Guam Song and Dance

Subject: Guam Song and Dance
From: Naemanson
Date: 17 Apr 03 - 12:27 PM

I was reading the Pacific Daily News, the newspaper for Guam, when I found this article. Very interesting, at least to me as that's where I will be for the next two years.



i Taotao Tano
Community thanks cultural dance group for 20 years of celebrating local heritage
P.J. Borja
For Pacific Sunday News

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In Chamorro, when someone says, "Si Yu'os ma'ase" -- thank you -- often the response is "Hagu mas" -- To you as well.

That was the case last week. At the Guam Marriott Resort, Frank Rabon, leader of the cultural dance group, i Taotao Tano, organized a dinner to celebrate the 20th year of the group and to say "Gof dankulu na si Yu'os ma'ase" --thank you very much -- to those who supported him and the group over the last two decades.

For many who attended the event, it was to say "Hagu Mas" to Rabon and the members of i Taotao Tano for their efforts regarding Chamorro dance, chanting and song. Many who attended the show said they came to show respect for his work and that of the i Taotao Tano members to enhance the island's culture and its heritage.

Singer Flora Baza Quan said in an interview that Rabon and i Taotao Tano and their art are comparable to what the Bolshoi Ballet, Russia's world renowned troupe, gives to Russia and the world.

"Taotao Tano, through its dances, songs, chants provide a showcase of the culture," Baza Quan said. "In what they do, they convey the essence, evoke a spirit of who the Chamorro people are. Their work reminds us of who we were and who we are as a people."

Rabon, in an interview after the event, said that the group actually began in 1983 as a Polynesian dance troupe. And at that time, all that was considered Chamorro dance was infused with the influence of the Spanish colonialists of the 18th and 19th centuries.

"We're talking about the Spanish, the batsu (a type of dance), the fiestas. But here we were, dancing Polynesian for the hotels and meeting with other Pacific islanders, so we're being introduced to indigenous forms from Hawaii, from Samoa.

"But for Guam, we didn't have anything documented regarding indigenous dance, but in the back of my mind, I knew that there had to be something."

1984 brought a key turning point for Rabon when he met former Guam Legislature Speaker Carlos L. Taitano (for whom C.L. Taitano Elementary is named).

Taitano told Rabon that his research, conducted all over the world, mentioned forms of Chamorro dance, song, and chants, but descriptions were either vague or non-existent.

"The speaker had gathered all this information, and in it, they talked of ceremonies, ceremonies to celebrate birth, life, to mark the harvest, but the details weren't there."

The speaker and Rabon's discussions also touched upon migration in the Pacific from west to east, and that Chamorros, as descendants of Austronesia (mainland Asian) migrants, had similar cultural aspects as the Polynesians and others in the Pacific.

"He told me that our forefathers were the ancestors of people in Samoa, in Hawaii, in Tonga, in Fiji!" Rabon said.

The time with the former speaker ignited Rabon's curiosity as well as insight, and the time together threw i Taotao Tano toward a whole different direction for song and dance.

"I began to see links, ties that Guam had with other islands. I remember seeing slingstones, in Noumea (New Caledonia), remember seeing lapita pottery in Noumea, in Fiji, in Western Samoa, and then thinking, there ARE connections."

At that point in 1984, i Taotao Tano began to study Chamorro culture prior to the Spanish influence and reconstruct dances, songs and chants. Today, when one sees i Taotao Tano, or groups that it has influenced, rhythm is kept by the counting practiced by pre-colonialist Chamorros; directions are often given in terms of the same origin.

"We began to wean ourselves of the Polynesian dances and gradually include Chamorro songs and dances. It was gradual because at first it wasn't accepted by the people," Rabon said.

That in itself reveals the irony of the matter -- that people did not accept the group's work because it was "foreign."

But the persistence and dedication of Rabon and the group to recreate, to reconstruct dance, song and chant has brought acceptance throughout the island, to the point, where their work has become the standard.

For Theresa Taitano, a Chamorro studies teacher at C.L. Taitano Elementary, the work of Rabon and i Taotao Tano helps teachers like herself in presenting the island's culture and heritage.

