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Philippines Troupe ‘Rocks’ Global Village

DUBAI - A group of cultural dancers from the Maranao community in the Philippines performed the Singkil dance at the Global Village on Friday, the first of their month-long commitment to the a Pavilion during the Dubai Shopping Festival.

Dubbed as Marcom Dance Troupe, the group is composed of young, energetic and talented Muslim dancers from the Maranao tribe in the Philippines where the popular Singkil dance originated.

The attractive and crowd-pulling presentation, which also featurs other popular community dances, will be performed on every Thurdays and Fridays from 6.30pm to 11.30pm until February 13 at the Philippine Pavilion of the Global Village, which is managed by the Philippine Business Council in Dubai.

Singkil was popularised worldwide by the Bayanihan Philippine National Folk Dance Company in the 1970s.

It caught global attention as the Bayanihan toured the world and showed how dancers shuffled their feet as they danced in between the clapping of bamboo poles.

Originally performed at celebrations and festivals celebrated by the Maranao Muslim community, traditionally the dance was performed by a girl of royal blood intent on advertising herself to would-be-suitors for her future marriage.

Traditionally, Singkil was performed by only women, inclusive of the clappers and the individual in the role of Putri Gandingan. The dance was performed with just one set of bamboos. Then, it grew to two criss-crossing bamboo pairs.

The dance troupe first presented the cultural performances in the UAE during the 110^th Philippine Independence Day celebration in June last year, during which the officials of the Dubai Municipality witnessed their performance and invited them to perform at the UAE National Day.

Italy comes calling at DSF

WITH the ‘DSF Carnevale’, Mercato Mall has brought Italy to Dubai this DSF. Parades, shows and programmes in the mall tell exotic tales of old Venice.

Giant Venetian masks have been placed on the wide atrium, while the arches are adorned with drapes and ornamentation.

An array of events has been lined up, including traditional Italian flag throwers, Venetian parades and theatrical shows on the main stage at the ground floor.

The parade begins at 5pm, after which a stage show with ballet dancers, and comic actors follow at 6.pm.

Khaleej Times caught up with a few mall goers who were quite excited at the sight of the parade.

“I haven’t seen anything like this before. It looks very interesting. Their costumes are so colourful and there is a lot to learn about Venetian history. I hope my children would benefit from this,” said Mirette Kamel, a resident of Dubai.

Qais Oweis, a resident of Abu Dhabi, said, “It’s something very different, but you could make it look a lot better.”

Adding to the events is a spend-2-Win promotion that entitles customers spending Dh200 or more to enter into a draw to win a selection of exciting prizes.

news@khaleejtimes.com