Gaway, Gaway and why I'm better off chopping wood

I have not seen folk dance this fast and lively.  I  thought the boys are doing an exhibition on Filipino martial arts because aside from the graceful flowing arm swipes and snake like fist movement, they are also shouting like karate-ninjitsu-sayonatsi masters.

The girls are not to be left behind. The demure hand twirling moves are replaced with swift moving hands and arms holding flower laden bilaos as if they are going to throw bladed Frisbee into the air. I am reminded of Michelle Yeoh in Crouching Tiger.

Not content with the fast and martial arts likemoves, the group run and merge into circular formation with their arms alternately raising up and going down fluidly in sync with their shouts, karate chops and flying kicks.

Na, no karate chops and flying kicks but it's the next development in the climax, I mean...

I am intrigued so I asked a co-teacher what is the folk dance and I am told it is Gaway-Gaway. This is the first time I saw this dance that's why I'm a bit surprised. I am used to see our pupils performing demure folk dances like Carinosa, Subli, etc.

I don't know if our folk dance is evolving or maybe it's because i don't know our folk dance except what I see on YouTube. 

But judging from the speed and the complexity of Gaway-Gaway, it seems the dance steps are moving towards modernity, which our PE coordinator also agrees with. He observed that the steps have become complex, faster, intense and powerful. He attended the district folkdance workshop, which, unfortunately I am too unfit to attend. He complained of body aches from the three day sessions.

I guess even folk dance needs an upgrade and so do the teachers.

_______________________

I am consolidating the 1st Quarter test results for MAPEH, and again, as usual, grade six is lagging behind performance wise. It's kind of frustrating because I and my co-teacher have been burning our fats trying to improve the MAPEH performance. 

Music is what the pupils find most difficult among the four components of MAPEH. I guess it's because learning music is like learning a new language. It's full of symbols. Add to the myriads of symbols that must be memorized, there's also the arithmetic involved. 

Another is that music theory is not something pupils use everyday, it's not relevant to their everyday life so, naturally, it does not interest them so they lose what they learn easily.

Filipinos are gifted when it comes to music. Proof of that is the world class talents our country has produced. Our musicians perform from the most prestigious stages, to cruise ships and in the streets. Many of them have no theoretical background in music except by learning and copying music by ear, or through ouido. 

Music is one those things anyone can do without any idea of the theories behind it. like I always say to those who ask me how to learn an instrument: its easy to learn but difficult to teach. In the end, the only teacher you'll need is interest.

Back to the test result, I don't know...but...I'm ...just read the second part of the title of this post (to avoid redundancy).