When Seeing Is Believing: The Changing Role of Visuality in a Philippine DanceAuthor(s): Sally A. NessReviewed work(s):Source: Anthropological Quarterly, Vol. 68, No. 1 (Jan., 1995), pp. 1-13Published by: The George Washington University Institute for Ethnographic ResearchStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3317460 .Accessed: 08/01/2013 19:36Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp .JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. .The George Washington University Institute for Ethnographic Research is collaborating with JSTOR todigitize, preserve and extend access to Anthropological Quarterly.http://www.jstor.org This content downloadedon Tue, 8 Jan 2013 19:36:46 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and ConditionsWHEN SEEING IS BELIEVING:THE CHANGINGROLE OF VISUALITYIN A PHILIPPINE DANCE SALLY A. NESS University of California,Riverside This article explores the changingsubjective and objective visual significanceof the sinulog dance of Cebu City, Philippines-a pre-Hispanichealing ritual adapted to the folk Catho- lic worshipof the Santo Niho, and recentlytransformed into a secular, "cultural" per- formance. In the new context, the objectifying visual aspectsof the sinulog developedpre- dominantand autonomous relationships to other sensory experiencesof the dancing, in particular to kinesthetic experience. The developmentof this purified "visuality" reveals both the impactof changing historicalconditionson the construction of the self-in-move- ment in the dancing, as well as the creative effortsof its practitioners to continueto find meaning in the practice in the midst of changing socioculturalcircumstances. [dance, Phil- ippines, visual, self, perception] What makes adance "worth looking at?" Values relating tothe bodily experiences ofdance tradi- tions-including theirvisual impact andinflu- ence-vary from cultureto cultureand from soci- ety to society.1 This article explores,mainly from the standpoint ofthose engaged inthechoreo- graphicprocessitself, the subjective and objective visual values acquired by tworelated Philippine dance practices, as performed in the mid-1980s in Cebu City, Philippines.2 The visual characteristicsof these two dance forms, both called sinulog dances, differeddramat- ically from one another, even though one practice was consideredto be in large part a derivationand depictiverepresentation ofthe other. In addition, the relationship between the visually-oriented as- pects ofthe dancing andother sensory as- pects-particularly those orientedaroundthe sense of self-in-movement, or "kinesthetic"sense"-was construed differently foreach practice, creating quite distinctive sensoryprofiles(and thus different constructionsofthe embodied self) for each per- formance process. What was valuableas a "sight" for others (the performer'sbody becoming an ob- jectified cultural site) and what was valuableas a subjective bodily experience, which coulditself bring abouta certainkind of seeing, coincidedand conflictedin different ways in each dance practice. Inboth cases the sinulog was considered by those most immediately involvedin its creationand practice to be a form of movementthat was worth doing primarily because itwas worth being seen. By whom it was seen and for what purpose, how- ever, differed markedly between thetwoforms. Understanding the differing "visuality" ofthese two closely relatedCentral Philippine dance prac- tices, and their very different relationships tothe changing socioculturalcontextof Cebu City, sheds light on the differentkindsof selves and bodiessi- multaneously available for performance inthis Philippinecommunity, and the differentkinds of meaning embodiedvisual experiences cancreate and communicatein a contemporary urbantrans- cultural setting. The Ritual Tradition CollectivePractices The Visayan language term sinulog translates roughly as "moving like a current"and refersto a numberofritual practicesperformedthroughout theCentral Philippines.4 The Cebu City sinulog was generally believed by its practitioners in 1984 and1985 tohave originated in the pre-Hispanic era asan animisticchildren's healing ritual that was adapted in the sixteenth century to the worship of the SantoNiflo image, the city's patronimage of Jesus the Child King." Until sometimeafter the turnofthetwentieth century, sinulog dancing servedas a climacticeventfor the fiestacelebration for the Santo Nifio, held annuallyduring the third week in January. The practice took place insidethe Augustinian church where theSanto Nifto was kept, whichin 1965 was elevatedto the statusof a Basilica andrenamed theBasilica Minore del Santo Nifio. Nodetailed descriptions oftheCebu City sinulog ritual have been recoveredthat date back more than severaldecades.One of the earlierde- 1 This content downloadedon Tue, 8 Jan 2013 19:36:46 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions2ANTHROPOLOGICAL QUARTERLY tailed descriptions,however, written by an Ameri- can visitorto the city sometimein the early 1920s, gives some idea of the sensory natureof the collec- tive ritual practice fromwhichthe sinulogpractices of the 1980s were in part derived: On one side of the huge empty hall was a small altar upon whichhad been placed the black image ofthe ChristChild.... The priest at the altar gave a signal andthe hugeportalsswung inwardswitha mighty crash. Immediately the great naveof theancientchurchwasfil- ledwitha massof howling,gesticulatinghumanitywhich rushedheadlonginto the chapelgivingventto piercing shrieksandunnaturalcries.. .. Menand women,many with infantsin their arms,began to danceand caper, holdingup the bewilderedbabiestowardsthe impassive little figure, andnever ceasing fora momentto utterun- earthly howls. Many ofthewomen wore white handkerchiefs upon their heads which, while hopping about grotesquely,they snatched off, waved wildly in the air, andtorethemto shreds.... Thevividhuesof the native costumes,minglingand interminglingas the wor- shippersspunaboutin a dizzywhirl,becamea veritable kaleidoscope. At length the ecstacy or frenzy . ..woreoff through sheer fatigue. Theturbulent gathering . . . gradually re- solveditself intoa longline whereit waitedpatiently and quietly. .... As eachindividualpassedbeforethe Santo Nifio, he or she bentand reverentlyplaced a kiss upon the diminutivefoot. ..