Panulondon na mga sayaw: tracing the awareness of millenial on Mindanaoan folk dances

Abstract

This narrative study focuses on tracing the awareness of Millennial on Mindanaoan Folk dances. It was also set one‘s sight on how Millennial play a role in preserving folk dances in Mindanao. Hence, to gather more insights and interpretations from the stories and experiences of participants, we used qualitative approach and interviewed 14 participants, 7 for in-depth and 7 for focus group discussion. Through the data bases of in-depth interview and focus group discussion, triangulation of the data was made. The result classified into essential themes and core ideas on the prevalent knowledge of Millennial on Mindanaoan Folk dances. The three essential themes are: Mindanaoan Folk dances reveal historical facts, Mindanaon folk dances feature places, insufficiency of knowledge on the Mindanaoan folk dances. Furthermore, with these finding we come up with emerging interpretation on their insights on the importance of preserving Mindanaoan folk dances and these are: develop a culture of sharing the story to others, use media platform in showcasing culture, and embrace our own culture. Moreover, there are four major themes emerged on how Millennial play a role in preserving cultural dances in Mindanao and these are: awareness of our own roots, folk dances allow to be socially connected, an avenue to share the beauty of one‘s culture, and cultural dances showcase our identity. These finding enrich the knowledge on the field of folk dances specifically the folk dances that originated in Mindanao to broaden the understanding and awareness of Mindanaon people about its own cultural heritage and to take an action in strengthen the preservation of its legacy.