BARANGAY Tangub, the fifth performer, was the 39th MassKara Festival street and arena dance champion for barangay category during a stiff competition held at the Bacolod City public plaza Sunday, October 28, outsmarting 13 other contingents Barangay Tangub is under the leadership of village chief Noli Villarosa and Segundo Jesus "Panoy" Cabalcar Jr. as their choreographer, mask and costume designer.
This is already the 22nd win of the choreographer.
Barangay Tangub also got a special award as Best in Original Music with Jhon Mitchell Ureta as their music composer.
Barangay Tangub was followed by defending champion, Barangay 18, which also won special awards such as Best in Choreography and Best in Costume.
Barangay Villamonte finished second runner-up and was also named as Best in Concept and Best in Mask.
Barangay Alijis was third runner-up while Barangay Mandalagan was the fourth runner-up.
The criteria for judging include 30 percent in the street dance competition and 70 percent in the arena dance competition.
Villarosa, for his part, thanked the people of Tangub for their support to their MassKara dancers and also to their choreographer.
He said that this is not about the prizes that they have received but it is about their love for the trademark of Bacolod and also to their support to the administration of Mayor Evelio Leonardia.
He said it is not easy to participate in the competition because of the many risks from practice to the actual performance.
"We never expect to win the top award. We have prepared for two months. This is how we show our cooperation to our beloved City of Bacolod and I thanked everyone who participated that we made it to the top. This is the first time that we became the champion after our fourth attempt to compete," he said.
Cabalcar said, "we have prepared for the two competitions such as the street and arena dance competition. We reached the top because of the cooperation of everyone which made everything possible for all of us. Modesty aside and by God's grace, this is my 22nd award in the MassKara dance competition. We made history for this year's MassKara because of the transformation of the MassKara Festival. I thanked God, my family and to everyone who made this award possible."
Leonardia, for his part, said: "I am happy and proud of our MassKara Festival. More recognition will come for Bacolod.
This will really make our MassKara Festival as the most popular festival not just in the Philippines but even outside the Philippines.”
“The MassKara Festival has indeed a world-class appeal. I thanked everyone who participated. They deserved such credit because if they did not participate, we are also nothing. So each participant deserves to be recognized for their great effort. The process of preparing for a MassKara contest is not easy and is not something small but it is something so big that it involves the hearts and minds of our people. If they don't have the enthusiasm, they could not deliver such a great performance. I lauded the enthusiasm of our MassKara dancers. They all did it well. Nothing great in this world was achieved without much enthusiasm," he added.