Three Categories of Intangible Cultural Heritage and Three Degrees of Importance: The Case of the Sama-Bajau Igal Dance Tradition of Tawi-Tawi Province, Philippines

In this piece, I assert that several categories may be observed in intangible cultural heritage or property such as dance. Such categories correspond to varying degrees of importance to the community that own such intangible cultural heritage. Cultural workers who wish to sustain intangible cultural heritage must therefore take heed of differences among categories, and devise diverse strategies or approaches that are appropriate for each of them. In order to illustrate the practicality of this approach, three categories of the Sama-Bajau igal dance are introduced and described: ritual igal found in the various pag-omboh (ancestral veneration) ceremonies; secular igal found in weddings and other social festivities; and theatrical igal found in the repertoires of dance troupes. Examples of igal dances belonging to these categories are also described and ranked in terms of importance in the context of social function as well as rarity in performance. The background of practitioners belonging to these categories are also compared in order to gain an understanding of their embeddedness in their respective communities. Based on these categories, performance qualities and embeddedness in communities, a prioritisation scheme for intangible cultural heritage in the igal dance is proposed. Based on this prioritisation scheme, a documentary video produced by the National Commission on Culture and the Arts Intangible Cultural Heritage Team is evaluated in terms of comprehensiveness in capturing types of categories, practitioners, and specific dances that belong to the igal dance tradition. I, therefore, propose that a comprehensive inventory of what constitutes the igal dance tradition(s) must be made before setting out a path towards crafting policies and programs that relate to sustainability. Indeed, the question of what needs to be sustained must first be answered.