MUSIC:

DANCE PROPERTIES

Dance: Sua ko Sua

Meaning: My pomelo tree

Dance Culture: Lowland Muslim (Coastal)

Place of Origin: Jolo, Sulu

Ethnolinguistic Group: Tausog

Classification: Mimetic, Courtship

Performers: Male, Female

Accesories gold or imitation gold earrings, necklace, bracelets, and brooches

Suggested footwear: Dancers are barefoot.

Shoulder band (SIYAG): A seperate wrap-around malong of rich material strung over the right shoulder
crossing the chest and hanging on the left side.

MALE

Pants (SAWAL OR KANTIU): Similar to the pants of females but in darker colors and bolder design

Accesories: money-belt, Sarok hat, Pis siyabit (rectangular hand-woven scarf tied on the head or hung
loosely over one shoulder), Kris (wavy knife) or barong (leaf knife)
Suggested footwear: Dancers are barefoot.

COSTUME:

BACKGROUND:

FEMALE

MOVEMENTS / STEPS PARTICULAR TO DANCE

Fans transform into tiny sails, face mirrors, butterflies, shields, and leaves. Sua-Ku-Sua's traditional steps
are with Chineses influence.

Pants (SAWAL OR KANTIU): loose Chineses pants with a 10-inch soft white band (coco curdo) attached
to a wide waist. To tuck the pants in, the white band is overlapped in front, one side on top of the other
and rolled out to form a tight belt.

MATERIAL: Chinese silk or any silk material preferably in navy blue, sunshine yellow, grass green, red or
orange colors

The Sua-Ku-Sua or "My Pomelo Tree" is a dance that likens the Sua's gentle leaves, attractive fruits, its
fragrance and slender body to that of a lady.

Performed by couples, the Sua-Ku-Sua dancers make use of two white fans that are swayed, as if to
signify the swaying of the leaves of the Sua tree while singing along with the music in their rice powder-
covered faces and their eyebrow and sideburns are enhanced with soot for aesthetic purposes.

Top (BARAWASI): traditional loose blouse, long sleeves with deep, plunging key-hole neckline; extra
panels attached to the right and left chest decorated with many tiny brass buttons.

MATERIAL: printed or plain Chinese silk or cotton

SUA-KU-SUA

SUA-KU-SUA

Top (BAJO): short-wais collarless shirt; open front with the right panel overlapping the left, studded with
many tiny brass buttons and is not intended to close the front but used as an additional shirt decoration.
The shirt is allowed to drop on the right side.

MATERIAL: printed or plain Chinese silk or cutton

Headpiece: There are three choices: 1) gold or brass filigree called tusuk, 20 paper bills pasted on
slender sticks; and 3) pasteboard cutouts in the front tip 8 to 10 inches high, similar to Chinese crowns
covered with gold foil

2/4 AND 4/4; composed of three parts- A, B AND C. Gabbang bamboo xylophone are shaped-like a small
boat. Bamboo slats are thinned and cut to graduated sizes to prode three octaves of pentatonic scale.

COUNT:

One, two to a measure in 2/4 time signature; 1, 2, 3, 4, to a measure in 4/4 time signature