(Leonard ca. 1922: 3-4). This account, despite itsethnocentric biases, clearly indicates thatthe early collective ritual sinulog, as a sensoryexperience,appears tohave had significantaural, tactile, and kinestheticas- pects, atleast as significant asits visual aspects. The repeated referencestothe "piercing shrieks and unnaturalcries" and the participants' "un- earthlyhowls," indicatethat the ritual involvedin acentral way sensationsof sound."The report of the snatching off of handkerchiefs, the holding of babies, and, most notably, the prominence ofthe act of kissing the Santo Niflo image indicatesthat tactile sensationswere also of central significance as well. Finally, the referencesto "frenzied" "gro- tesque" and"wild" bodily actions indicate that heightened sensations of bodily movement were also key elementsin the practice. Less prominent are observationsofactions that have a predomi- nantly visual orientation.The aiming of gestures towardthe Santo Niflo image, the sight of "vivid hues" ofnative costumes "spun about in a dizzy whirl,"and the formationofa long line near the end of the event indicatesome attentionto specifi- cally visual aspects ofthe sinulog ritual. In sum, however,this collective sinulogtradition appears to have been amovement experiencethat wasnot predominantly about seeing or beingseen, but ratherone involving all the sensesof the selvesen- gaged in it in an integrated,heightened, and collec- tive expression of devotion. The TinderaPractice Overthe courseof the twentieth century the ritual practice of the sinulog in Cebu City becameassoci- ated with alack of education,poverty, and rural living.7 By the 1980s it had been bannedfrom the interiorof the Basilica.In 1984 and 1985 pilgrims coming to worship the image were occasionally seen dancing an abbreviatedsolo versionof the rit- ual on or nearthe Basilica grounds.(See Figure1.) However, the performance ofthe ritual as ithad devolvedover the century in Cebu City had come to be associated mainly with middle-aged and eld- erly women candle sellers, called tinderas, who workednear and on the grounds ofthe Basilica. These tinderas, a fluctuating and largely unstruc- tured group of semi-transient mothers,grandmoth- ers, and widows, would perform a ritual sinulog in themanner ofthe pilgrim/devotee tradition for customers buying candles who requested it. Their dancing, farfrom anyconvulsive,acrobatic, or frenzied performanceprocess, involved mainly a se- ries of vaguelydirected,limp hand gestures used to wave devotee-purchased candlesin the directionof the Santo Niflo image for an unspecifiedperiod of time, and an accompanying foot step pattern once described by alocal journalist as a "queerquaint sway balance." The tinderas,many of whomtraveledinto the city on a weekly or semi-weekly basisfrom outlying districts,slept on the sidewalksaroundthe Basilica for several nights a week in orderto help augment theincome ofextended family households. They were workers engaged in a trade, and that trade was the primary reason they foundthemselves reg- ular performers of their relatively minimalversion of the sinulog ritual. However, the tinderaswereas well devoteesof the Santo Niflo. Several had life historiesthat included manyyears of leading com- munity prayer servicesand other religious activi- ties. Faith in the efficacy of the sinulog and respect for its sacredcharacterstill ran quite high among these performers in the mid 1980s.As one tindera put it, she had two kargos or areas of potentially burdensome responsibilityresulting fromher work. One was to please her customers,giving them the religiousservices they desired. The other was to please the Santo Nifio, who would punish her if she This content downloadedon Tue, 8 Jan 2013 19:36:46 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and ConditionsWHENSEEINGISBELIEVING3 ,g';? . :. .:p~ik :g-,jyn ?? U?l~ ..? . .. , ? .,.. :. ..,..-....:.::: - . -.:.... .. . ...... ~~~~~ ??? ....- .. .....:...:-.?. :: ':a" " ' "". .i.'- Figure 1.A TinderaDancesthe Sinulog Facing the Main Entranceto the BasilicaMinoredel Santo Niflo. failedto perform sinulogs sincerely. Others re- counted stories ofmiraclesthe Niflo had recently performed and of his most recent apparitions, and ofthe punishments hehad inflicted oninsincere and impious devotees.8 The sensoryexperience of the tindera sinulog, while itwas believedtobe an expression ofreli- gious devotionsimilarto that of the formercollec- tive practice, was differentin many respects. In ccntrast tothe magnification ofaudible stimuli characteristicofthe collective ritual, the tinderas placed a value on diminishing the audible aspects of their dancing, and many madeno soundwhatso- ever when they danced.As one tindera put it, "if you shout (siyagit), God might become deaf (bungol). Even if you whisper (hunghung) God can hear it." Anothertinderadescribedthe audibleas- pect ofher sinulog as. a "murmuring" (yamyam)-a termalsousedtodescribe the trance-likeutterancesoflocalshamansor mananambal.While the pedestrian contextof these performances andthefactthat they took place somewhat surreptitiously onthechurch grounds withoutthe support of the churchauthorities prob- This content downloadedon Tue, 8 Jan 2013 19:36:46 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions4ANTHROPOLOGICAL QUARTERLY ably contributedtothis evaluationofthe audible aspects ofthe sinulog, from the performers'per- spective, thelackofsound accompaniment en- hancedthe sacred,prayerful characterof the sinu- log performance.9 Visually-orientedaspects played amore note- worthy role in this sinulogpractice than in the pre- vious collective practice. The eyes could sometimes function inthetindera ritual asa passageway through which spirits, good and evil alike might pass inside the body.10 The tinderasconceivedof the sinulog literally asan"inter-view"between themselvesand the Santo Niflo. They describedthe ritual experience as atime when they "faced"or were"in frontof God" (atubangan sa Dios). Virtu- ally