Countering the Compulsory Tinikling

This essay examines the practice of Filipino dance in Victoria, British Columbia, through the lens of transnationalism (Levitt & Glick Schiller 2004). Drawing on semi-structured interviews and participant observation with three Filipina Canadian dance teachers from the Sampaguita Dance Group of the Victoria Filipino Canadian Association (VFCA), the study explores how dance functions as a site of identity formation, community building, and cultural negotiation in the Canadian diaspora. The essay presents cases that resist the museumization of Philippine culture through embodied movement and asserts that Filipino dance in Lekwungen territory, also known as Victoria, is not merely a reproduction of tradition but a dynamic and creative process shaped by the movement of people, ideas, and memories across borders. By foregrounding the role of place, specifically the Philippine Bayanihan Community Centre in Vancouver Island, British Columbia, and the agency of Filipina women as cultural bearers, this essay highlights how transnational ties inform both the aesthetics and ethics of cultural performance.