Countering the Compulsory Tinikling

Transnationalism in Filipino Dance Practice on Vancouver Island, British Columbia

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14288/bcs.no227.200866

Keywords:

Filipinx, folk dance, transnationalism, migration, diaspora, filipino dance

Abstract

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.

Author Biography

Clarissa Cecilia Mijares, Simon Fraser University

Clarissa (Issa) Mijares is a performing artist, teacher, and emerging dance sociologist. Her work explores the intersections of migration, memory, identity, and performance through the lens of transnational dance-making. She is currently doing her PhD in Sociology at Simon Fraser University. Current technologies allow Issa to remain deeply connected to the Philippines where she maintains her faculty status at the Department of Sociology and Anthropology of the Ateneo de Manila University. She is also among the proponents of the national standard policies for dance education in higher education institutions in the Philippines through the Commission on Higher Education.

Photo taken at the UBC vigil featuring bouquets of flowers, a small Philippine flag, and a candle.

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Published

20-01-2026

Issue

No. 227 (2025): Filipino Canadian Studies In, On, and Through British Columbia (Autumn)

Section

Articles