Thesis (BS Architecture) -- University of the Philippines Mindanao, 2009

Imagine Mindanao Indigenous dance and rituals in a structure; imagine Mindanao indigenous dance and rituals as a structure. This is the story that this thesis entitled, ?Contextualizing Indigenous Dance and Rituals in a Mindanao Performing Arts Complex? seeks to tell by recognizing Mindanao Indigenous dance choreography. As Agnes Locsin, a famous choreographer who coined the term Neo-ethnic said, ?a unique style of Mindanao Indigenous dance only found in Mindanao has yet to be recognized. But this unique character has not been recognized yet because little research has been made in the realm on how they performed. In fact, they even misused by many choreographers locally leading to the problem of this research that there is a need for an accurate definition of Mindanao Indigenous Dance and rituals and a need for an iconic archetype as an area for documentation and representation. These problems framed the objectives of this thesis, which are to accurately and correctly contextualize Mindanao Indigenous Dance and Rituals through a scientific method using Labanotations, a mathematical system of analyzing movements and to integrate the scientific contextualization in a Mindanao Performing Arts Complex. This thesis wrapped around three major theories which are dance as a language, notations of the language of dance and notation in relation to architectural elements of performing elements of a performing arts complex. These theories support the concept, which is ?Architecture conceived from dance movements? which was achieved through a framework of concept starting from the core concept, which is the Mindanao indigenous dance and rituals. Then to the indigenous dance movement analysis using Labanotation. The movement analysis is categorized into three, the verbs, nouns and adverbs. The movement analysis jumpstarted the methodology in which five major Mindanao Indigenous Dances categorized according to Pangalay(Sulu), a Wedding dance ; Lunsay, a Game Dances; Bagobo, a Courtship Dance; Dugso Talanding Tribe (Bukidnon), a Ritual Dance; B'lit Bilaan, a Mimetic Dance; and Yakan, an Occupational Dance. These five dances were notated by looking first hand at Indigenous performers and also their video archives. The video was then segmented into three, corresponding to the three categories of movement; verb which means movement from one place to another giving the Plan of the dances; nouns which means movement done in place giving elevation and adverb which means movement done away from the ground or aerial movements creating the volume of the dance. Categories of movement analysis are called kinesthetic spaces and they can be combined into a space, which corresponds to a perspective. The kinesthetic spaces are architectural elements formed in the context of dance movements. In order to translate them into the architectural elements of a performing arts complex, integration of architectural standard, which was achieved using the space analysis, lighting design considerations and acoustical design consideration was made. After all important factors were considered, the study showed that the major factor to be considered in contextualizing Mindanao Indigenous dance and rituals is intimacy. Thus, the performance areas for the dances should be intimate ranging from 139.8 sq.m to 621 sq.m for main theater and areas ranging from 15 sq.m to 37 sq.m for mini theater. In creating Mindanao Indigenous dance and rituals in a structure and as a structure, all of the data collected, which was contextualized the dances, should be taken into consideration. This way, the so-called Mindanao atmosphere can be truly attained in theater making the unique character of the gongs and kulintang in Mindanao truly preserved even in a thousand lifetimes.