Manlilikha ng Bayan Hadja Sakinur-Ain Delasas
Sama Traditional Dance
Dancing at a young age, Hadja Sakinur-ain has mastered the art of “Igal”. Igal is a Sama term for “dance” and is tantamount to the Pangalay of the Tausug, the Pamansak, and Gandingan of the Yakan. According to Hadja Sakinur-ain, “It happens right when the dancer is one with her soul and spirit, as guided by the traditional “tagunggu” music.
Regarded by her community as the Danda Pandey Ngigal (Igal expert), she learned so much of her dance skills from her mother who taught her gestures mimicking the ocean water, fishes, and birds. She is known for spreading her expertise in art performances where she emphasizes the need to keep all elements of the dancer and the dance in harmony.
Hadja Sakinur-ain has been dancing in time with the past, against the crosscurrents of the present, to the challenging irrepressible tides of the future as she relentlessly dances the Igal for her omboh, her great ancestors, her family, her Sama community, her Igal students and the next generations of Igal dancers.
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