The dance involves at least 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. The dance is also known as the “bamboo dance” and is regarded as the national dance of the Philippines.
The origin story of the Tinikling dance is not clear, but there are two popular versions. One version says that the dance came into being during the Spanish colonization of the Philippines, specifically, the island of Leyte. At the time, the people living in the Visayas (a chain of six islands that includes the Leyte) were mostly rice farmers. The rice crops were often attacked by a species of bird known locally as Tinikling. Today, in the Western world, these birds are known as buff-banded rails (Hypotaenidia Philippensis). The locals set up bamboo traps to protect the crops from these birds. However, the traps didn’t work, and the birds would jump over the bamboo poles built to trap them. Soon, the locals imitated the hopping motion of the birds, anf the Tinikling Dance (also named after the bird) was created.