Phildev

PHILDEV

Reflection Paper

After hearing the talk, I was saddened to know that artistic traditions are slowly becoming marginalized. This saddens me because things like these are the ones who connect us to the people of the past and to each other. This simply shows what kind of culture our country, which is the Philippines, has. I learned a lot of things about the different artistic traditions but I realized that the dance called “pangalay” stands out the most. I learned that this dance has the richest movement vocabulary of all the ethnic dances in the Philippines. This made me realize how important it is to save and preserve, not only pangalay, but as well as the other ethnic dances. These dances do not just provide entertainment for the people who are watching, they provide lessons about life. They teach us what kind of culture we, Filipinos, have and what the life was like back then. The movements show how discipline plays a big role in order to perfect the dance.

While artistic traditions are slowly dying, I am still happy to know that there are a lot of people out there who are striving hard just to preserve and nurture our traditions. These traditions that we had in the past will help us create something new and better in the present. Keeping these alive will connect us to one another not only in the Philippines, not only in Asia, but throughout the world. Though art pieces like pangalay cannot be preserved and kept in a museum, they can still be kept in the hearts and mind of the Filipinos who will just devote their time to really learn such masterpieces. I believe that if we continue to support institutions and organizations who promote traditional folk dances, we are also doing our part in helping to preserve not only these dances, but also our culture. I believe that these things in the past are the only things which can help us do something better in the present and future. This is why we should not let small things like these die, because if we...