THE Sta. Ana Performing Arts Guild emerged as the first grand champion of the Champions Circle category of this year’s Indak Indak sa Kadayawan street dance competition held Saturday, August 17.
The Champions Circle was introduced as a new category this year for all the top three winners of school based groups within Davao City for the past three years.
Sta. Ana bested Mabini National High School Special Program for the Arts (second place), and Sining Sayon Dawet Cultural Ensemble of Davao City National High School (third place).
The Champions Circle grand champion also romped away with the Best Music and Best Choreographer honors.
Indak Indak is one of the highlight events of the Kadayawan Festival, with different categories open for students.
It also has school-based category for all elementary and high school-based groups within the city and open category for all interested groups (provincial school-based, community based, and others) in Davao City and outside provinces.
In school-based category, Catalunan Pequeño National High School won grand champion. They also won Best Music. Magallanes Elementary School placed second followed by Buhangin District Performing Arts Guild in third, Don Juan Dela Cruz Central Elementary School in fourth, and Lapu-Lapu Elementary School in fifth.
Magallanes also won Best in Artistic Design.
Sindac Anib Performing Ensemble of Bislig in Surigao Del Sur, meanwhile, clinched the grand champion title for the open category. They also won best choreographer, best music, and best artistic design.
Elizalde National High School of Maco, Davao de Oro took the runner-up honors while Mati National Comprehensive High School of Mati, Davao Oriental placed third, Lupon National Comprehensive High School of Lupon, Davao Oriental finished fourth and Kablacan Integrated School of Sarangani Province was fifth.
The grand champion for the Champions Circle took home P1.2 million, trophy and medals, while for the open and school-based categories both took home P1 million with trophy and medal.
Vice Mayor Sebastian “Baste” Duterte, who was present during the event, said he was impressed by the performances.
“Highly competitive ang Indak Indak ron (as compared) from years ago. Gwapo ang resulta ron. (Participants in this year’s Indak Indak are highly competetive as compared from the previous years. I was impressed with the results.),” Duterte told reporters right after the awarding ceremony.
He also observed the influx of spectators, locals along with domestic and foreign tourists alike.
City Tourism Operations Office (CTOO) head Generose Tecson also said she was impressed by this year’s Indak Indak entries.
A total of P8 million were allocated for the cash prizes and awards in this year’s Indak Indak.