La Estudiantina Capulena

This, fellow Capulenos is something we should be truly proud of. The dance we have always claimed to be our very own, was featured in a Dance Symposium, and is now being shown in youtube.

The caption reads: “This is one of the three available versions of Philippine Estudiantina dances, popular in its broken Spanish name, "Estudiantina de Capuleño". The proper term should have been "La Estudiantina Capuleña". This dance is simply called Estudiantina in the other towns in Samar where it is also popular.

The dance could have derived its name from "estudiantina" which is the all-string band that plays the dance music in the many 'baylihan' during the Spanish colonial period. The estudiantina is more popular as the 'rondalla'. It is also called 'tuna' and 'murga'. In fact, in the present day Spanish world, the term used is either tuna or estudiantina.

This dance is usually performed during occasions like baptismal and birthday parties, weddings and even town fiesta. It is very popular in the town of Capul as well as in the nearby towns of Allen, Lavezares and Victoria in Northern Samar.

A notation of this dance's music and the literature is found in the book VISAYAN FOLK DANCES volume 2 by Liberatd Fajardo.”

I still have to find the details on where this specifically happened and who the dancers were. In the meantime, just enjoy the clip.