Tinikling: Traditional Dance from the Philippines

Traditional tinikling dancing.

While Wednesday's storm might not have had a great impact on many teachers, it definitely had an impact on my cooperating teacher and I. The storm left the grass field flooded and the blacktop pretty wet, so our original plan of exercise stations and volleyball on the grass was out the window. Good thing we had a lot of time on Thursday morning because of STAR testing to plan a lesson for the day. While we looked at my cooperating teacher's shed full of equipment, she saw the tinikling movement bands. I had never heard of tinikling. She explained that it was a type of dance from the Philippines and showed me some diagrams and moves. I thought it looked like Chinese jump rope. She said it was similar and we got to planning. I definitely learned a lot throughout the process.

I learned that tinikling is a traditional dance from the Philippines. There are people called the workers who handle the bamboo sticks and hit them on the ground and together to create beats. The dancers jump in and out of the sticks as seen in this picture. The dancers usually perform the dances with a three or four count beat. The workers must also stay on beat so the dancers do not get hit with the sticks.  Here is a link to a youtube video on dancers performing a tinikling dance.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SqZRQWC6AQ

However, we wouldn't actually use bamboo in our PE class, instead we used elastic bands. When we were planning the lesson, my cooperating teacher warned me that it is definitely a difficult lesson because it was many components, the workers, the dancers, standing on beat and cooperation.

I realized it definitely took a lot of instruction and scaffolding of information. We first had the students perform the basic steps, of jumping inside with two feet twice, then jumping out with both feet, twice. This was not difficult. Then we had the students practice the worker part of hitting the bands together twice, then apart twice. This was not difficult. The difficult part was putting it all together. The dancers must perform the opposite of what the workers perform. If the workers are hitting the sticks/ bands to the outside, the dancers must jump on the inside and vice versa. Also, the workers then put the bands around their ankles and jump in and out.

Tinikling in PE. Courtesy of Great Lakes Sports.

The students definitely had some difficulty with the dance at first but once they received positive and corrective  feedback they were able to perform the steps better and they were actually enjoying. I thought it was a great activity because all the students enjoyed it. Some of the 5th graders were even able to perform a more difficult step of in with right foot, in with left foot, out right foot, hop on right foot. Another highlight moment was when two students with special needs were able to perform the sequence. These students usually have a lot of trouble with their psycho-motor skills, but they were very successful with this activity.

While it is a difficult activity for some, it is definitely engaging for everyone. Everyone was excited to learn a new activity. I believe this can also be done at the middle and high school levels. I can't wait to learn more steps!