An island seeks a "rebirth" of Chamorro culture

Guam was the first Pacific island to be colonized by Europeans after its discovery by Ferdinand Magellan in 1521. The Spanish used the island as a refueling station in the Galleon trade between Acapulco and Manila consolidating their power through the establishment of a Jesuit Mission in 1668. The indigenous peoples heavily resisted their colonization but were overcome by introduced diseases and violent repressive measures drastically reducing the population to just 1/20th of its original size in the first half of the 18th century. The Spanish then introduced laborers from the Philippines to rebuild the population.

Leonard Iriarte: The Chamorro people are a very old race. We believe that our ancestral spirits are all around us and that they influence our lives.

Guam is the southernmost island in the Mariana island chain also colonized by Germany and Japan in the 19th and 20th centuries. Guam was claimed by the United States following the Spanish-American war in 1898. The prolonged period of colonization drastically affected indigenous Chamorro culture and while much of the language was retained the indigenous arts and dance in particular virtually disappeared and were replaced by Spanish influenced styles. Catholicism was also indigenized and today is a central aspect of Chamorro culture.

The Pacific Festival of the Arts played a significant role in forcing Chamorros to seek out what they believed to be a more authentically looking Pacific form of dance that they could claim as their own. The Spanish influenced dances that had dominated their repertoire at the festival came under heavy criticism from other delegations and festival officials and in this way the regional gathering spawned a search for a new Chamorro style for Guam. In this essay we explore the revitalization of Chamorro dance through the work of dance master Frank Rabon and scholars Judy Flores and C.R. Kim Bailey. Following extensive research and reconstruction through archival work the newly named "Taotao Tano Cultural Dancers" showcased the new Guam style at the 1984 festival in New Caledonia. Taotao tano is the original description of the indigenous people of Guam meaning "people of the land." Today, the original members have formed their own groups which exist under the umbrella of Pa'a Taotao Tano meaning "a way of life for the people of the land." A close reading of the chants and song texts performed by Chamorros of Guam reflects a "rebirth" of culture by inscribing a pre-Spanish period of navigation and settlement of Guam. The songs and chants also invoke survival in the natural environment, gendered social divisions and associated buildings, practices and roles.

Guam's Spanish influenced dances at the Pacific Festival of the Arts came under heavy criticism from other delegations and festival officials.

Polynesian and particularly popular contemporary Hawaiian choreographies and rhythms have influenced much of the recent revitalization of Chamorro dance performance. These are the forms that tend to circulate most widely across the region and the ones that are particularly attractive in the space of tourism. The genealogy of Chamorro dance revival can be traced to the experiences of Frank Rabon whose teachers were mainly Polynesian. This explains why the art form did not initially draw from the more obvious indigenous Micronesian sources which surround Guam. In costuming, instrumentation and movement style, Chamorro dances reflect a Polynesian style while in content, a Micronesian origin story.

The earliest attempts at performing indigenous dance on Guam focused on entertainment. Later they evolved into the historical mode which dominates most Pacific dance genres. They began to tell stories about the past beginning with the arrival of ancestors by canoe. Young men or urritao perform the opening followed by women doing the bailan lina'la or women's dance of life. It ends with the celebration of a safe and successful journey. The invocation of the ancestors is central to the theme of the current Chamorro dances. The complementary role of men and women also shapes the themes and formations of each dance where men are understood to form the pillars of society and the women the foundations.

The earliest attempts at performing indigenous dance on Guam focused on entertainment, telling stories about the past beginning with the arrival of ancestors by canoe.

The repertoire of a Chamorro dance group usually moves from the representations of the pre-colonial period through a range of Spanish and Filipino influenced songs and dances. The Spanish waltz or batsu and the polka or scoltes were brought in by sailors who passed through the island. The women's mestisa and men's lancheru mode of dress were modeled on the clothing in other Spanish colonies like Mexico and the Philippines. The songs and dances composed and performed as a result of this period of colonization often reflect a localization of introduced ideas, a great degree of humor and more closely resemble everyday lived practices then do the reconstructed dances and songs representing the pre-Spanish period. They illustrate the creative survival of peoples in their spaces of work and play despite a lack of political power.

The Kantan Chamorrita, for example, is an old poetic dialog form of chanting and singing in which verses are sung back and forth between people who improvise the lines as they go along. According to C.R. Kim Bailey the function and creativity surrounding this genre of song is pre-colonial — especially with respect to courtship and double talk — while the melodies are influenced by post-contact forms. During World War II the Chamorritas allowed Chamorros to communicate with each other and make fun of the occupying forces despite their oppressive experiences. Today the communication function of the Chamorrita has diminished and it usually serves as entertainment during parties.

The manner in which Chamorro dance on Guam has emerged today contrasts heavily with other Pacific dance traditions that have evolved unbroken for millennia. If dance is a living practice then a deliberately constructed practice less integrated with everyday economic and social activities remains above and beyond everyday culture. But as the leaders of Chamorro dance groups point out, they are the ancestors of the future generations and in a hundred years or so the dance traditions will be integrated into everyday Guam culture.

Katerina Martina Teaiwa, PhD
University of Hawai'i at Manoa