MALAGUEÑA DE CATANAUAN: Philippine Folk Dance from Catanauan, Quezon

MALAGUEÑA DE CATANAUAN


More than just an icon, the “Lady of Malaga” (malagueña) is a representative of Old Spain. Spain's culture and traditions, including songs and dances were brought to the islands by the cleric, government officials, sailor-traders and prominent people, over a span of 300 years. Great effort was exerted to make sure that Spanish was Spanish and Filipino was Filipino.

But history proved them wrong. From the time, the “Lady of Malaga” invaded the dance floors of big parties and social gatherings, her execution of cubrados, marchas, paseos, vueltas and zapateados were watched and tried by her Filipino counterpart, the native señoritas with a great degree of success. Very driven, very proficient, the Filipino coped with the issue of perfecting herself to stand at par with her Spanish cousin. The result was a new malagueña that transcended the prototype with additional steps from dances already known. Rendered in duple parts and triple measure, the dance was less fiery, less snobbish. When last seen, the “Lady of Malaga” lived in the spirit of native malagueñas in the towns of Quezon and Marinduque provinces. Here, she continued to do the rounds of many parties, swirling and kicking to incredible music. Somewhere along the road, however, a great transformation occurred when our fiery lady took a 360-degree turn, shedding off her traditional movements, and giving way to soft and gentle gestures likened to a tame dove, preening and grooming. This significant twist led to the transformation of the lady of Malaga to the lady of Catanauan, the town from where it was first popularized. [Performed by the Ramon Obusan Folkloric Group at the CCP Main Theater, 4 February 2019, Pasinaya 2019]

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