every feature of the ritual movement style as the tinderas performed it was associatedwith this face toface performance context:aslow (hinay) tempo for performing the sinulog gestures and steps, a "softened" (piano) or gentle dynamicqual- ityemployed toform the hand waves, and are- strained,small-range(gamay) mannerof moving all the limbs. As one tindera elaborated, the sinu- log that they performed was differentfrom the one doneinthe parade onfiesta day because the tinderasdid not go into the streetsto dance-they stayed on the church grounds and danced facing the Santo Niflo. Remaining in the Nifo's direct sight line was criticalto the successful performance of the ritual. A face to face connectionwas believedto be essen- tial to establishing the verbal one communicating the specific requests ofthe devotee. The tinderas were, in fact, strikingly consistentin constructing and maintaining a gaze pathway into the interior oftheBasilica during their individual sinulogs. Throughout the pre-danceopeningprayers, as well as in the dancingphase itself, and the post-dancing final prayerphases ofthe ritual, the gaze ofthe tinderasdid not waveror leave this specific focus. Itis impossible to say why or how this gaze element, and the value placed on "facing God," had either emerged or devolvedfrom theearlier sinulog ritual practice. Thetinderas themselves made no mentionof the gaze aspect of their danc- ing as something new or differentfrom the sinulog practices of the past, although it clearly precluded any of the "dizzy whirling" that evidently charac- terized the older sinulog form. Itis possible that the frontal orientationand gaze pathway was in- tensifiedas a kindof compensatory actionwhenthe dancing wasexpelled fromtheinterior ofthe church, as a way of remaining "in touch"with the now less accessible Nifio image. The notionof be- ing atubangan sa Dios may have emerged as a par- ticularly salient conceptual frame for the ritual at this time as well, although it might just aswell have had much older roots, and been an influence on the movement style and visual practices of the earlierformsof the ritual. In any case, the tindera sinulog of the mid-1980s was a ritualin whichsee- ing played an importantsubjectiverole, far more important than hearing or expressingsound, and also one inwhich being seen by the Santo Niflo was criticallyimportant. The self-in-movementwas both an agent of seeing and an object of sight. Visual aspects,however, werenot the only sen- sory channel employed intheritual. What the Santo Niifo was in fact meantto see was not a con- crete object, not a "body" in the most literalsense of the term. Fromthe dancers' perspective, the de- sired object of the Santo Niflo's gaze was nothing other than a feeling, aninternal emotionalstate made animatein the dancer's body, but one which was, paradoxically,largely invisible.Most vital to the ritual was the experience-as opposed tothe expression-ofkinasingkasing or "sincerity." Kinasingkasing insured the efficacy oftheritual process. "Kasingkasing" translatesas "heart."As one tindera put it, "my heart must be truly seriousfor the offering I make only so that my prayers will be heard."' The general consensus among tinderas wasthattheSanto Niiiowould listen totheir prayers tothe extent that they were heartfelt.It wasthis "heart-feeling"expression thatwas presented beforethe Santo Niflo's gaze. The specificfeeling of the heartas it dancedin the sinulog was describedin different ways by dif- ferent tinderas.Most often, when describing this feeling, ideas ofboth intensity and depth were mentioned.One tindera, for example, usedthe term,"mindulut," which translates literally as "deep" to describeher feelingsduring the dancing. The deepness of her prayers resultedin her feeling "light"(ga-an sa lawas) after the performance of the ritual. Severalother tinderasassociateda slow tempo of movementwith the experience of kinas- ingkasing,saying it allowedthem to concentrateon praying. Anothertindera reported that in orderfor her to act in good faith for her customerher prayer had to be "intense"or "tight"(hugot) so that the SantoNiflo wouldlisten.Whenshe achievedthis, a feeling ofloosenessor openness (kaluog) inher This content downloadedon Tue, 8 Jan 2013 19:36:46 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and ConditionsWHENSEEINGISBELIEVING5 heartfollowed.This feeling of tenseness deep in the heartwas one that many tinderas experienced. Sev- eral noted that the intensity was such that they oftenfeltclosetotears when dancing. Asone tindera put it, the sinulog was "sentimental kaayo" ("verysentimental"). In sum, while thetindera sinulog was defi- nitely a ritual concernedwith seeing and with be- ing seen by the Santo Niflo, these aspects ofthe ritual process were connectedwith action that had kinestheticand imaginedverbal, non-visualorien- tations.While morevisible expressions of emotion, such as crying, or variousfacial expressions were mentionedas frequentoccurrences,they were not reported as essentialmanifestations.Sensationsof movementand tensionin various parts of the body, particularly atense holding of the upper torso or heart region, were instead consideredvital toa credible performance of the sinulog. These internal experiencesgave the ritual meaning as something believedto be acceptable of the Santo Niflo's sight. An integratedmulti-sensoryexperience was thus, from the standpoint of those creating the perform- ance, still fundamentalto this versionof the sinu- log practice,although it was in all likelihooda very different experience fromthoseof devoteesof years gone by. The Parade Sinulog In 1980, through the effortsof the regional officeof the national Ministry of Youth and Sports Devel- opment(MYSD), working in cooperation with the Augustinianreligious order of Cebu, adifferent context for, and version of, the sinulog traditionde- veloped. The new practice was developed for col- lege students, who were trained to performsteps modelledin part after the tinderas' sinulog. A spe- cial sinulog procession was staged atthe Basilica during the fiesta week. In1981 and the years fol- lowing, this student-oriented"culturalrevival"of