Theater in the Philippines is as varied as the cultural traditions and the historical influences that shaped it through the centuries. The dramatic forms that flourished and continue to flourish among the different peoples of the archipelago include: the indigenous theater, mainly Malay in character, which is seen in rituals, mimetic dances, and mimetic customs; the plays with Spanish influence, among which are the komedya, the sinakulo, the playlets, the sarswela, and the drama; and the theater with Anglo-American influence, which encompasses bodabil and the plays in English, and the modern or original plays by Fihpinos, which employ representational and presentational styles drawn from contemporary modern theater, or revitalize traditional forms from within or outside the country.
Performing arts are a form of art in which artists use their voices or bodies, often in relation to other objects, to convey artistic expression. It is different from visual arts, which is when artists use paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art objects. Performing arts include several disciplines, each performed in front of a live audience. Theatre, music, dance, and other kinds of performances are present in all human cultures. The history of music and dance date to pre-historic times. More refined versions, such as ballet, opera, and Kabuki, are performed professionally. Live performances before an audience are a form of entertainment. The development of audio and video recording has allowed for private consumption of the performing arts. The performing arts can help explain our emotions, expressions, and feelings.
Theatre
Theatre is the branch of performing arts; concerned with acting out stories in front of an audience, using a combination of speech, gesture, music, dance, sound and spectacle. Any one or more of these elements is performing arts. In addition to the standard narrative dialogue style of plays. Theatre takes such forms as plays, musicals, opera, ballet, illusion, mime, classical Indian dance, kabuki, mummers' plays, improvisational theatre, stand-up comedy, pantomime, and non-conventional or contemporary forms like postmodern theatre, postdramatic theatre, or performance art.
Dance
Main article: Dance
In the context of performing arts, dance generally refers to human movement, typically rhythmic and to music, used as a form of audience entertainment in a performance setting. Definitions of what constitutes dance are dependent on social, cultural, aesthetic artistic and moral constraints and range from functional movement (such as folk dance) to codified, virtuoso techniques such as ballet.
There is one another modern form of dance that emerged in 19th- 20th century with the name of Free-Dance style. This form of dance was structured to create a harmonious personality which included features such as physical and spiritual freedom. Isadora Duncan was the first female dancer who argued about “woman of future” and developed novel vector of choreography using Nietzsche’s idea of “supreme mind in free mind"
Dance is a powerful impulse, but the art of dance is that impulse channeled by skillful performers into something that becomes intensely expressive and that may delight spectators who feel no wish to dance themselves. These two concepts of the art of dance—dance as a powerful impulse and dance as a skillfully choreographed art practiced largely by a professional few—are the two most important connecting ideas running through any consideration of the subject. In dance, the connection between the two concepts is stronger than in some other arts, and neither can exist without the other. Choreography is the art of making dances, and the person who practices this art is called a choreographer.
Music
Main article: Music
Music is an art form which combines pitch, rhythm, and dynamic in order to create sound. It can be performed using a variety of instruments and styles and is divided into genres such as folk, jazz, hip hop, pop, and rock, etc. As an art form, music can occur in live or recorded formats, and can be planned or improvised.
Sophocles, as depicted in the Nordisk familjebok.
As music is a protean art, it easily co-ordinates with words for songs as physical movements do in dance. Moreover, it has a capability of shaping human behaviors as it impacts our emotions.