Mexican school kids learn RP's Tinikling dance

MANILA, Philippines - Mexican kids may soon find themselves leaping and prancing to the agile Tinikling dance when the Philippine cultural pride is taught in a primary school there. The Department of Foreign Affairs reported on Monday that Divina Trinidad Carolino-Gay-ya, trade assistant at the Philippine embassy in Mexico that a Mexican teacher in charge of the LDS Lomas Ward Primary at the Guadarrama Chapel, Mexico City requested earlier this month for Tinikling dance lessons for her students. “Ms. [Catalina] Davis requested Ms. Carolino-Gay-ya to teach her class one of the famous Philippine folk dances, the ‘Tinikling,’ as part of their future activities," the DFA said in a statement. Embassy officials delivered a briefing about the "pearl of the orient seas" last March 4 to the Primary, composed of schoolgirls aged 8 to 10, as part of the school’s project to “learn, understand, and appreciate the culture of other countries." The Mexican schoolchildren were introduced to the Philippines through a video presentation of the “Wealth of Wonders (WOW)" and served some of the country's popular food like lumpiang shanghai, pansit and carioca (powdered glutinous rice formed into balls and dipped in melted sugar). After the video presentation, the kids were surprised to receive a pair of pearl earrings as tokens. “A grateful parent commented that the token made her daughter feel very special," the DFA said. Philippine Ambassador to Mexico Antonio Lagdameo is optimistic that the exposure of foreign school children to Philippine culture would promote friendly relations between the two countries. Tinikling is a famous Philippine cultural dance that usually involves four dancers: two holding the bamboo poles and another pair dancing. The dance imitates the movement of field birds called “tikling" as they are dodging the bamboo poles set by rice farmers. - Mark J. Ubalde, GMANews.TV