Prepared by: Ariel Veloria

Paula Danica Macaranas

Nikka Joy Peralta
Michelle Magalong
History
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 A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and
centering on some characteristic aspect of that community and
its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or
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national holiday, mela, or eid. Next to religion and folklore, a
significant origin is agricultural. Food is such a vital resource that
many festivals are associated with harvest time. Religious
commemoration and thanksgiving for good harvests are blended in
events that take place in autumn, such as Halloween in the northern
hemisphere and Easter in the southern.
 Festivals often serve to fulfill specific communal purposes, especially
in regard to commemoration or thanksgiving. The celebrations offer a
sense of belonging for religious, social, or geographical groups,
contributing to group cohesiveness. They may also
provide entertainment, which was particularly important to local
communities before the advent of mass-produced entertainment.
Festivals that focus on cultural or ethnic topics also seek to inform
community members of their traditions; the involvement
of elders sharing stories and experience provides a means for unity
among families.
 
 A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by
a community and centering on some characteristic aspect
of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often
marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. Next to
religion and folklore, a significant origin is agricultural.
Food is such a vital resource that many festivals are
associated with harvest time. Religious commemoration
and thanksgiving for good harvests are blended in events
that take place in autumn, such as Halloween in the
northern hemisphere and Easter in the southern.
 Definition of Festival Dance
an intoduction…
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 Festival dances are cultural dances performed to
the strong beats of percussion instruments by a community
of people sharing the same culture usually done in honor of
a Patron Saint or in thanksgiving of a bountiful harvest.
Festival dances may be religious or secular in nature. But
the best thing about festivals is that they add to the merry-
making and festivities where they are celebrated, the
reason why they are called festival dances after all. Festival
dances draw the people’s culture by portraying the
people’s ways of life through movements, costumes and
implements inherent to their place of origin.
 Another Definition…

 are cultural dances performed to the strong beats of percussion
instruments by a community of people sharing the same culture
usually done in honor of a Patron Saint ot in thanks giving of a
bountiful Harvest
 may be religious or secular in nature
 the best thing about festival dances is that they add to the
merry making and festivities where they are celebrated (reason
why they are called festival dances after all)
 draw the people’s culture by portraying the people’s ways of
life through movements, costumes and implements inherent to
their place of origin
 Filipinos do festivals primarily to celebrate
 There are a multitude of reasons for this reason
 We celebrate our unity amidst the diversity of cultures
and we celebrate our industry bringing about a bountiful
harvest

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 Festivals have been a consistent crowd-producing
activity leading to upliftment of a community’s economy
due to its tourism and entertainment value
 Are form of entertainment that attract foreign and
domestic tourist to visit a place eventually leading to the
elevation of the Filipino’s quality of life
 Are done to honor a religious icon or celebrate our
industry
 Are a reflection of the unity of the Filipinos community
that despite the economic, social, environment, cultural
and political challenges we face every day, there can be no
other race more resilient than ours
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 Panagbenga Festival
 February | Baguio City

 The word “Panagbenga” comes

from the Kankanaey term that
means “season of blooming.”
With the numerous parades of
floral floats and children dressed
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as flora and fauna, it definitely
lives up to its name, making
Baguio the perfect destination for
those who still have a hangover
from the huge festivals in January.
Adding to the usual Baguio
tourist sites to visit, the whole
length of the Session Road during
Panagbenga becomes a feast for
the eyes. Called “Session Road in
Bloom,” Baguio’s famous street is Now that it’s a huge event bringing in
closed to vehicular traffic to make
way for flower carts, street thousands of tourists each year, it’s
dancing, and outdoor cafes. important to plan ahead (make early
restaurant reservations, bring a map,
etc.) if you are attending this
Philippine festival.
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 Sinulog Festival
 3rd weekend of January |
Cebu City

 Cebu also has its own version


of the festival in honor of the
Sto. Niño. If you find yourself
attending the Sinulog Festival,
“Pit Señor!” is a phrase you
will hear a lot. It means
“Panangpit sa Señor,” a
Cebuano phrase that means to
plead to the Señor Santo Niño.
It is one of the most attended
festivals in the Philippines, Sinulog not only sets the stage for Cebuano
attracting millions of locals and talents but also for other regional acts as
tourists from all over the contingents from neighboring provinces
world. In 2013, it was reported are showcased through street dancing,
that the number of participants pageantry, and sports. It is also known for
reached a whopping four hosting the country’s biggest raves,
million. drawing a growing number of party-goers
from all over the country year after year.
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Ati-Atihan Festival
3rd weekend of January
| Kalibo, Aklan
 This Sto. Niño festival 
started it all. One of the
oldest religious
celebrations in the
country, Ati-Atihan is
characterized by a
parade filled with face-
painted celebrants, Tourists who flock to Kalibo for the
indigenous costumes festivities are free to cover themselves in
and weapons, tribal black soot and dance on the streets with
dances, and loud the drum beats. Known as the “The
Filipino Mardi Gras,” it is truly an
drumbeats.
experience not to be missed.
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 Dinagyang Festival
 4th weekend of January | Iloilo City

 If you happen to know someone


from Iloilo, try and ask them about
this Philippine festival. You’ll see
how their pride for their city’s
festival is nothing short of
astounding.

