ACTIVITIES IN REGATTA LEPA FESTIVAL

 ACTIVITIES IN REGATTA LEPA FESTIVAL

1.  Pangalay performed

Pangalay also known as Daling-daling or Mengalai in  Sabah is the traditional “fingernail” dance of the Tausug people of the Sulu Archipelago and Sabah. The dance also means offering from its Sanskrit origin pang-alay. Mangalay, which also means dance, is very similar to classical Balinese and Thai dances.

 The dance is the most distinctively Asian of all the southern Philippine dances because dancers must have dexterity and flexibility of the shoulders, elbows and wrists. Movements that strogly 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 meaning fist and tao meaning way.

The Pangalay is predominantly performed during weddings or other festive events. The male equivalent of the Pangalay is the Pangasik and features more martial movement, while a pangalay that features both a male and female dancer called Pangiluk.

The original concept of the pangalay is based on the pre-islamic and Buddhist concept of male and female celestial angels (Sanskrit vidhyadhari, tausug mean bidadari comman as characters I other Southeast Asian Dances. Neighbboring Samal and Bajau peoples call this type of dance, umaral or igal and they sometimes use bamboo castanets as substitutes for long fingernail.