Jump Rope With a Twist: The Game That Turned Out to Be a Dance
My stepsisters introduced my sister and I to it and who knows who introduced it to them but we would venture into the backyard where there was tons of bamboo sticks to choose from and, pulling apart a couple of long ones we would commence to play this jump rope game which I only recently found out originates from the Philippines and not Africa like we though and is actually an entire folk dance.
You lay two bamboo rods down with one person holding two ends and the other the remaining ones. The third person jumps in and out of the canes as the other two people rap the rods twice on the surface, then bringing the bamboo together while the jumper jumps on the outside of the sticks now, careful not to get their ankles slammed. When you do, it hurts like crazy because you’re playing this game barefoot.
We would go at this for hours and we got pretty good through the years. It was a fun way to pass the time while my step mom visited inside with her parents.
I’ve tried to talk to others about the game through the years but no one seemed to know what I was talking about.
I found out the proper name is Tinikling after doing a search on the web.
Turns out it’s the most popular and best known dances of the Philippines and is designated as the country’s national dance. Considered one of the oldest dances from the Philippines this dance was originated in the islands of Leyte in the Visayan Islands.
Before this dance became what it is today it went through an evolution of sorts.
One of the stories of the dance’s origin may be made up, a fact, or part of a legend. Among Spaniards those who worked too slowly in the fields would be sent out of the paddies for punishment. The matrix for the dance was probably laid out when the workers would return home with their feet bruised and bleeding from the punishment (i.e. getting your ankles slammed in that bamboo).
The punishment later became the dance it is today.
All the dance steps are combinations of only 3 basic 4/4 Tinikling steps. Four people should be two boys and two girls and ensure that very flexible poles are used.
For Singles, when the poles are on the dancer’s right side (right foot lead) the foot work of two Singles steps would be as follows:
Count 1 – Hop on left foot outside poles
Count 2 – Hop again on left foot outside poles
Count 3 – Step on right foot between poles
Count 4 – Step on left foot between poles
Count 1 – Hop right foot outside poles
Count 2 – Hop again on right foot outside poles
Count 3 – Step on left foot between poles
Count 4- Step on right foot between poles
As kids, my stepsisters, sister, and I were doing a way simpler approach, not knowing the dance was more complicated.
There are also Doubles and Hops instructions on the website, likha.org.
The dance was featured at the 2001 Cinco de Mayo Celebration of the Arts in California at the Sunnyvale Library.
In 2002 Hawaii set out to set a new world record with the famous dance.
The dance imitates the movement of the tikling birds as they walk between grass stems, run over tree branches, or dodge bamboo traps set by rice farmers.
