THE MassKara Festival dancers of Bacolod City, representing the Philippines, bagged the bronze medal at the World Mask Dance Competition 2018 in South Korea Sunday night, October 7.
Mayor Evelio Leonardia, who witnessed the competition with other city officials, said on Monday the international competition, participated by mask-based festivals from 13 countries, was one of the highlights of the Andong Mask Dance Festival in Andong city, South Korea, which was celebrated from September 28 to October 7.
“This is great news. This enhances further the attraction and image of our very own MassKara Festival. We personally saw them in action in Andong and we knew that our talented and dedicated dancers will capture the hearts and admiration of so many. We are truly proud of our MassKara Festival,” he said.
The contingent is composed of 10 dancers from Barangay Tangub with their choreographer Segundo Jesus “Panoy” Cabalcar, the winningest choreographer in the history of MassKara Festival.
The 10 MassKara dancers are Jesus Surell, Airick Bayking, Jestoni Valor, Jerick Urbina, John Rey Tobongbanua, Marlon Imperial, Alvin Cardiente, Alanel Cordero, Eduardo Cautibar Jr., and Argie Tacadao.
They were accompanied by Leonardia and Councilor Em Ang as an official delegation from Bacolod through an invitation of International Mask Arts and Culture Organization (Imaco).
Leonardia and Ang went back to Bacolod a few days ahead of the final competition because of prior commitments.
Leonardia said the dancers competed against performers of mask-based festivals from 12 countries like Russia, South Africa, Kazakstan, Latvia, Israel, China, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand.
He said the dancers had to perform at most three times per day from September 29 to October 7, except on October 2, their rest day, or a total of eight days.
“We are the only Asian country that belonged on the Top 3. The timing couldn’t be better as this international victory comes exactly as we open this year’s festival,” the mayor added.
Ang said they were very proud that the MassKara dancers landed third or bronze medalist because the competition was really stiff and they were up against good performance teams like Latvia and South Africa, who bagged first and second places, respectively.
“When the MassKara dancers were called, the audience was really excited of their performance and we were there watching and very proud. Our MassKara Festival has a really very bright potential and we intend to plan for more support for our dancers and choreographers to develop their competitiveness,” she said.