The all-female dancers is headed by a babaylan(shaman/priestess) who is responsible for keeping the fire burning. The dancers execute complex footworks moving around the dapulan- the wooden receptacle that holds the ceremonial pot of fire. The smoke from the fire is believed to carry prayers to the dwelling place of the gods. Lumad dance researchers Edgardo Marucut and Thelma Rocha also claimed that the smoke signifies the Bukidnons' intense devotion and love for their gods. The smoke is also said to carry their thanksgiving messages to their gods. In some occasions, the bangkaso, a small table laden with fruits, palay, corns and other farm produce are used instead of the dapulan.

Dugso dance steps give us a lot of unique Lumad dance vocabulary. Popular among these are the inanud (adrift or flotsam or carried away), binadbad (untying a knot), tinaktak (waterfall), inaksyun (in action), inulang (shrimp-like), linibog (confusion), sangkululo (imitating a rooster skirting a hen in a love play), lagoras (dance step from a Dugso version of the same name), pinispis (parrot-like), dinatag (introduction), sinayaw (dance-like) and binakbak (frog-like). The hand movement called kubay is very graceful and portrays femininity. Manobo men believe that those women dancers who can do the kubay gracefully are believed to be amiable and are not hard to court. Senaylo-saylo is a playful portrayal of a woman's fickleness or indecisions.

• Panaksoy, is a blouse of striped white, black, red or yellow bodice and a red cenepha. Triangles or zigzag patterns are decorated on the edges as appliqués. The panaksoy has a bell-shaped sleeves and is cut just above the hip to show the tattoos in their midribs.

• The saya, a wrap-around skirt of the same color and patterns of design. The skirt is usually tucked at the right by inserting the end inside the wrapped skirt or tucked by a tapis that looks like a "back-to-back bib" with the "bibs" placed at the sides.

• Sulam-sulang (also called pananggahan, saloloy and pelupandung) serves as a headdress. This headress is worn in respect of the mythical papagayok bird having iridiscent plummage. The papagayok is said to have "all the colors" of all the other birds. A triangular cloth called panika also covers the base of the sulam-sulang. It is intricately embroidered in designs matching the panaksoy.

This headdress is a big metal comb decorated with sticks wrapped in yarns and colorful feathers. The sticks are fastened the to comb in an a radial arrangement that looks like an expanded peacock tail or an open folding fan. Colorful yarn threads or fringes are sometimes added at the bottom of the comb or at the sides. The male Hiagaonon sulam-sulang is simpler and consists of around four of those sticks clipped in front of the head by a headscarf. The use of the male sulam-sulang is exclusive to the elite bagani.