VICTORY is sweetest when paired with a chocolate truffle or two, or in Talisay City Government’s case, a whole 10-foot shelf of life-size sweets.
Proper use of their sugary props, fluid movements, eye-catching attires, and synchronized formations made the contingent from Talisay City Central School win the grand prize of the Sinulog sa Kabataan sa Lalawigan 2018 yesterday.
Talisay City Central School won P350,000.
Since Talisay has a cacao plantation in Camp 4, the contingent focused their presentation on the planting and harvesting of cacao.
Marvey Caño, the team’s choreographer, said they wanted to promote the product more after the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Summit held in the Philippines last year, when delegates were offered locally made chocolates as gifts and as desserts.
Full performance ahead
“Aside from that, this is also our first time portraying the occupational or livelihood aspect. For the past four years, we’ve been focusing on the biblical and social aspects. This is a fresh start for us,” he told reporters.
Except for the street dancing category, Talisay City Central School won the ritual showdown, best in costume, and best in musicality prizes.
Caño said winning second place for the street dancing competition will motivate them to do better during the grand parade next week. He also asked the public to brace for a “much more elevated performance” on Jan. 21 and that what they performed yesterday was just 70 percent of their presentation.
Talisay City Government has set aside P6.7 million for its dancing contingent, but Caño said it is expected to increase with their recent achievement. The amount was allocated for the food and transportation expenses of the performers, as well as for props.
For the next seven days, the 100 dancers, 50 instrumentalists, 200 dancing props men, 150 committee staff and 700 props men who will carry the panels and other installations, will work double time to bring another feat to Talisay’s name.
Caño said they’ve been practicing since October and that they are not showing signs of slowing down on their road to victory.
Just like last year, from the start of their performance, Talisay was the crowd’s favorite when they performed their Sinulog-based routine during the ritual showdown yesterday.
The dancers changed their costumes thrice, starting with baro’t saya that were replaced by a white and violet terno, until they switched to their pink and white Filipiniana gowns and blue barongs for the boys.
They also won the Best in Costume prize, which came with P50,000.
Alden Lugnasin, chairman of the board of judges, said the judges unanimously voted on the top three contingents.
“They were able to manage formations and choreography in developing the whole story line. They were also able to maintain their energy levels and you can see that from how the people reacted to the performances,” he said.
Other winners in the ritual showdown were Carcar City Division in second place with P300,000 plus P20,000 for the choreographer; City of Bogo Science and Arts Academy in third place with P150,000 plus P15,000 for the choreographer; Municipality of Tuburan in fourth place with P125,000 plus P10,000 for the choreographer; and Tribu Ginatilanon (Ginatilan) in fifth place with P100,000 plus P5,000 for the choreographer.
Talisay also won the Best in Musicality prize, with P50,000.
Other winners in that category were Carcar City Division in second place with P30,000; City of Bogo Science and Arts Academy in third place with P20,000; Municipality of Tuburan in fourth place with P15,000; and Tribu Hinatdan of Ginatilan in fifth place with P10,000.
First place in the street dancing competition went to the Municipality of Tuburan with P50,000. Talisay won second place with P30,000. Carcar City won third place with P20,000.
The Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) recorded 20,000 spectators who witnessed the Sinulog sa Kabataan yesterday afternoon.
Senior Supt. Angeles Geñorga, CCPO officer-in-charge, said that the event was peaceful and organized. Event commander Senior Insp. Keith Andaya said that more than 300 police officers, both in uniform and in plain clothes, were deployed to secure the Sinulog sa Kabataan. (With JOB)