Pangalay
Pangalay
Traditional Filipino dance native to the Tausūg people
Pangalay (also known as Daling-Daling[1] or Mengalai[2] in Sabah)[3] is the traditional "fingernail" dance of the Tausūg people of the Sulu Archipelago[4] and eastern coast Bajau of Sabah.[3][5][6]
The dance has a similarity to classical Balinese and Thai dances,[7][8] where it is also the most distinctively Asian of all the southern Philippine dances because dancers must have dexterity and flexibility of the shoulders, elbows, and wrists[9] – movements that strongly resemble those of "kontaw silat". The Malaysian art of Buah Pukul is classified as silat despite its Yunnan origin, kuntao is "way of the fist", from kun 拳 meaning fist and tao 道 meaning way. This term was originally used for Chinese martial arts in general. The Pangalay is predominantly performed during weddings or other festive events.[4] The male equivalent of the Pangalay is the Pangasik and features more martial movements, while a pangalay that features both a male and female dancer is called Pangiluk.[10]
The original concept of the Pangalay is based on the pre-Islamic and Buddhist concept of male and female celestial angels (Sanskrit: Vidhyadhari, Tausug: Biddadari) common as characters in other Southeast Asian dances.[citation needed]
Neighbouring Samal and Bajau peoples in the Philippines call this type of dance, Umaral or Igal, and they sometimes use bamboo castanets as substitutes for long fingernails.[9]