Abstract
The Philippines and Colombia share a history of colonial conquest from the same country, Spain. This shared history has influenced the ways in which folk dance has developed. Both countries have a wide folk repertoire, some of which reflects the different ways in which Spanish source material has been processed, adapted, and fused with local material to represent ways in which the past is remembered.
Despite the apparent disparity, two dances in particular, the Cariñosa in the Philippines, and the Bambuco in Colombia, share similar features in terms of their choreographic material and narratives. This article explores several meta-narratives in both sets of dances, and the politics of memory behind them, through an interdisciplinary approach, intertwining cultural representation and choreographic politics. Included in this comparative exploration are the choices towards reflecting local identities through folk dance and some of the implications of these representations in both physical and political terms.
@ The University of Waikato