“Bugsay-Balod-Kapa-kapa”: The Peculiar Movements in the Lawig Festival of Palompon, Leyte, Philippines

One of the major components in preserving one's traditions and culture is to have literature. The lack of dance literature can be seen when you look up the Lawig Festival. The peculiar movements of the Lawig festival in Palompon, Leyte were documented and notated through a descriptive qualitative study. A focused group discussion of ten lumad Palomponganons participated in this study utilizing a semi-structured interview guide as the secondary tool. The analysis of data collected for the dance movements was anchored through Braun and Clarke's Thematic analysis and Movement analysis of Francisca Reyes-Aquino. The researchers analyzed three basic dance steps that reflect the theme of the Lawig festival namely: (1) Bugsay which is derived from the English word "to paddle”, it is the act of rowing or turning an oar parallel to the water between pulls; (2) Balod, from the English word, "wave" a movement that involves a change in the position or location of something, the ripple movement of the surface of the open sea;(3) Kapa-Kapa, it is the motion made by flapping up and down, moving in a wavy pattern with a rising and falling motion. In conclusion, the basic dance steps associated with the Lawig festival have fallen into disuse, thereby giving rise to an apparent erosion of these foundational dance steps. It is recommended that the implementation of the basic dance steps of the Lawig festival should be disseminated throughout the municipality for the benefit of the Palomponganons, choreographers, and performers.