the sinulog(as the directorof the MYSD officeat the time described it) was taken over by the Cebu Citygovernment andvarious private corporate sponsors.Under thenew leadership, the develop- ment was expanded into a secularcelebrationmod- elled on the more general theme of a towncarnival and designedspecifically to attract visitorsto the city for the fiesta week.'2 In orderto encouragecommunityparticipation inthis new promotionalfestival, organizers insti- tuteda sinulog parade contest, inwhich cont- ingents fromvarious organizations withinand around the city could compete for large cash prizes. In 1985 severalthousandindividualsdanced in this sinulogparade,representing over one hun- dred, schools,clubs, businesses,governmentagen- cies and local neighborhoods. The parade was created by people motivated primarilyby a "spirit of cooperation"(as one vet- eran parade contest judge put it) with government agencies and private organizations. The leading choreographers were establishedmiddle class pro- fessionals, many ofthem dance instructorsem- ployed in physical education departments oflocal colleges and high schools, some of whomhad long- time scholarly and artistic interests inthefolk dancetraditionsof the Philippines. The performers, by1985, includedmales and females ofall ages and many different backgrounds.They were not necessarily devoteesof the Santo Niflo, or Roman Catholics.The largest and most successfulcont- ingents, however, were still composedmainly of young men and womenof college age, who came from all overthe region to attendlocal institutesof higher education. The paradesinulogquicklygained anational reputation,drawing acrowd of spectators esti- mated tobeover onemillion strong in1985. Parade contest winners travelled toManila and other cities in the Philippines to participate in pa- rades and competitions of variouskinds. Needless to say, with this dramaticshift in participants,motivation, performancecontext, and interpretation, the sensoryprofile,particularly the visual character, of the dancingchanged dramati- cally as well. In the new context, the sinulog be- came a meansof representing the ideal self-image of the city and its region to the worldat large. A new style of sinulog resultedthat represented the interrelated processes of internationalization, secu- larization, and commercializationin which itwas now involved.This was a sinulogstyle meantto be lookedat by a variety of audiences simultaneously: contest judges, local friendsand family of the par- ticipants, TV camerasfrom Manila, devoteesof the Santo Niflo from allover the archipelago, and tourists being flown infrom Japan, the U.S. and other overseas locations. The performances now sought to speak auniversalvisual language, to transcendor translatea variety of cultural systems of interpretation, and to representanumber of largely unrelatedthemes: thenatural beauty of Cebu and the Philippines, the graciousnessand This content downloadedon Tue, 8 Jan 2013 19:36:46 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions6ANTHROPOLOGICAL QUARTERLY hospitality ofthelocal culture, the history ofthe archipelago, thetraditional material culture ofthe region, and, of course, the local experience of devo- tiontotheSantoNiflo. Groups rehearsed forweeksormonths before the parade toachieve adrill-team-like accuracy in their sinulog demonstrations.The sinulog dances evolvedinto performances whereabstract spatial forms-circlesand diamonds, linesand spi- rals-would appear through theunison movements ofa largecorps, as large as150dancers ormore. Ina typicalperformance, dancers might construct a grid-like form, composed oftwohundred hands, aligned into eight columnsand twenty-five rows. Thehands would riseasone unit, until they were hanging suspended inthe space above and infront ofonehundred smiling faces.Allat once, the handswould begin towavefromsideto side, as 200feet began to step inafour-four rhythm first straight forward, then in place, then straight back- ward, thenin place. Justas suddenly asthisform would appear, itwouldbemadetovanish.Hands would drop, the stepping would change toafor- ward march, andthecolumnswould merge into two long linesof bodies, soontotraveldowna roadway toan appointedstoppingplace where parade contest judges would be waiting to examine them.Suchwas a typical sequence ofaction inthe new parade sinulog.(SeeFigure2.) Thisradicaltransformationofthe sinulog dancing, of course, didnotoccurwithoutcontro- versy.The value placed on abstract,visually-ori- ented choreography thatcould give immediate gratification to the eyes of pleasure-seeking tourists did not reign supreme. It was set against an equally powerful intentionof paradeorganizers, contest judges, and manyleadingchoreographers tore- present the style or flavor, ifnot theactual subjec- tive experience, of spirituality manifest in the older rituals. In1980and1981the originalparade or- ganizers had worked out guidelines for judging the contingents, andmadedecisionsaboutwhatwas essential and what was negotiable in avalid repre- sentationoftheritualtradition.Inthisdecision makingprocess, theorganizers didnotselectthe maintainedgazepathway ofthetinderasinulog style asakey elementnecessary forauthenticre- productions of the dance-adecision that made ob- vioussensegiven thestreetcontextoftheparade and the impossibility ofamaintained spatial focus ontheBasilicaandtheSanto Niflo image. Like- wise, the organizers did not select postural features connectedwiththe experience of kinasingkas- ing-featureslargely related tokinesthetic percep- tionsofthe upper torso and difficult to judge from avisualorientation. Instead,organizers identified through aseries of spatially-defined pathways and coordinates"basic steps and gestures," a phrase thatlater judges and choreographers frequently used todiscuss the body movement features ofthe traditional sinulogpresented intheirroutines. By visuallyobjectifying an array of stepping patterns andarm actions, the organizers delimitedcertain aspects of the ritual that could be used to represent the sinulogpractice asa whole,and, inso doing, lefttherest ofthe performance design-costumes, collective forms,facingorientations, gazepattern- ing