Elementary and high school students gathered to showcase their talent in a dance sport competition at he Sports Complex of Lagawe, Ifugao on May 29.
In the promotion of dance sports in Ifugao, the event was organized through a community-led initiative together with the parents and coaches to showcase the students’ talents.
The event has two categories, Standard and Latin. Under standard, the young competed for slow waltz, tango, and quickstep. While, for Latin, they competed rumba, cha cha, jive, and paso doble.
Of the dance sports competition, there were seven elementary and 11 high school students individually competed.
According to James Jay Raralio, one of the dance sports trainers, he did not expect that many students would join in the event since dance sport is not that well known in Ifugao.
“Why not bigyan natin sila ng opportunity para sumayaw (Why not give opportunity for them to dance),” he said.
Virginia Wolfe Dressler, a 16-year-old lass, won the overall champion in the High School-Standard category. She started dancing standard when she was in elementary and also joined the Latin category for the first time in this event.
“I was happy for the opportunity to dance for me to improve my skills and keep dancing,” she expressed.
On the other hand, Athena Therese Tayaban, a 10-year-old lass, secured the first place for the Junior (Elementary) Division-Latin Category while Ava Binwag bagged first place for the High School-Latin Category.
“Madali kung may background sa pagsasayaw and opportunity ito para sa mga young talents para matuto lalong lalo na sa Latin at Standard (Dance sports is an enabler skill if one has the skill and gives opportunity to the young to learn Latin and Standard structures of dance sports),” stated one of the judges.
Forward looking, dance sport classes will be held in Kiangan, Ifugao from May 30 to June 10, 2025. This is open for all young dance enthusiasts who want to participate. It is expected that more students or adult dancers will be encouraged to join and show their talents.//Brix Dane Galeon, BSU-DevCom Intern
