Troubling the Training: A Reflexive Dialogue on Decolonizing Performance Pedagogies in the Philippines and Malaysia

Abstract

Where should we begin a dialogue about decolonizing and reimagining performance pedagogies in the Southeast Asian context? We first met when we were completing the Choreomundus International MA in Dance Knowledge, Practice, and Heritage in Europe and we are now pursuing our PhD degrees in Australia and Canada. Our dialogue opens by offering a contextualization of land grabbing and the exploitation of resources in the Philippines before delving into the relationship between land and body through careful reflection on our own bodily training. We are convinced that violence against land and body can be undone only through Indigenous sovereignty, by mobilizing the intergenerational knowledge that resides in Indigenous bodies. Decolonizing pedagogies enable an unlearning of the ways in which colonialism has been written on bodies. Integration as a decolonial method is not only about integrating performance elements, but is also about shifting towards a pedagogy of performance that empowers the Indigenous, minorities, and the marginalized, and integrates their clamor for land, social justice, and equity in the process of recreating cultural performances. By situating our personal journeys within the social and political contexts of our home countries and of the countries in which we have been educated, we hope that this dialogue offers an intimate consideration of what non-Indigenous and postcolonial scholars can contribute to the conversation around decolonizing performance pedagogies.