andkinesthetic perceptions--open to interpretation.'3 Giventhat choreographedrelationships be- tween seeing, heart feeling, and being seenwere central totheconstruction ofthesacred devotional selfintheritual sinulogpractice, the controversy overthe parade choreography not surprisingly re- volved around the consequences of presenting per- former'sbodiesin objectified, collectivevisual formsthatwereoutsidetheboundsoftheritual tradition.Couldthe dancing selvesofthe parade sinulog be both pleasing to the eyes oftourists and alsobefaithful representatives oftheritual prac- tices?Ordidtheeffectsoftheformer cancelout theintentionsofthelatter?Commentsfromthe parade sinulog choreographers illustrate the range of interpretation applied to the new, more problem- aticallyobjective and abstract visual orientation of the paradesinulogs, andthe dissentingopinions about theideal relationship ofthe parade sinulog's subjective kinesthetic experiences tothoseofthe ritual sinulog practices. The choreographer who wonthe parade com- petition inthe top division of contingents in1985 believed, not surprisingly, thatthesecular andsa- cred effects ofthe parade sinulog could operate si- multaneously in performers' bodieswithoutcom- promising oneanother.Inhisview,theembodied spirit ofhissinulog dance was stillone of praising and sacrificing. The notion of "dance" itself, played akey role in this choreographer'sconceptualization This content downloadedon Tue, 8 Jan 2013 19:36:46 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and ConditionsWHEN SEEING ISBELIEVING 7 ''gp------------~?qge~,~ki;~"'??'?...~ppl-~~~-s~?~;h~~,~g~g~l~~.l~~L~~g~",~f;-mr~:~,E*F~E~LCS~P~~::? -?????-??~--.~~ay, P~.A :a :,ii ... a ?j~:2?'"~???r;? '','~~-?-?:?? :::ia::: i?.?b'-B :?.I .x8-~*~.#8~'~:: ?:B,:.. ?:?w~8:;?:??::?.?..d :R'd ~E?r8a,',i .i'X~8~" ~86:a~:?X-:???r f"VI~-.?:?:? ?-?..:? 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C%~fP~'~i~~H~SEi~:~~SIil8itik#:~::ai,:~, ':'"''~.~:?"~#~~~:::13:~EiSIi4xc;z~x:::::::::E::::i14:~iS~iiS~~i~~: erls%-R-?:-:?:?:?:-:-:r?.?:?::?.?:?::?:?.?'?''???????????.?.?.?.. ??.?: "?'::;x??::::-:-:::::?::::::?" ::I::::::::::::::"':i:::::i:: ~"' ~;xr?,~xi '''''' r?~l~:?, 3B~fW~?~:~X, ~~ ~~ ''' :i I:? :? i~j~iI~8~1~1~~~8~~i~Bs~ .I~f~S~B~BB~sBtY~88~ri~aBBI~BI~''PBB"~RI x :;-~~s~e~.~-~:~:~ :?: E',i~F-~-%:.??'-~;P..?'~B~a. r 1..j ?P Figure 2.Parade Sinulog Dancers Gesturing in Unison. This content downloadedon Tue, 8 Jan 2013 19:36:46 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions8ANTHROPOLOGICAL QUARTERLY of the sinulog's transformationand the objectifica- tion of the dancer's body it entailed.The tinderas, he argued, although they embodiedananimated devotional spirit in their rituals, didn't really do a "dance"when they practiced their versionofthe sinulog.They performed randomarm gestures that did not fully qualify as dance from his perspective. Inthis respect, the parade sinulog performances, which were meant tobe"dance"and not ritual, had to become more acreationof the choreogra- pher's inventionthan they were a reconstructionof the ritual tradition.The visual appeal of the per- formancewas this choreographer'sprimary concern in modifying the sinulog ritual. He had revisedthe tindera sinulog for his120 dancersin the parade competition becauseit was, in his words, "not nice to look at"-theself-in-movementnot being fully objectified in a visually desirable way. In orderto improve the appearance of the ritual sinulog, this choreographer hadchosen tohavethedancers carry and manipulatelarge fans and bamboo poles and tocreate complex group formationsthat di- vided the corps into multiple distinct figures, such assetsofconcentric circles formed onvarious levels. Thisrevision had not, inthis choreogra- pher's view, compromised the religiousaspects of the performance. The internal experiences ofthe performers were not seen as having been altered by these external transformations.Heartfelt feelings were left unmodifiedwhile another layer of exter- nally-oriented behaviorhad been imposedupon the bodiesof the dancer'son top of the now underlying spiritual condition.The selves-in-performance, in this choreographer'sview, were conceived ofas splitfigures, whose subjective kinesthetic exper- iences could operate independently oftheir audi- ence-orientedactions. Other choreographers, eventhosewhoex- pressed anabhorrenceofthecommercialization and competitive contextof the new parade and who felta strong commitmentto preserving accurate representations of the ritual movementin their re- constructed performances, also describedthe sinu- log dancing of the tinderasas "simple,""boring for the ordinaryonlooker," or "monotonous," and saw these conditionsas non-essential, modifiable aspects of the sinulogbody movement process.Perhaps the most articulatestatementof this perspective on the relationship betweenthe abstractvisual and inter- nal spiritualcharactersof the sinulog came from a senior choreographer who had workedon the festi- val promotion from itsstart, and had repeatedly won the top prize in the parade.Impressedby the tinderas' dancing, which he describedas a process of "feelingstrong insidein the heart," whichcould "lift them up and make them float," this choreog- rapher claimed that his choreography created for his paradegroups the same kindof experience dur- ing the festival parades. In 1985, he said, his group of 150 dancers (secondplace winnersin the top di- vision) had carriedabannerin the paradesaying "Naghalad Kami" ("We Make An Offering") to emphasize that their performance had a religious inspiration. The group, which the choreographer statedwas composed of studentsas well as teachers and other professionals, went through the entire, day-longparade barefoot,dancing on hot asphalt much ofthetime. But, he noted, nobody com- plained and the day after there were no reports of injury. This choreographer, likethosementioned above, also describedthe ritual sinulogdancing as "boring" and inneed ofmodificationfor parade purposes. His modificationshad included resetting the step sequencesjudges had identifiedwith the ritual tradition sothat they were performed in paired group