The Pangalay Dance
by Harvey Jones Bahala
1. A living artifact such as the pangalay must be danced constantly, or else it dies.
2. Pangalay is basically pure dancing.
3. The dancer’s serious face with downcast eyes creates a mask-like expression, matched by a countenance generally refined, dignified but without stiffness.
4. Motion in stillness, stillness in motion. This is the Pangalay.
5. Pangalay also means “temple of dance” in Sanskrit. Pangalay antedates Christianity and Islam in the Philippines. Among Philippine indigenous dances, the pangalay dance style has the richest movement vocabulary. It is the closest to a classical form.
