THE AMANEUVERS of the Ateneo Management Association (AMA) won this year’s Rhythm in Blue (RIB) dance competition with an average score of 93, beating out nine other organizations during the finals at the Henry Lee Irwin Theater on September 26.

According to the spiel prior to their performance, Amaneuver’s dance was dedicated to those who fight for every moment and each breath in their lives, and for humanity.

The Ateneo Consultants for Organization Development and Empowerment (CODE) Dance Troupe bagged second place with an average score of 90.33 and Acteam of the Ateneo Association for Communications Technology Management (ACTM) took third with 89.33.

RIB is an annual competition organized by the Company of Ateneo Dancers featuring dance crews from different organizations in the Ateneo.

The 12th year of the competition featured 26 teams competing at the eliminations round on September 12, with just 10 dance crews moving on to the finals.

The 10 organizations that made the finals were ACTM, AMA, CODE, Ateneo Resident Students Association (ARSA), Ateneo Mathematics Society, Ateneo Psyche, Ateneo Student Exchange Council, Enterteynment para sa Tao, Bayan, Lansangan at Diyos (Entablado), Kythe-Ateneo and Management Economics Organization.

The finals was judged by five professional dancers, including Hip Hop International certified judges James Wong and Kevin Intal, and competitive dance crew members and dance instructors Jemie Calonge, Gino Ong and Christian “Afrodite” Lao.

Each team was judged by specific criteria, with 25% of the total score dedicated to choreography, 25% to execution, 20% towards adherence to the theme “saludo (salute),” 10% for originality, 10% for production value involving props and costumes and 10% for audience impact.

Special Awards

In addition to the main competition, four special awards were handed out: Zap People’s Choice Award and Best in Costume awards for teams, and Best Male and Female Dancers for individual members.

The Zap People’s Choice Award was handed to the ARSA Dance Troupe, which marks the team’s third consecutive win.

The award is presented to the dance crew that received the most number of text votes.

The Best in Costume award was presented to Entablado’s Entayaw.

The females of the group were dressed as abused women from different social classes, which showed how broad female abuse is. The men were dressed as perpetrators of the abuse.

The Best Male Dancer Award was presented to communications technology management freshman Ken Caliwara of Acteam, while the Best Female Dancer Award was given to philosophy sophomore Sarah Dela Cruz Avillon of the ARSA DT. 

Caliwara’s win scores the second consecutive award for an Acteam member, with communications technology management junior Imman Pacis taking the award in 2013.

Updated: 10:42 PM, Sept. 28, 2014