Weaving Movements, Preserving Heritage: Raffia Dance Festival in Inabanga, Bohol
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.11594/ijmaber.07.10.03Keywords:
Cultural heritage, Ethnochoreology, Occupational dance, Raffia dance festival, Symbolic MovementAbstract
In Inabanga, Bohol, raffia weaving provides the movement vocabulary and material foundation of the Raffia Dance Festival. This study documents the festival’s origins, choreographic structure, symbolic gestures, music, costumes, and props, examining how weaving practices are represented in public performance. A qualitative descriptive design combined participant observation, semi-structured interviews, archival research, and audiovisual documentation over three months. Eight purposively selected informants participated: four local weavers, the choreographer who created the original dance, and three festival dancers. Thematic analysis examined recurring patterns across accounts, observation notes, and performance documentation, with triangulation across sources supporting the interpretations. The findings characterize the Raffia Dance as a contemporary occupational festival dance organized around harvesting, processing and drying fibers, weaving, tying, and marketing finished products. Gestures depicting these activities connect choreography to local work practices, while raffia costumes, weaving implements, and rhythmic accompaniment give the performance its material and expressive character. Participants described promoting the weaving industry and encouraging cultural pride among younger generations as aims underlying the festival’s development. The study shows how festival choreography brings women’s weaving labor and a local cottage industry into public cultural expression. The documentation provides a reference for heritage education and performance, emphasizing the importance of sustaining the weaving practice and community knowledge represented in the dance.
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