WRITTEN BY TRACE GAYNOR, LEO ALBEA AND FRANCESA JANA SANTIAGO

One of the many things Filipinos are great at, and arguably known for, is dancing! At most Filipino parties, you’ll see titas line dancing or your cousins busting out moves to the Otso-Otso as if their lives depended on it! Through the years, dancing has merged into a billion-dollar industry and a legitimate profession even. However, Filipinos and other POCs in the industry do not get the full credit for their work. America’s various reality dance competitions continue to profit off of Filipino talents yet because of our participation in these, Hip-Hop has become more acceptable to the masses in comparison to the 1990s when this genre of dance originating from Black people, was criminalized. But are Filipinos actually helping or are we contributing to the erasure of Hip-Hop to its origins in Black culture?

In the dance industry, choreography is very easy to steal. We see this when white creators get to cherry-pick from the finished products of POC creators and reap the benefits without facing any stigmas. But Filipinos aren’t free of blame either. Back when Hip-Hop was created in the 70’s impoverished neighborhoods, the media painted it “violent” and police would deliberately cancel any event related to it. It wasn’t until Asian-Americans entered this scene from the 80’s-90’s, attitudes towards the genre started to shift. To this day, Filipinos are able to commercialize Hip-Hop inspired choreography as a form of entertainment. Still, we are merely guests in this art form and we need to start recognizing that. 

It’s no secret that our people have been at the forefront of jaw-dropping performances in competitions to viral online dance trends. Our community’s love for dance has opened multiple doors of opportunities for us in mainstream media. And we can still celebrate our innovations in any dance scene while remembering to credit the creators it originated from, especially Black creators. While we’re at it, let’s continue to support other POC dancers while supporting our own because this is the only way we can keep the dance industry as a whole more culturally inclusive.