TO BRING pride to the country especially in international events is the biggest honor that a Filipino always wants to achieve. Last July, six Kagay-anon performers raised the flag for the country in the prestigious World Championships of the Performing Arts (WCOPA).
Considered as the one and only official World Talent Championships, the WCOPA is on its twenty-first successful year. It is a premier international talent and modeling competition. Every year, it has been holding the competition around Hollywood area.
From June 30 to July 8, it held in Long Beach Performing Arts Center in California, United States of America (USA), where Filipino delegates proved their skill in the performing arts.
Emilor James Cabanos, Rae Anne Saltiga, Honey Wang, Francis Brian Diez, Marlou Flores, and Shaun Pilapil were six of the Filipinos who came from Cagayan de Oro City. They joined the other 103 Philippine delegates to California.
As the competition is between individual performance, the six of them competed not only with Filipino contenders but with other performers from over 50 countries.
"There were teams and representatives from USA, Canada, Malaysia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, UAE, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Zimbabwe, just to name some of the many teams," said Shaun Pilapil.
Like the Olympics, the finest aspiring competitors from countries are qualified and invited. Every contestant attending the World Championships of Performing Arts system has been screened, qualified, and selected under specific guidelines established by WCOPA, and executed by Scouts and Licensed National Directors from invited countries.
"For this delegation, we auditioned for the 2017 team, last year. There were two stages to it. The first one was with Sir Dino, Sir Oreo, Ms. Debbie Cabague (WCOPA 2016 multi-medalist), and Ms. Maia Fortich-Poblete (Cagayan de Oro theatre scene director). The second was with the WCOPA Team Philippines National Director, Mr. Gerry Mercado, and Ms. Abby Tajanlangit Mercado," Pilapil said.
There are six categories of competition for Juniors, ages five to 15, and Seniors, ages 16 and over. These are dance, vocal, modeling, acting, instrumentalists, and variety arts. The WCOPA, being the "Olympics" of the performing arts, highlights a wide variety of performances in various genres from the delegates of the participating countries.
"I joined five genres in the vocals category and those were “Take Me or Leave Me” (Broadway), “Wanted” (country), “Mercy” (pop), “I Would Do Anything For Love” (rock), and “So Emotional” (RnB)," said another performer, Francis Brian Diez.
By the end of the competition, the Kagay-anon delegates took home more than what they expected. Honey Wang was able to garner a bronze medal for Vocal Opera and a silver medal for Modeling Swimwear. Marlou Flores on the other hand was able to get two Bronze medals for Contemporary and Gospel singing.
Performer Shaun Pilapil was able to get three medals. She had a silver for contemporary acting, a bronze for acting for television, and a silver for Acting Open. Meanwhile, Rae Anne Saltiaga bagged a Silver medal in Rock and a Bronze medal in Gospel. Francis Brian Diez got three bronze medals for the genres of country, pop, and rock.
Emilor James Cabanos won bronze in Country, silver in Broadway, silver in Gospel, silver in Opera, silver in Rock and was also given the Industry Award.
"I never expect to get any medals because the competition was very tough. Being able to bring home two medals is a big accomplishment for me because not everyone received a medal. I am so overwhelmed and proud!" Flores said.
"For me, I didn’t really think of that event as a competition because I’m not a 'competitive type' but instead, I am a person who appreciates talents and sometimes while I was at the competition, I always thought to myself that I wanted to finish my performances already so that I can just sit back, watch, and enjoy the performances of the other contestants. That’s how I personally feel. It was an awesome experience that I think will be remembered for the rest of my life," Diez added.
Fired up with the success of their WCOPA experience, the delegates are now more inspired to continue their practice in the performing arts.
"In 2019 or 2020, maybe I will join again to go for gold. But for now I want to train in performing and do more acting," said Pilapil.