The best Kuratsa dancers in the different municipalities of Leyte and Samar islands are the contestants in the Kuratsa Festival.
The Kuratsa is a Filipino traditional Dance of Courtship where the male approaches and courts a lady in a form of a dance. It depicts the courtship between the rooster and the hen.
The Kuratsa is highly favored by the Visayan people especially the Waray people of the Eastern Visayas region in the Philippines and highlights every important occasion in the Eastern Visayas communities.
KURATSA FESTIVAL
JUNE 26TH
A feature of the Kuratsa Festival is the Kuratsa Dance Forum which aims to provide a venue where academicians, culture scholars, and kuratsa dance enthusiasts from all over Region 8, can discuss the heritage and artistic value, and the socio-cultural relevance of the kuratsa.
Invited are contest participants from all municipalities of Leyte and key cities and municipalities of Samar, Northern Samar, Eastern Samar, Southern Leyte and Biliran.
THE KURATSA
The Kuratsa is the dance of courtship from the Visayas region of the Philippines. At weddings and fiestas, the Kuratsa serves as the traditional money dance where guests take turns pinning money on the bride and groom's attire. This symbolizes friends' and families' wishes for good luck and prosperity in the couple's future.
The dance is performed in three parts, with three different rhythms. The dancing couple starts the performance with a ballroom waltz. Then the music shifts to a faster beat for the "chasing" scene, in which the female dancer flees and the male pusues her all across the dance floor. The tempo picks up even more for the final part, in which the chase ends with a furiously flirtatious scene. The female is won over, and the male imitates a flamboyant bird in a mating dance.
KURATSA VIDEO
Performance of Kuratsa, a Filipino traditional dance practiced by the Visayan people from Eastern Visayas (Philippines).
HISTORY OF KURATSA
The Kuratsa is believed to be a Mexican import (supposedly from La Cucaracha dance typical to Monterrey region of Mexico) - the Kuratsa is however, very different in the manner of execution than the Mexican counterpart. Even the "basic" Kuratsa music is not based on Mexican or even Spanish melodies.
Philippine dance researchers, however, point either to the "Kigal" and the "Bikal" as the 'ascendant' of the Kuratsa. The Kigal (spelled "Quigal" in early Spanish writings on Samar culture and lifeways) is a sort battle-of-sexes couple dance that imitate mating birds. The Kigal is in fact called by another name: Binanug or Kiglun (Kigalun?) that's according to a 17th century Samarnon dictionary by Jesuit missionary to Samar, Fr. Alcazar. It is interesting that Banug uis the Waray word for the hawk.
The Bikal is rather believed to be the fore runner of the Waray Balitaw because of the strict emphasis on "joust" of impromptu songs interspersed with dancing. The bikal is survived by the Ismaylingay and many versions of this art is preserved by aging "magsiriday" in Samar and to a lesser extent Leyte.
The Kigal dance step called 'sabay' is in fact very similar to the Kuratsa dance step called 'dagit' or when more daring the 'sagparak'. Dagit means swoop while sagparak is descriptive of a heated 'bulang' (cockfight). The block and chase portion of the Kuratsa (called 'palanat') is never seen in the Mexican social dance La Cucaracha but is very common among Samar 'amenudo' (or couple dances) like the Ismaylingay, Amoracion, Alimukon, Kuradang and Pantomina.
Popular versions of this dance exist in Samar can be classified as the Kuratsa Menor (the usual favorite) and the many versions of the daring Kuratsa Mayor. New genres of Kuratsa evolved as a result of necessity, like-as the name implies- Kuratsa kanan Kadam-an and a very funny Kuratsa nga Pinayungan appropriate for rainy days.
