It appears "street
dancing" is the name of the game during town fiestas and other
community celebrations around Romblon province. Word has it that next
year, a contest will be held in search for the best "street dancing"
group or troupe. Some observers however, claim that these "street
dancing" festivals tend to ape those from other provinces - the
Sinulog of Cebu or the Aklan Ati-atihan. Thus, these astute observers
wailed: "the street dancing becomes mechanical and sophomoric.
Hence, a "bastardization of existing art forms."
Are the costumes and physical appearance of the participants in "street
dancing" faithful to our past? Perhaps we should learn from the
Spaniards during the 16th century who called the Visayans "pintados"
or painted - that is tattooed! ( pika in Asi). In a later and
unpublished manuscript, Jesuit Pedro Chirino wrote: "The principal
clothing of the Cebuano and all the Visayans is the tatooing ...with
which a naked man appears to be dressed in a kind of handsome armor
engraved with very fine work, a dress so esteemed by them they take
it for their proudest attire, covering their bodies more nor less
than a Christ crucified, so that although for solemn occasion they
have the marlotas (smock) their dress at home and in the barrio
is their tattoos and a bahag, as they call that cloth they
wrap around their waist, which is the sort that ancient actors and
gladiators used in Rome for decency's sake."
Both men and women wore earrings too! "Men had their ears pierced
with one or two holes per lobe, while women with three or four to
accommodate a variety of ornaments." Women took to growing hair
ankle-length and used flowers for fragrance. Juan de la Isla in Cebu
(1565) described the tube skirt of the Visayans: " The clothes
which they wear are a piece of material closed like a sack or sleeves
with two very wide mouths, and they make many pleats of the extra
width on the left side, and, making a knot of the cloth itself, let
the folds fall on the left, and although it does not go above the
waist, with a tight blouse most of the body and legs are clothed.."
Go picture, a "street dancing" with men in earrings and
tattooed and women with long hair and kerchief and gown!