"Frank, through his research and the workshops that he gives, gives us a standard for Chamorro dance, of chants, of songs."

Taitano said that Rabon and the group's work on dance and song is particularly effective.

"Students retain much better through song. As long as there is a rhythm, the students enjoy it more and they're able to keep the knowledge better."

But most importantly, Taitano said, the songs and dances show children that Chamorro culture, though changing, still holds on to things "antigo," of olden times.

"As teachers, we're able to pass those on to the children, something that is present in the culture that shows traditional ways of life and customs."

David Gofigan, a Chamorro studies teacher at Inarajan Middle School, echoed that point. He said the work of Rabon and i Taotao Tano reinforces heritage and highlights culture in a positive way.

"It's been a long journey (for Rabon and i Taotao Tano over the last 20 years) but what they're doing is filtering out to the schools, to the children, to the community."

The work of Rabon and i Taotao Tano continues, and improves upon the efforts of the last 20 years.

In the event program, Judy Flores, director of the Gef Pa'go cultural center in Inarajan, wrote that she has seen Rabon and the group grow and mature.

Flores wrote that a grant proposal written by Rabon was critiqued by a technical expert sent to review the work of i Taotao tano. The review noted the grant request was "Harvard material," Flores wrote.

But as important the written word was in that matter, Rabon has succeeded in teaching others, through i Taotao Tano, that the Chamorro culture is alive and well and adapting.

"I remember Frank sitting in my kitchen and we were talking about how difficult this was, would be," Baza Quan said. "I told him that 'It's going to happen, and you'll be the better for it.' We laugh about that to this day. So it's nice to be here and see how well our people, our culture endure and adapt, despite all the struggles around us."

As she said that, Rabon was a short distance away, engrossed in the activities of the night, making sure that dignitaries were recognized, that dancers or singers were ready for their time on the stage.

In the corner of the room where he coordinated the night's goings-on, Rabon would stand and direct the events.

More than a few times, he would stop, and then bend down as a child would approach him. He would stoop slightly, and the child would kiss him or mang'ingi his hand.

It did not matter that this happened in the midst of a busy, important night; the importance was in that moment, that moment of the child respecting the elder, the elder blessing the child, the two living their heritage.

Subject: RE: Guam Song and Dance
From: Naemanson
Date: 17 Apr 03 - 12:32 PM

The Pacific Daily News can be found here.

The article, with pictures, can be found here.

Subject: RE: Guam Song and Dance
From: katlaughing
Date: 17 Apr 03 - 12:45 PM

Toldya I was jealous of all of the music you're gonna be around!! Great article and info!! Thanks!

Subject: RE: Guam Song and Dance
From: M.Ted
Date: 18 Apr 03 - 10:13 AM

I have seen this happen again and again with folk ethnic music of all different kinds--people start out playing the popular stuff, be it Kingston Trio or Polynesian, and over the years they move closer and closer to the "real"tradition stuff--

You should look these folks up when you get there--

Subject: RE: Guam Song and Dance
From: Charley Noble
Date: 18 Apr 03 - 11:45 AM

Just no telling what you may find, once you get beyond the Naval Base and the retiree enclaves. You may have to go back into training, consuming all kinds of intoxicating beverages while keeping a clear head for note taking or at least hitting the right button to record (don't forget to first insert tape and fresh batteries).

Now, let's see, what does Guam rhyme with?

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Guam Song and Dance
From: Naemanson
Date: 18 Apr 03 - 06:44 PM

Guam is wahm!

Subject: RE: Guam Song and Dance
From: open mike
Date: 18 Apr 03 - 07:10 PM

i see you decided to go there after all the scare talk about snakes, etc. I will see if i can find out my son-in-law's relatives there.
Their last namne is Funes.

Subject: RE: Guam Song and Dance
From: katlaughing
Date: 19 Apr 03 - 12:34 AM

Guam rhymes with Baum, Maugham, Tom and Pom-pom
as well as Dom (Perignon:-), Kahn, and Mom!**BG**

Subject: RE: Guam Song and Dance
From: Naemanson
Date: 19 Apr 03 - 08:58 AM

OK Charley, you've got your ryhmes. Start writing the song.