1st of two parts
JOLO, Sulu (MindaNews / 11 August) — Among the current Sama dance masters, two of them looming huge and brilliant in their respective stages, are Earl Francis C. Pasilan of Lamitan City in the province of Basilan, Yakan artist, researcher, and dance master of Pamansak; and Nursida Diamson Jaluddin of Sibutu, Tawi-Tawi province, a teacher and Sama Tawi-Tawi dance mistress of Igal.
Earl and Nursida both agree that the pamansak and igal must be apprehended as a whole dance experience in full realization of the dancer’s interpretation. The pansak and Igal do not exist in a vacuum as artistic and aesthetic materials without their contextual social and cultural sensibilities. For these two masters, their respective dances are not to be isolated and reduced as “styles” or broken into analytical units as steps or movements as disrupted episodes independent of the whole dance. Pansak and Igal, according to both masters, are to be appreciated in terms of the overall impact of the entire performance and the inspiration animating the dancer at the moment of performance. Both emphasized the element of improvisation in their dances, that one dance performance is always unique and that the sequence of movements and the current artistic mood of the dancer may not be repeated and are never the same when danced for/in different platforms and stages.
Earl talks about his many pamansak variations (in which I also call here ‘interpretation’) such as Pansak si Laley, a dance on top of stocked ceramic plates, that he describes as meditative dance extolling the souls of the dead. In many cosmic rituals of the ancient Sama and Tagime (Yakan), white ceramic plates like mirrors are used as scrying surfaces in the communion with the unseen. In one Sama Diaut ritual of Pag’mbo’ I observed, a pinggan poteh or white ceramic bowl was among those ‘demanded’ as offertory to successfully usher a jinn pasod , that is, a jinn preparing to enter the spirit medium. In its more modern sense, we recall the remnant uses of dishes of bone China as the elite predecessors of its lowly common-table saucers made of glass or plastic and – now favored for its modern convenience and ease of disposal – paper, foil, and Styrofoam are currently becoming popular as food placements for dulang paghinangan or pagbowatan jin. In a saintly tomb in Cirebon in Western Java, the maqam or tampat (shrine) of Sunan Hidayatullah, ceramic plates are seen in various array, some as decoration, others as probable gifts offered by devotees. Sunan Hidayatullah is believed to have been one of the mystical missionaries that had also visited Sulu archipelago in the famous Lumpang Basih legend (Tahil and Quiling 2018).
Pansak si bangku (dance on a log or long wooden bench) is a reenactment of everyday ritual of Yakan peasants husking the palay (rice-stalk) which is also associated with Pansak Ngeddek, rice planting. An all-male ensemble is the Pansak pagbonoh, simulating combat moves in a dance, and is performed to agitate and embolden the spirit of warriors. . The a’mamansak usually name and ascribe certain dances in deference to their teachers. Earl who learned from one of his teachers, Her Royal Princess Lily Cuevas of Lamitan, imitates the finger-works she improvised, in Pansak pagkawin (Wedding pansak). Earl and his dancers attribute to her their festive interpretation of this dance performed during wedding with Pansak meh pangantin (Dance of the Bride). The Gandingan or Pansak meh Kadatuan is considerably an elite dance, in that, only exclusive few were privileged by the tutorship of the Lamitan royal teacher to perform it. As one of few Lamitan dancers of this pamansak, Earl describes it as similar to the Tausug pangalay as it is danced before royalty and during royal occasions. Pamansak meh kadatuan has been performed by Earl for the royal datus of Lamitan and his guests. .
Nursida and her dances have gone places both in the national capital and abroad, sponsored by public and private patrons. Recently she toured select cities in Southeast Asia on a sponsored dance educational tour by PARANGAL, a non-profit based in San Francisco California, the NGO composed of artists and practitioners and workers who propose to bridge global Filipinos and Philippine indigenous culture bearers and their communities through dance, music, and attire. Nursida danced under the tutelage of Hadja Sakinur-Ain Delasas a Gawad Ng Manlilikha Ng Bayan (GAMABA) awardee, under the auspices of Tambuli Dance Center in Tawi-Tawi.
Igalan si Nursida (Nursida’s Igal) has been featured in video documentaries to promote Tawi-Tawi as the provenance of Igalan Sama (sic). Just like Earl, Nursida ascribed her skill and talent as gifted from ancestral knowledge and that she has found little to innovate by swerving from the holistic beauty of classical movement. Nursida describes her igal as “pusaka eh matto’a” handed down from ancestors. Sometimes, for convenience, her repertoire is named, or referred to, by the kind of instrument or gadget used to accompany and enhance the dancer’s movement. She mentions igal kulintangan (dance with kulintangan) and igal bolah-bolah (dance with bamboo finger clappers) as among these. Of dances she considers original, classical, and are of kambo’an (ancient) are: Igal tariray, igal pangantin (bridal dance) and igal langka budjang (dance of a lady’s charm) as also included among her suit. Some of her dances may be adaptions and variants developed by innovations, but to her, she need not entirely abandon the classical movements in its modern rendition. To these belong: igal ma diyatah boh (dance on bamboo stilts), igal ma kibut (dance on astride clay pots/jars), igal linggisan (dance of a swallow), langka baruang (charm of a monkey), and igal kamun (dance of sea-mantis). .
The Sama dancers explain how there is no singular regional or provincial provenance for “igalan” or “pansakan”, that is, “Igalan Sama” or “Pansakan Yakan” do not exist, as there is no “Igalan OF Tawi-Tawi.” Instead, there are a multitude of igalan IN Tawi-tawi and pansakan by Sama with each one to be taken as unique and different according to the interpretation of dancers, such as in Nursida’s own Igalan si Sidang. There can be as varied as igalan Simunul, igalan Tabawan, Igalan Sitangkay, and as many as there are specific places and people claiming ownership of the dance bearing their own unique marks as interpreters, and according to the specificity of locality.
Finally, the pansak is the dancer, and the dancer is his or her igal is a good philosophy to remember by as art and artist dissolve in the moment and real experience of performance. As in Pansakan si Earl and Igalan si Nursida, the pamansak and igal can be named after the interpreter, the occasion or purpose that they are performed, and not least of all, the influences and inspirations for their interpretation, of a place, a person, or a memory invoked by the dance and dancer. The pansak and igal take on their own form and interpretive personality particular to and with respect to where they are staged, and even of the specific time or moment of their coming into being: on a mat, on top of a hill or promontory, at the beach, in the streets, on an ambulant platform or a sailing boat or, on an enclosed room, an open plaza, a grassy banquet hall, or packed gymnasium.
(MindaViews is the opinion section of MindaNews. Mucha-Shim Lahaman Quiling is Chief Executive Officer and Senior Researcher of Sulu Current Research Institute and Sharif Ul hashim Incorporated. She is also the secretary of the Sangguniang Bayan ng Jolo)