When the Elephants Dance:
An Interview with Tess Uriza Holthe

Tess Uriza Holthe is a Filipina-American writer from San Francisco. Her first novel, When the Elephants Dance, is inspired in part by her father's experiences growing up in the Philippines during World War II. The novel recounts supernatural tales based on indigenous Filipino mythology and Spanish-influenced legends as told by an extended family hiding in a cellar during the last week of the Japanese occupation of the Philippines. Alternating between the gruesome realities brought on by the war and the magical realism of Filipino folklore, When the Elephants Dance presents a lyrical, multi-layered view of the history and culture of a war-torn nation.

Can you explain the title of When the Elephants Dance?

It’s from an expression I found in some of the research I did on Robert Lapham, one of the American guerillas in the Philippines during World War II. They used to say, “When the elephants dance, it isn’t safe for the chickens.” The elephants were the Americans and Japanese who were fighting then and the chickens were the Filipino civilians that had to get out of their way or get crushed. I think it was a saying that originated prior to World War II, but they applied it to that time period.

How much of this novel is based on family stories and how much is fiction?

All of it is made up, but a portion of the [Karanalan] family story was based on my family stories. The story about the church that sank into the ground was based on a family story. I had heard growing up that there was a church in Manila that sank into the ground and only about a third of the door was above ground. My family explained to me that in that town the people were really arrogant and an angel came in the form of a dog to test the arrogance of the village's parishioners. They all scoffed at the dog and the dog brushed its paws on the church and the church sunk underground. Another explanation is that the church sunk during an earthquake, but I based the section of the novel about Esmerelda on the legend of the dog. So there were little pieces of stories my family told me that went in the novel.

In addition to the supernatural stories, did your family tell you stories about their experiences during WWII even though they were painful?

Yes, we just heard some new ones this weekend from my father. My relatives tell stories from the war repeatedly, which I thought everyone’s family did, but people tell me that they are amazed that my family was so open about it and that their families wouldn’t talk about it. One woman I spoke to at a reading told me that her father would only mention that he met the Emperor of Japan, but wouldn’t say anything else [about the Japanese occupation]. I think with my family, telling these stories was a healing process.

Have you ever been to the Philippines?

No, I’ve never been to the Philippines, though I've heard about it all my life. My family would describe the heat, the scents, the fruits, the animals, the bugs, the terrain, and my millions of cousins. Growing up, I couldn't afford to visit, and then during college I was working just to put myself through. I would love to visit in the near future, but with my schedule lately it may be a year or two before I can.

Your novel showed various layers of Filipino culture, particularly the interaction between indigenous Filipino religion and Catholicism. Does this characterize the religion you grew up with?

It characterized our household and I would venture to guess it does for most Filipino households. There is the belief in God and then there are these dwarves and other [supernatural creatures]. I’ve encountered it in just about every Filipino family I knew growing up.

Filipinos never let go of how they respected the forest. My father would always say, “Watch out for the dwarves [in the forest]. You can crush their homes.” And even now, when I go hiking in Marin where I live, I say in my head, “Excuse me, I’m sorry,” sometimes, just to warn [the dwarves]. It’s a habit and I think a lot of people have that mix of superstition and Catholicism and believe in them hand in hand. Maybe people are in denial of how the two [traditions] conflict.

You used Tagalog and Spanish in the dialogue in the novel, and then translate them in the following text. Why did you decide to include Tagalog and Spanish phrases?

I heard both languages growing up because a lot of Filipino families speak Spanish and because Tagalog was influenced by Spanish during the occupation. I read All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy and he interspersed Spanish throughout the whole thing, but he doesn’t translate it. I realize how much including the Spanish colored his novel. The characters became authentic to me. Also, I had never seen Tagalog in print anywhere and I thought it would be a nice addition.

One of the main themes explored in the novel is division and infighting among Filipinos in the face of foreign invaders (Spanish, Japanese or American). Given the current political situation in the Philippines with the secessionist movement and the arrival of US troops, do you think this message is particularly relevant today?

Yes, there is definitely an amazing parallel for the civilians who are struggling there. There are people in the Philippines who do not want Americans there because they have been occupied by so many different nations for so many years. There are others who are loyal [to the Americans] and want them there to rid the Philippines of these extremist groups like the Abu Sayyaf.

Just like in World War II, there were different factions fighting. During World War II, some Filipinos wanted the Japanese to come in order to be pro-Asian. There were groups that wanted to collaborate with the Americans and not the Japanese. And there were still other groups who didn’t want any [foreigners in their country].

It’s the same right now in the Philippines. As American troops come over to help the Filipino army train to purge the extremist groups, there are Filipinos who feel they are being occupied, even though the Americans are there to support [the Filipino army]. The civilians are probably terrified to have any of this go on. The conflict continues.

Who are your influences?

I wish I had read Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things before I wrote this book. I read it because a publicist compared me to Arundhati Roy and I had never read her before. I loved that book and I read it twice. Before that I was influenced by Cormac McCarthy because I loved the dialogue in his books. The dialogue was always lively and never stilted. I love Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. I think the books about family and that have a sense of adventure [have inspired me]. Amy Tan was of course a big influence because it was the first Asian voice I read.

Excerpted from an interview conducted by Michelle Caswell, AsiaSource.