TEACHING AND PRESENTING ASEAN FOLK DANCES IN THE PHILIPPINES

Abstract

The study described how the physical education teachers teach and present ASEAN folk dances in the Philippines. ASEAN folk dances are luminous in Physical Education subject and commonly used by the teachers as dance presentations in different occasions. Mixed research design was utilized in the study wherein descriptive statistics, transcriptions and coding were employed in gathering, analyzing and interpreting the data. The result showed that physical education teachers have minimal knowledge on teaching ASEAN folk dances. The prevalent factors in the lack of knowledge were due to unavailability of seminar workshop in the country, limited opportunity for international dance workshop and the lack of printed dance literature available in published books. Moreover, the PE teachers were aware on how to teach these ASEAN folk dances in its authentic way through following the dance literature. In the same vein, there are four (4) emerging criteria that comprises different constructs/concepts in teaching and presenting an ASEAN folk dances: (1) authenticity which contains interpretation of the steps based on literature, history of the dance, musicality and cultural, and religious aspect (2); performance which encompasses proper execution, dance artistry and coordination (3); choreography that covers staging and floor patterns; and (4); visual impact that includes the costumes, accessories, facial expressions and general effectiveness. In conclusion, physical education teachers need to have proper knowledge and training in teaching ASEAN folk dances. Furthermore, standards, measures and norms are deemed necessary to set and practice by PE teachers in teaching and presenting ASEAN Folk dances. Therefore, it is recommended to the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) in putting vision accounts on ASEAN folk dances to be part of the educational activities such as seminar dance workshops and strengthening the inclusion of these folk dances in Physical Education curriculum. Article visualizations: