La MaMa Kids: Dancing with Kinding Sindaw

Kinding Sindaw is an NYC-based nonprofit dance theater company composed of indigenous tradition-bearers, Filipino American artists, and educators from all backgrounds founded in 1992. Kinding Sindaw exists to assert, preserve, reclaim, and re-create the traditions of dance, music, martial arts, storytelling, and orature of the indigenous peoples of Mindanao, Southern Philippines.Founded by a Meranao Bai Labi , Tradition and Culture Bearer, Potri Ranka Manis, Kinding Sindaw recreates the oral traditions of ancestral art forms from Mindanao and is a resident company of La MaMa Experimental Theater Company. Our mission is to educate and enlighten communities about the history and cultures of the indigenous peoples of the Philippines. Through the use of indigenous music, dance and cultural art forms, we serve as an important educational and cultural resource in New York City. We aim to promote the advocacy for indigenous peoples, as well as increase awareness of universal themes that are part of the human experience. The range of our programs also integrates the health benefits of the ancestral movements that we show and teach to our audiences. Through these cultural art forms, we advocate for the preservation of natural resources that are the livelihood of the indigenous peoples. Wellness and healing rituals are also embodied in the repertoire of Kinding Sindaw to increase health and healing awareness of participants and audiences.

We serve as a community resource that helps children, youth and adults explore the unique history and traditions of the Philippines, draw parallels to other communities, explore common historic themes, and motivate audiences to learn more about their own history and culture. Kinding Sindaw’s vast offering of programs have been funded and supported in part by the Reginald Lewis Foundation, the New York City & Company Foundation, the New York Foundation for the Arts Folk Art Fellowship, the New York Department of Cultural Affairs, the Citizens Committee of New York, the New York State Council on the Arts, Lotus Fine Arts Productions, Inc., and individuals from the community. Feel free to reach out if you have further questions!

La MaMa Kids 2023–2024 is supported in part by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. Additional support provided by The William C. Bullitt Foundation, Con Edison, the Howard Gilman Foundation, The Jim Henson Foundation and The SQA Foundation.