Kapatagan contingent tops 2013 street dancing competition; takes home half-million peso prize

By Gideon C. Corgue

PAGADIAN CITY, Jan. 23 (PIA)  - -  A deafening cheer of jubilation reverberated at the jampacked city gym when the board of judges announced Sunday evening the five major winners in the five-hour open-invitational street dancing competition which capped this city’s 14^th Pasalamat Festival.

Formerly named “Zambulawan” festival in 1978 to 1999, the “Pasalamat” (thanksgiving) festival is held every third Sunday of January of each year in honor of the patron saint, the Holy Child.

As a dance ritual honoring the child Jesus, locally known as “Santo Niño,” the festival features a street dance parade with participants from public secondary schools donned in bright-colored costumes and headdresses, chanting and dancing to the tune and beat of drums and lyres, trumpets, and other native gongs, as an expression of their deep devotion, faith and jubilation to the patron Saint while competing with other delegations at the same time.

In his message, Mayor Samuel Co said “the festival is not just for the merrymaking and street dancing but most importantly it is a celebration and thanksgiving for the blessings received and the prayers answered.”

“This annual festivity also showcases our city’s rich culture and heritage as well as the culture of our invited participants from neighboring places,” Co explained.

Top 5 winners

A contingent from Kapatagan, Lanao del Norte, a first-time participant, emerged as grand champion in this year’s open-invitational street dancing competition, followed by Tukuran contingent, Zamboanga del Sur National High School (main campus), Napolan National High School and Pagadian City National High School.

Winners brought home cash prizes of P500,000, P350,000, P200,000, P100,000, P50,000 for the first to fifth placers, respectively.  

Plaques of appreciation were also given to the winners.

Street dancing competition committee chair, Councilor Bienvenido Culve, also bared that there were 10 contingents joining the competition, 8 from the public secondary schools in Pagadian, and 2 from the local government units of Tukuran, Zamboanga del Sur and Kapatagan, Lanao del Norte.

Culve said all participating schools were each given P50,000 while the LGU contingents received P16,000 to help defray their transportation expenses.

Judges impressed

Renefe Tremedal, who chaired the board of judges, disclosed that Kapatagan contingent’s color coordination and synchronized movement had greatly impressed the judges.   She also admitted that the judges had the difficulty in choosing the top five winners saying that all participants performed very well. “Since we were guided by a set of criteria, we have to choose the top 5 winners from among the contingents,” explained Tremedal.  

Judging was done at station 1 along F.S. Pajares corner Rizal Avenue, at station 2, in front of Gaisano Mall on Rizal Avenue, and at the city gym for the final showdown.

Very happy

Kapatagan Municipal Tourism Officer Johnny Paul Lagura said he was very happy and proud that for the first time in joining the event, they won the competition. He, however, admitted that the competition was very tough.

“We are also delighted that we have given and brought honor for our town,” Lagura declared.

Lagura expressed his thanks to the city government for inviting his group to be part of the festival and promised to actively join the yearly celebration.

Pool of best dancers

Kapatagan’s contingent is a pool of best dancers from the three high schools namely: the Kapatagan National High School (KNHS), Bansarville National High School (BNHS), and St. Francis Xavier Academy (SFXA), all of Kapatagan town.

“All of our talents are from Kapatagan, no imports,” said Lagura.

With almost 100 dancers and propsmen, Lagura said the contingent started preparing immediately after they had received the invitation from the city government last Jan. 5. 

Throng of tourists

Thousands of local tourists flocked to the major streets in the city to witness this one of a kind event with nearly 1,000 performers consisting of dancers, propsmen, musicians, and support staff of the participating contingents fueled the grand performance during the festival. (FPG/GCC/PIA,Pagadian City)