Budots: The Craze

Intrigued by the ‘budots’ pop-culture dance craze in Davao City, Philippines, artists/filmmakers Jay Rosas and Mark Paul Limbaga decided to trace the beginnings of the viral phenomenon through the eyes of Sherwin Calumpang Tuna, the digital creator believed to have first experimented with its possibilities. Sherwin created budots music while working at his internet café in 2008. With an existing interest in remixing found sounds like cymbals, street noise, and kicks, he also invented choreography that would complement the existing dance trends gaining popularity in his neighbourhood Barangay Camus at the time. 

Budots is inspired by Badjao and Mindanao music and dance cultures—what was formerly known as budong dance by the Visayans. Using sound and dance remixes from mainstream culture today, budots creates immersive local engagement. It is not unidirectional, but an interconnecting network of ideas that builds itself organically as ‘Filipino-fied’ raw-edged techno accompanied by catchy dance moves. The genre has been used to raise awareness about drug abuse and juvenile delinquency, and leaders from across the political spectrum, including Rodrigo Duterte, have co-opted its popular ideal. Its ubiquity transcends geographic boundaries, and its synthesis of electronic music and indigenous and modern dance has evolved into a genre of its own.