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...