What is Pangalay? These Filipino TikTok creators are proudly partaking in the country’s traditional ‘fingernail’ dance
A traditional Filipino style of dance is gaining popularity among Gen Z on social media.
TikTok users of Filipino descent have taken to the social media platform to show their cultural pride by doing the traditional “fingernail” dance known as Pangalay, which is believed to have originated from the Philippine islands of Sulu by the Tausūg people. Pangalay means “temple of dance” in Sanskrit.
Performed with South East Asian instruments like the kulintang, gandang, agung and gabbang, Pangalay predates Christianity and Islam in the Philippines and is recognized as “a living link” to other traditional dance cultures of Asia, including Burmese, Cambodian and Thai styles.
On June 13, 24-year-old Florida-based creator Kirshie (@kirshie) posted a “get ready with me” video which she dubbed “Pangalay edition” in honor of Philippine Independence Day on June 12.
Kirshie puts on a purple-hued pair of loose trousers, a silk blouse and an opulent headdress. She saves the most notable part of the attire for last, which are the mesmerizing metallic nail extensions, or “Dyanggay,” that give the Tausug dance its name.
The dance relies heavily on fluid finger movements as a means of articulating symbolic and emotionally resonant metaphors pertaining to the ocean, flowers, sea waves, the wind and more.
“Pangalay is such a beautiful dance this is sooo gorgeous,” @solicole replied.
“precolonial traditional filipino clothes are so pretty,” @scen3ry.luvr commented.
“Pangalay is basically pure dancing,” Filipino academic and dancer Ligaya Fernando-Amilbangsa, who is recognized for her knowledge of the Pangalay dance, writes for PangalayDance.com. “A sense of anti-linear time pervades the slow, refined, meditative, elegant and almost hypnotic movements. The continuously flowing or seamless unfolding movement from a central core is consistent with the pre-modern mode and Eastern sense of multi-level or anti-linear time that has no definite beginning or ending. This is opposed to the Western concept of time or the metempsychosic scale.”
Kirshie isn’t the only Filipino American creator embracing the fingernail dance. On April 24, Gabriella Buba (@gabriella.buba.books) revealed that she attended a Pangalay workshop in Houston, Texas.
On April 16, Nahia (@nahiadiwata), a Filipino creator and self-described “pre-colonial fashion revivalist,” shared a video of herself also dancing Pangalay — with what appears to be a wind machine, no less. Following a camera transition, Nahia is dressed in stunning, traditional clothing worn while doing the dance.
“Feeling is conveyed chiefly through the arms and hands,” Fernando-Amilbangsa continues. “Fingers are customarily held stiffly together and curled back towards the dancer’s wrists with controlled energy, thumbs apart and thrust forward. Fingers may flick, flip or flutter. The janggay or metal claws amplify eloquent hand movements.”
Whether it’s in an effort to preserve and connect with their culture, reduce stress or improve their fitness levels, there’s been an increasing number of Filipinos who’ve grown curious about learning how to perform the indigenous, emotional style of dance that hails from their homeland.
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