formationsand incorporating other spatially-definedgestures and groupfigures into his parade renditionsas well. His rationalefor taking thecreative initiative to change thearm move- ments, costumes, and group characterof the per- formancewas in part that thereal spirit ofthe dance, as he put it, "came from the inside," and this spiritual core wouldremainunaffected by rela- tively superficial modifications. In sum, many of the leadingparadechoreog- raphers interpreted the parade sinulog as being comprised of"dance" aspects that were observer- orientedor "nice to look at" and religiousaspects thatwere significant but internal, invisible, and largely unaffected by the choreographers' innova- tions. A dissociating of objectified visual and sub- jective kinesthetic perceptions allowedfor this rela- tively harmoniouscoexistenceof the "dance"and "ritual" aspects of the sinulog in the view of these key participants. Other choreographers,however, were not so convincedof the superficialautonomy of the more eye-catching elementsof the paradechoreography. One choreographer, for example, had opted not to complicate the choreographythroughcolorfulcos- tume and elaborateprops becauseshe believedthat it would compromise in an essentialway the repre- sentation oftheritual tradition.This choreogra- This content downloadedon Tue, 8 Jan 2013 19:36:46 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and ConditionsWHENSEEINGISBELIEVING9 pher was critical ofwhat she termed the "mardi gras" spirit of the parade, which she believedwas inappropriate for an authenticreconstructionof the Cebu City sinulog practice. Although her groups had placedamong the firstthreewinnersin the top divisionin previousyears, they had ranked21st in 1985, aloss ofstatus she believed largely due to her unwillingness to modify the performance and transformit into a desirablevisual object. Several other choreographersreported that theyrecently hadwithdrawn contingents under their supervision from the parade sinulog in part becausethe parade's"spirit of competition," which they now judged to be the predominant motivation for paradeparticipants, had had an adverse impact on the development of the paradeexperience. The "more religious"atmosphere of the originalpromo- tional efforts of1980 and 1981 had given way to one that was considered by these choreographers to betoocommercialandtolack anything buta vaguely defined recreationalaudience appeal. As one choreographerput it, the new groups of danc- ers did not manifestthe same "spirit of sacrifice" that the originalparade dancershad. Other choreographers located themselves at the opposite end of the evaluative spectrum. These participants deniedthat there was in fact any sub- jective spiritual dimensionto the new choreography atall. They castthe parade dancing asbe- ing--quite appropriately-nothing other than the embodiment ofobservational pleasures.Onetop choreographer, for example, stated that he viewed the paradesinulogsimply as an educationaland a recreational experience for his students. Although he felt compelled to make sure that all of his stu- dents understoodthe history ofthe sinulog ritual tradition, he also supported the desire on the part of the studentsto make the dancing into a visually competitive event. "I hope you win," hetold his dancers, on the eve of the parade. There were no religiousstrings attached to his conception ofthe parade context. The observationally-oriented as- pects ofthis choreographer'ssinulog reflectedhis secular interpretation of the dance experience. He had experimented with differentkindsof movement that wouldincreasethe visual appeal of his chore- ography.Among the sourceshe drewfromwereac- tions and gestures resemblingthose used inthe dancesof the southernislandsof the Philippines, a dance vocabulary that was generally referredto by paradeparticipants as being of the "Muslim style," since the culturalcommunities practicingthe origi- nal forms were predominantly Islamic.The incor- poration of "Muslim"dancemovementswas a pop- ular strategy among paradechoreographers.(See Figure3.) Employing this style of body movement was believedto give the paradegroups a more so- phisticated look. Choreographers described"Mus- lim" actionsas having a "sharp" and "spectacular" appearance that had an exotic flavor.Such move- ments contrasted starkly with the Cebuanosinu- log's "flowing,""light," and "bouncy"appearance, which was not consideredto carry the same visual appeal. However, this "Muslim style," because it originated inthesouthern regions ofthe Philip- pines, was also considered inappropriateby many parade authoritiesfor use in the Cebu City cele- bration.Its employment was problematic, not only becauseit compromised the religiousexperience of the dancing, but also becauseit compromised the claims of regionalauthenticity for the sinulogper- formance process. The leading choreographers ofthe parade sinulog thus expressed a range of attitudestoward the objectification of the self-in-movementand its effect on spirituality of the sinulogpractice. Some choseto recognize that a valid representation of the ritual practice could only be "exhibited" by a con- tinued adherenceto the diminished bodily expres- sionof spatially ambiguous movement patterns characteristicof the tinderaritual. These choreog- raphers insisted that the observabledimensionof the performance, such as it was, was closely linked tothe ritual experience.However, for others the subjective devotional experience, ifitwas consid- ered necessary at all, was not believedto be com- promisedby the additionofabstract visually-ori- ented movements, since the aspect of the self that was involvedin the devotional experience was re- garded as largely invisible,inaccessible, and inter- nally secure. In anycase, theself-in-movement constructedfor the paradesinulog was not a figure boundto the Santo Nifio by a two-way visualchan- nel, and not a figure whose heart was expressed through its eyes. This parade self was a layeredfig- ure with separable external and internal aspects, whose limbs exhibiteda capacity for finely tuned, carefully directed behavior, and whose heart was left largely to its own pursuits. Conclusion Thesensesofanembodied self-in-movement playeddifferentroles,constructeddifferenthuman This content downloadedon Tue, 8 Jan 2013 19:36:46 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions10ANTHROPOLOGICAL QUARTERLY .... ...... ... ......... .......... AV 499, .