Guam Chamorro Dance

Guam Chamorro dance...cultural expression...preserving history through creative, cultural dance.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Saipan
• CNMI
• Melanesia
• Polynesia

[TheRenaissance180]

dont mean to offend my Chamorro brothers but Chamorros dont do stick dances. so many Chamorro dances today are made up by todays generation so i guess its ok to say Chamorro dance because its Chamorro made but if you are to claim that you learned it from your great great great grands then i think that would be a grand mistake. in saipan we grew up studying N.M.I. history and i asure you theres no mention of Chamorro stick dances hula's or chants. Chamorro men in saipan dont stick dance.

[waveriderz]

@TheRenaissance180 ..i hear ya' bro', however the leaders of these organizations don't claim these dances were passed on by their ancestors.Colonial powers repressed so much of Chamoru culture that little is known about life prior to occupation.They merely claim them to be modern day representations of what might have been in the past. As they continue to be danced ,sooner or later, claims they were learned from great, great grands will be valid.

[670rainman]

@waveriderz so this is what we should teach the next generation that this part of our culture is "a modern day representation of what might have been in the past"?if we continue to allow and believe this claims to be true then our past would be overshadowed by polynesian look alike culture and future generation would be lost.

[waveriderz]

@670rainman this is what's being taught whether you or i like it or not. Some of these groups use it as a way to promote language ,identity, & historical research. Is that a bad thing? Dances of many places have similarities and i don't know which ones are closest to what ""was". Migration to Polynesia occurred later than ours so knows exactly where things originated. Do you?They are not all the same.and are at least are making an effort. How does that cause us to lose our future generation?

[rengelliz]

I'm sorry if my English is bad. But I am not ashamed because it is not my language. I am a full-blooded Palauan and I am proud.

Final words: Show some respect to other people's cultures and history. Respect is after all, one of the most valuable thing that we value as islanders. . . .other than that we are nothing but tiny specks of dusts on the map. . . ."e mle tauashi er ra re meklou el Beluu"

[waveriderz]

@rengelliz ...words to live by friend. We have much to preserve, and much to learn, from each other.

Will arguing about things really help in moving us forward?

[cham0rro]

can somebody explain to me the history of some of the costumes? if i remember correctly, the original chamorros did not wear grass skirts and coconut bras. im glad this video also showcases the hispanic dances because dance is meant to tell a story and the hipanic dances tell the story of our history as a spanish colony. a fact that other islanders cannot appreciate and respect. i hate when other islanders criticize chamorros for being part hispanic in their culture. they are ignorant.

[waveriderz]

@richyrik1 ...actually they didn't call it the "the home of the stealer" . Your phrase indicates a singular individual. It was called "island of thieves"by the Spanish, and it wasn't in reference to stick dance or grass skirts. Chamoru people were around long before the Spanish took Guam's land from it's people, so who was the bigger thief? Ya' might wanna' study a little more history before commenting on any group of people?

[tony1981ization]

im from saipan and i like micronesian girls..and polynesian girls..and melenisian girls..mmmm you can shake it anyway you like baby

[SounkawadenTomwara]

Hello chammoroanese, Im from FSM.

Im glad u guys want to revive ur culture....No matter what keep up the good work on bringing ur culture back....We are Micronesians and We need to reveal our identities by showing our cultures to world......we respect each other culture...We are proud Micronesians....

[SounkawadenTomwara]

We taught the Polynesians how to navigate the oceans...We bring back the lost Polynesian traditional art of Navigations.....Now the Native Hawaiian or Polynesians barrow our own Micronesian people to revive their lost culture...So whats if the chamorrou people also barrowing little copies of polynesian dance versions....We care about polynesians, and now Polynesians must also care bout Chamorro culture....We share our culture to you Polynesian, u guys should also share urs....Mahalo

[KaNaKa5wuno]

as a pure polynesian i feel angry cuz it seems like all these dances are wannabee copies of polynesian dances im pretty sure the indigenous people of guam did not have similar moves to the hula , kailau and other polynesian dances.and in the last few thousand years there was barley if not no contact between guam and polynesia STOP COPYING AND MANIPULATING POLYNESIAN DANCES THESE ARE NOT GUAMS TRADITIONAL DANCES!

[rengelliz]

@waveriderz . . .No, arguing won't, and so is ignorance and I found out the hard way. Just being here in UOG made me realize just how ignorant I was of other people's cultures and history. I came here thinking that all I had to do was study, get a degree, and go back home. I was proud and I didn't feel the need to even bother with the people here and what their going through.After I realized that, I felt ashamed because pride and disrespect is not what I was taught back home. . .I'm sorry