THE COMPANY of Ateneo Dancers nabbed an impressive third place finish in the Contemporary Dance category of the Senior Open division of the Philippine Dance Cup (PDC), held yesterday at the SDA Theater of the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde.
Ateneo’s premiere dance group performed a moving piece choreographed by Ea Torrado entitled Evaporation for the biennial competition, for which Torrado was able to bag the Remedios de Oteyza Award for Best Choreography. According to CADs President Mel Carunungan, the piece was meant to advocate the reality of depression and suicide in the world today. This was showcased in the piece as it consisted of sophisticated costumes, a slew of graceful and finesse movements coupled with sudden drops of lost gazes from the dancers, symbolizing how the pain of depression is often hidden behind external beauty.
“Depression – it’s really all around you. It’s so near you, but you don’t know it.,” said jazz head Sam Warren, regarding the theme of her team’s dance.
As for her team’s performance, Warren was beaming with pride for her members. “This is the first time we’ve ever joined this competition, and it’s really a big competition,” she said about the PDC— an event that has been held in the country since 2008 and is considered a stepping stone for an amateur towards the professional ranks.
“The fact that we even made a ranking that hits third place is such a big thing,” Warren continued. She also noted that the team was able to pull off the polished piece despite just two months of preparation time.
It was an especially important event for Warren and the team, as they competed for the first time in two years, due to event cancellations that have kept the team away from competitive dance. When asked about how she felt about competing again, she said, “You know when there’s just so much inside of you [and] you’re just waiting to let it out? You’re just waiting to release all of this talent, all of this passion. We’re just glad to finally show our talents to an audience as well as represent CADs.”
Despite not having any more competitions currently on the dock, this is a big morale boost for the team, as well as for their street dance counterparts, who are heading into a new year to continue their battlecry to Groove for Glory and God.
The competing team consisted of the following members:
Samantha Warren, Bianca Tordesillas, Pamela Moran, Clarisse Reyes, Sophia Gob, Gabriela Lorenzo, Seth Norman, Kalaylah Villanueva, Bianca Cartera, Isabel Sarrosa
