Tinikling and Magunatip from Sabah, East Malaysia. Tinikling Tinikling is a traditional Philippine folk dance which originated during the Spanish colonial era. The dance involves two people beating, tapping, and sliding bamboo poles on the ground and against each other in coordination with one or more dancers who step over and in between the poles in a dance. It is traditionally danced to rondalla music, a sort of serenade played by an ensemble of stringed instruments which originated in Spain during the Middle Ages. The name "tinikling" is a reference to birds locally known as "tikling", which can be any of
Tinikling the Filipino villagers living in those regions during the Spanish period. Other Filipino folk dances of this category include "Sayaw sa Bangko", "Maglalatik", and "Pandanggo sa Ilaw". In the United States, this dance has been altered into a four-beat rhythm to adjust to popular music. In some cases, it has been used in conjunction with traditional Filipino martial arts to demonstrate fleetness of foot and flow of movement. As mentioned earlier, tinikling is used as aerobic exercise for physical education classes in the United States for grades K-12. Instead of using traditional bamboo poles, most schools create their poles using