 Once a year, Iloilo City transforms

into one big street party — streets
closed, bands in all corners,
overflowing food and drinks, and
towering boom boxes. To cap it all
off, tribes representing different
barangays and high schools
perform in one very competitive
street dancing contest. It’s no
wonder how this city’s once simple According to Iloilo City Tourism
celebration in honor of the child Officer Ben Jimena, the winning tribes
Jesus (Sto. Niño) ended up bagging
several awards including the are now going international and will
Association of Tourism Officers of be promoting Philippine tourism to
the Philippines’ (ATOP) title holder
for Best Tourism Event of the countries like the United States,
Philippines. Canada, and Singapore.
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 Basic Movements
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Pahiyas
The dancers acts like if they were passing good harvest of
fruits and
vegetables to each other smiling and happy. After that, the
dancers dance with the use of their hands, making a T
position and a reversed T position (Mostly repeats at a fast
tempo)And also rapidly moves their feet as if they are
jumping or hopping from joy. The dancers also uses their
wrists to make a circular motion with their hands, at some
part of it, the dancers leans down and pretends they are
harvesting good harvest from the field.
Panagbenga -The dancers uses stacatto
movements which means they stops for a short
second before dancing another move, the dancers

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uses their hands, moving it up and down then uses
their wrist to turn their hands from right to left while
in the air. The dancers also uses rapid of their feet or
mostly hops throughout the festival dance.

Bangus - The dancers moves really fast throughout the

dance and mostly dance with the step patterns of their feet
which moves in the pattern of close and open. The festival
shows one or many fhiserman on the hunt for a bountiful
harvest of fishes which is 'bangus'. The waves are
represented by the fluid like movement of their hands and
they have to move fast both with their arms and feet. They
mostly represent a pack of bangus swimming or a group of
fishermen fishing.
Sinulog -The dance has 2 basic steps. the natural and the
kinampilan. The natural step is the popularly known two steps
forward, one step backward while the kinampilan has one step right

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foot forward and one step backward, while the left foot stays in place.
 1. The Street Sinulog Festival Dance - which is what you can see on the
street during the celebrations. You can also see some modified (the
basic dance with additional steps) versions through the Sinulog
Festival Dance Contest. The steps are the same, but the Santo Nino
image is held by the Festival Queen and dances with it.
 2. The Traditional Sinulog Dance - which was danced for the Gorordo
Family in Cebu. This is still being preserved even today by the CASA
GORORDO MUSEUM which is owned and managed now by the RAFI
- Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc.. The difference from the street dance
is that instead of holding and dancing around with the holy image of
the child Jesus, the Image is instead placed in an altar like place and
then the dancers will dance in front of the Santo Ni o, like in paying
tribute to a King.
 3. The Dance for the Santo Ni o - which can be seen in the Basilica of
the Santo Nino danced by old ladies in prayer. The difference of this
version compared to the previous ones is that, this can only be done in
the Basilica I believe, since it is done in prayer to the Holy Child Jesus -
Santo Nino.
Dinagyang - In terms of Dinagyan Festival its
movements or its dance patterns are very fast in
tempo, the dancers move their feet in a rapid motion
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while moving from place to place,the dancers also
make use of their hands to depict something, but
also their hands moves fast with the tempo itself, the
dancers also has to gather or change to their next
formation fast.
Ati-Atihan - Their dance steps are straight
forward and easy. It's as simple as two-steps
forward, a step back with and optional turn-around.
No synchronization was necessary among the
participants.
Binalbal - The dancers use respective movements like
moving their hands from side to side or move their props
side to side in a soft and fluid movement of the hands.
They mostly use heavy choreography such as detailed
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movements of the dancers which leaves visual hints of
what the dancers are trying to portrait. They mostly
change from position to position by groups or depending
on how much they are.

Hermosa -The hermosa festival is elegant by itself

because of the way of how to dancers move their hands
up and down in a fluid motion (Represents the waves)
and how they use their props creatively, they form
themselves into a unique array of shapes and uses
illusions that surprises the viewers such as, the
rhythmical movement of their hands and their body. They
move in such a graceful way but moves or dances in a fast
tempo, trying to keep up with the music itself.
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Kadayawan - In kadayawan festival some of
the dancers uses tinikling and is presented in front
while the other dancers uses huge bamboo sticks
adorned with hanging clothes for background. While
the dancers in front more of like performs an
improvised tinikling using their wrists to make
circular motions of their hands. They also hop or
jump from side to side in a joyous manner.