What is "pangalay"

upright=1.44|thumb|Pangalay Pangalay (also known as Daling-Daling or Mengalai in Sabah) is the traditional “ fingernail” dance of the Tausūg people of the Sulu Archipelago and Sabah. The dance also means offering from its Sanskrit origin pang-alay. Mangalay which also means dance is very similar to classical Balinese and Thai dances.

The dance is the most distinctively Asian of all the southern Philippine dances because dancers must have dexterity and flexibility of the shoulders, elbows, and wrists – movements that strongly resemble those of “ kontaw silat'. The Malaysian art of Buah Pukul is classified as silat despite its Yunnan origin, kuntao is "way of the fist", from kun 拳 meaning fist and tao 道 meaning way. This term was originally used for Chinese martial arts in general. The Pangalay is predominantly performed during weddings or other festive events. The male equivalent of the Pangalay is the Pangasik and features more martial movements, while a pangalay that features both a male and female dancer is called Pangiluk.

The original concept of the Pangalay is based on the pre-Islamic and Buddhist concept of male and female celestial angels ( Sanskrit: Vidhyadhari, Bahasa Sūg: Biddadari) common as characters in other Southeast Asian dances.

Neighboring Samal and Bajau peoples call this type of dance, Umaral or Igal, and they sometimes use bamboo castanets as substitutes for long fingernails.