in
the case of this dance. A Renaissance dance can be likened to a ball.
Knowledge of court dances has survived better than that of country dances as they were
collected by dancing masters in manuscripts and later in printed books. The earliest surviving
manuscripts that provide detailed dance instructions are from 15th century Italy. The earliest
printed dance manuals come from late 16th century France and Italy. The earliest dance
descriptions in England come from the Gresley manuscript, c.1500, found in the Derbyshire
Record Office, D77 B0x 38 pp 51–79. These have been recently published as "Cherwell Thy Wyne
(Show your joy): Dances of fifteenth-century England from the Gresley manuscript". The first
printed English source appeared in 1651, the first edition of Play ford.
The dances in these manuals are extremely varied in nature. They range from slow, stately
"processional" dances (bassadance, pavane, almain) to fast, lively dances (galliard, coranto,
canario). The former, in which the dancers' feet were not raised high off the floor were styled the
dance basse while energetic dances with leaps and lifts were called the haute dance. Queen
Elizabeth I enjoyed galliards, and la spagnoletta was a court favorite.
Some were choreographed, others were improvised on the spot. One dance for couples, a
form of the galliard called volta, involved a rather intimate hold between the man and woman,
with the woman being lifted into the air while the couple made a 3⁄4 turn. Other dances, such
as branles or bransles, were danced by many people in a circle or line.
Our knowledge of 15th-century Italian dances comes mainly from the surviving works of
three Italian dance masters: Domenico da Piacenza, Antonio Cornazzano and Guglielmo Ebreo da
Pesaro. Their work deals with similar steps and dances, though some evolution can be seen. The
main types of dances described are bassa danza and balletto. These are the earliest European
dances to be well-documented, as we have a reasonable knowledge of the choreographies, steps
and music used.