-:::::.:::: ....... .... .. -7y 1 .?-.i . ,.. . .. ,:. ? .i? 3..?.???? lr?% ????i.?i?r ;;.? ??: : : .. ..? i ? ? ? ?? ..; ,?? ..;'i? ?.. ..... . :.-..: ..: . .. .. .o.. . :.::. .. ... .. .... .. . . .: , . ... :. . Figure 3.Parade Sinulog Dancers Gesturing in the "Muslim" Style. This content downloadedon Tue, 8 Jan 2013 19:36:46 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and ConditionsWHEN SEEINGISBELIEVING11 figures, and represented a variety of interestsand influencesin the ritualand secularCebu City sinu- log practices of the mid-1980s.In the tinderasinu- log, feeling and seeing were intrinsically linked in the dancingsubject.Ideally, the dancer's process of seeing produced a sort of synesthesia, and acted as a catalyst for kinestheticand tactile experience. To see the face of the Nifto in the dancewas to believe in His miraculous powers, and to be seen dancing facing Him was to be believedasincere devotee. The movementsof the ritual sinulog were perceived to create amiraculous space in which the eyes of the devoteeand those of the Nifto could touch and feel inside the being ofeach other, merging both subjective and objective as well as visualand kines- thetic realities.The participants-be they custom- ers or tinderas--expectednothing more and noth- ing lessfrom the dancing thanthis self/other synthesis of perceptualprocesses. In the paradesinulog,multisensoryintegrative constructions gave way to an interestin visual ex- perience. This experience was construedfor selves composed of sensory channelsthat were more au- tonomous,allowing for the recognition of beings that might now be considered simply as "the ob- servers"and "the observed."In the transformation from sinulog "ritual"to sinulog "dance"a percep- tual distention occurred, in whichsenseswere sepa- ratedout fromone anotherfor select symbolicpur- poses. Parade sinulogs approached to differing extents (depending onthe particularchoreogra- pher'sperspective) a purely visualorientation where "seeing for seeing's sake" guided the choreo- graphicdesign. Freedfrom the key contextualele- ment of "facingGod," visual aspects of the danc- ing were cut adrift from the conventionsof piety that had formerlykept them mooredto bodily ex- perience.Kinasingkasing,likewise, was allowedto sink into an invisible subjective realm. The story of the sinulogeasily couldbe cast as a sort of sensory downward spiral, a twistedmove- ment away from deep feelings toward emptyforms, and, forthe dancers, from the performance of whole to splitpersonhood. The emergence ofa predominantlyobservational,objectifying orienta- tioninthe parade sinulog ofCebu City corre- spondedclosely to increasing economic pressures stemming from the city's neocolonial dependence on global capital flows, pressureswhich were un- derlinedand intensifiedin the early 1980s by the propaganda effortsof the Marcos regimestruggling to maintainits crumblingpowerbase. The parade ideal of the sinulog as being first and foremostan attractivevisual experience for audiencemembers and, so, another-orienteduse ofthe performers' bodies testifiedto the need of the city's leadership to demonstrateits controlover the movementsof the parade'sparticipants, as well as the desire to corner some share ofdomesticand international tourist markets.The evolutionofthe sinulog can thusbeviewed asa fairly classic example of Barthes' "myth on the right"(1972: 151), and dis- missedas the too often told story of how the eyes of global otherscame to dominateand controlthe kinesthetic experiences of local selves,Evenwhilea theme of spirituality remained persistent and popu- lar amongparadechoreographers and participants, whether ornotthe dancing actually served, or might possiblyserve, oreven whether itinfact ought to have served, as a religiousexperience that was subjectivelyfulfilling remained decidedlyopen to question. Whilethe experience ofdevotion wasnot abandonedor destroyed in the paradesinulogs, the metaphoricexperience of seeing as believing, so centralto the tindera practice, was no longer a pos- sibility for the selvescreatedin the parade context. The visualand kinesthetic aspects of these dancing bodieswerenowconceivedas necessarilyseparable. The self-in-movementwas meant, not to see, but to be seen, and to be seen, not to be believed (felt as sincere), but to inspire adesire simply to be seen some more and more. This resultedin part from the fact that the paradechoreography was directed toward inspiring anaudience who, if they had nothing else incommonwith the performers, all had human eyes, eyes sensitiveto color,spatial de- sign, synchrony of movement, and visual sugges- tions of"The Exotic." What thenature ofthe hearts of this new audience might be was allowed toremain an open question. Thehuman figures constructedon both sides ofthe performer-audi- ence frame were thus conceivedas "split"percep- tual figures. However, the history of the sinulog is not sim- ply a history of a perceptual battle betweenselves and others.The visual natureofeach sinulog did not representonly the power relations operating in the socioculturalcontextof the performance. To fo- cus exclusively on this interpretation, or to give it the final word in this account,reduces dispropor- tionately the creativeeffortsof the participants in each practice torender meaningfulthevarious sinulog movements according to their own life ex- This content downloadedon Tue, 8 Jan 2013 19:36:46 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions12ANTHROPOLOGICAL QUARTERLY periences. It silences the voices of performers and choreographers heard in the previouspages, or at least damages their claimto "speak themove- ment"-tobeitsfirst authority and interpretive agent inthediscourseofits "making"(Barthes 1972: 145-148). None of the tinderas interviewed, for their part, viewedthe paradesinulog as a vehi- cle of visual oppression, and only one of the many