Tanauan, Leyte is a local holiday. "Tinikling" is the most popular and best known of Philippine dances and honored as the Philippine national dance. It is one of the oldest Philippine traditional dances and originated in Leyte Province. The people of Leyte describe the tikling bird as one of the most unique in its movements - walking around and between the tree branches and some grass stems. This bird was named "tikling" from which the Tinikling dance got its name. Because of the creativeness of the Leytenos, they imitate this bird by using bamboo poles. In 2006, the attention of the then
History of Chinese dance called "shehuo" (社火, named after a spring festival) which performed during festivals, and each village or city may have its own dance troupe. Other dances include Catching Butterflies (撲蝴蝶), Bamboo Horse (竹馬), and the "Bao Lao" Dance (舞鮑老, "Bao Lao" was a comic character in a puppet show). In the "wazi" of the Song dynasty, various theatrical forms flourished and Chinese opera began to take shape. More elaborate narrative became incorporated into dances, for example the sword dance would depict the Feast at Hong Gate, followed by depiction of the responses of Zhang Xu and Du Fu after watching the