As a Pangcah body not particularly gifted at dancing, Ihot was thrust into the “Young Girls’ Troupe” during Ilisin (Harvest Festival) throughout her upbringing—an experience that invariably ended in her own lethargy and “failure.” During Ilisin, she was always the only girl in the family who didn’t join the dance, staying on the sidelines to cheer and scream for her cousins. The dance instructors’ most frequent command was always: “Steady your feet! Step firmly! Step hard!”
But her feet could never stay steady.

These dances, created by “cultural and arts troupes” and performed across Pangcah villages and events, were among Ihot’s few opportunities to connect with her culture. Yet such performances are often criticized as “domesticated,” “untraditional,” or “soulless.”
If so, what dance is left for Ihot?

In the sea where language has sunk, the body has yet to arrive. While “domesticated” dances, created by “cultural and arts troupes” and performed across Pangcah villages and events, may not carry the same sacredness as ritual dances, they hold a unique vitality of their own.This perspective on dance history echoes the textualization of Indigenous history. From oral traditions to written records, and from ritual movements to the standardized forms shaped during the Japanese and KMT eras, what we see today are histories that have been retrieved and reshaped.
What else remains on the seabed?