interviewedevaluatedit as a degenerate versionof her own practice. For the most part, the parade was welcomedasa change for the better: ithad increased candle sales, itwasconsidered lively ("allegre") and beautiful ("nindot") to watch, and itwas admiredfor what was consideredits more skillful display of the sinulog ritualof bygone eras. Likewise, the choreographers, whowere by no means blind tothe larger forces atwork inthe paradedevelopment, neverthelessclaimedthe visu- ality oftheir paradedesigns as symbolic oftheir own subjectivecreativity and individual talent, and were inmost cases enthusiasticallysupported in their innovativework by their dancers, who volun- tarily embodiedthe new style of sinulog and en- joyed the attentionand acclaimit offeredthem as representatives of Cebuanoethnic identity. In sum, the dancing selvesof all of the sinulog practicesacquired sense and value in a variety of ways. The differentconstructionsof sensory rela- tionshipsoperating in the different choreographies ofthe sinulog servedin part to define differences betweensacredand secularformsof performance, as well as betweenlocal and global strategies for devotional,aesthetic, and recreational experience. Asthe role of seeing and of being seen changed from one sinulog performance to another, devo- tional selves and secular dancing bodies became visibleas well that differed markedly fromone an- other, yet allowed their culture bearers tomove amongstthem, to assumeand discardthem as vari- ous performance contextswould require. NOTES Acknowledgments The fieldwork on which this article is based was supported in part by aPredoctoral Fellowship from the National Science Foundation.The authorwas assisted greatly during research by the staff and faculty ofthe University of San Carlos,particularly Dr. Resil B. Mojares and the Cebuano Studies Center personnel. The photographsappearing in this article were taken by Marc A. Ness. 1See, for example, the essays in Hanna 1983 that explore the diversity of audience responsesrelating to amulticultural dance series sponsoredby the SmithsonianInstitution. 'Cebu City isthe largest and the oldest regionalport in theCentral Philippines. Research onthe sinulog forms was conductedbetweenOctoberof1984 until June of1985 funded by aNational Science Foundation FellowshipAward, with a follow-up visit in June and July of 1992. Three formsof sinulog were practiced in Cebu City during this time. Space will not permit a discussionof the third form, which featured dancing derivedin part from Hispanic traditions.Estimated population ofCebu City in1984 was 490,201. Archaeological evidence (Scott 1968: 41-42) indicatesa trade history with South China and SoutheastAsia dating to ca.1000 A.D. Cebu was Magel- lan's port of call and the center of the Spanish colonialeffort from 1565 until 1569 (see Mojares 1983: 10). 3"Kinesthetic sense" is used in this article to refer to the complexfaculty of the neuro-musculo-skeletal system to moni- tor, organize, and make availableto cognitiveprocesses sensa- tions of bodily movement,weight pressure and balance, and relative position of the body's members.See Todd 1937: 28, 35- 36,188; Bartenieff1980; and Sweigard 1974: 153-170. "Fordescriptions of sinulog practices in other areas of the Philippines, see Fajardo 1979: 100-102, Aquino 1983: 94-95, Mendoza 1976: 79-81, and Fernandez1983. 6Broughtby Magellan, the image-aBoy Jesus figure of Flemish design-ispopularlyregarded as the most miraculous object inthe Philippines. For a history ofthe devotion, see Tenazas 1965. It shouldbe noted that sinulogdancing in Cebu City was performed for other saints and their images. The Santo Nifio of Cebu, however,being the city's most venerated image, maintainedthe strongest link to the practice. As regards origins, no mentionof a sinulog ritualis made in early accounts of ritualon Cebu Island,althoughearly chroniclersdo mention that establisheddance practices did exist. See Blair and Rob- ertson 1903-1909,specifically translationsof Pigafetta, Vol. 33, and Colin, Vol. 40. See also Alcina's 1668 history(1960, Part 4Book 1: 133-139). See also Ness1992: 58-85. "One specific vocalization, "Pit Senor!" ("Hail Senor"), associatedwith the devotee sinulog did becomea key symbol in the 1980 fiesta promotions.Drumming was also typicallypro- vided for the fiesta sinulogdancing.Expressions of soundwere probably more formalizedthan Leonard'saccountindicates. 7JournalistRafael Bautista (1955[1935]: 254), for exam- ple, noted that the sinulog dancersof Cebu City were "usually among the more ignorant or fanatical." Tenazas, likewise, re- ported thatthetinderas derived their business from those "ashamedor unable" (1965: 87) to perform the dance,arguing that such practices reflected "primitive attitudes"of "simple people"(1965: 91). Asimilar descriptionappears in Mercado (1965: 30) and is typical oftourist literature regarding the sinulog. 8See Ness 1985, 1987, and 1992 for moreextensivediscus- sions ofthe tinderas working at Cebu City's Basilica Minore del Santo Nifio. 9See Ness1992: 98-116 for more extensive accounts of performers'experiences. 1OSee Ness1992: 118. "In Visayan, "Ang akong kasingkasingmatuud gayud nganaghalad basin na langdunggan angatong mga pag- ampo." 1"SeeNess1992: 177-198. 13See Ness1986 for a detailed description and analysis of the festival organizers'reinterpretation of the ritual sinulog. It shouldbe notedthat a four-quarter time drum rhythm was also drawn from the troupe sinulog practice not discussedin this article to represent the sinulog in the parade.However, the in- This content downloadedon Tue, 8 Jan 2013 19:36:46 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and ConditionsWHENSEEING ISBELIEVING13 terpretation of this musical symbol remained relatively uniformand uncontroversial, unlikevisual aspects of the choreography. REFERENCESCITED Alcinas, Francisco. 1960[1668]. The Munoz text of Alcina's history of' the Bisayan Islands. Trans. by Paul S.Lietz. Chicago IL: University of Chicago, Department of Anthropology. 4Vols. Aquino, Francisca Reyes. 1983. Philippinefolk dances. Manila:Silver BurdettCo. 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