Semiotics in Street Dances a Reflection on the Roles of Power, Gender, and Modernization

Street dances depict one’s local cultural heritage that stems from both early religious and socio-cultural origins. In this paper, a local street dance in Camarines Sur, Philippines was subjected for semiotic analysis to understand the underlying phenomenon that influence the changes in concept, style, and executions of the street dance. Focus group discussion, key informant interviews, and participant observations were conducted with various informants that include religious, political, and academic leaders, community members, street dance participants, and dance choreographers. The data were audio recorded, transcribed, and coded. By pointing to the signifier (physical/material) and signified (concept) in the street dances, it provides the reader with the connotative and denotative meanings on the objects being analyzed. Presenting binary oppositions is a fundamental organizer of human philosophy, culture, and language. By presenting the power structures and dynamics present in a society, it tries to point themes and ideologies present in its socio-cultural context which provided opportunity to critically think the influences of certain phenomena portrayed in local street dances. In a nutshell, these street dances are characterized by convergence of semiotic elements influenced by religious, artistic, gender, modernization, and historical factors revealing different meanings that evolve over time requiring intervention from local leaders and academe for cultural heritage preservation.