The La Salle Dance Company – Street (LSDC-Street) sealed another win by placing second in the Smart Jump In Dance Off, a nationwide competition hosted by telecommunications giant Smart Communications, which was held at the SMART-Araneta Coliseum last July 20, 2013.
With the competition’s climax geared up into full shift, the Smart-hosted event took off with a sharp arsenal of dance groups who performed as the main event’s front act. Dance groups ranging from Legit Status and Manoeuvres, to the Philippine All Stars delivered world class performance acts to heighten the opening of the dance off.
Hitting the beat
Garnering a shock and awe impression from the judges in the finals, the team took the silver medal home and Php 150,000 to boot.
Their four-minute routine mostly highlighted dances from techniques used in previous competitions. This comes as the team has been juggling training for the Smart Jump In Dance Off along with preparations for their fundraising concert tour entitled “Hail!” and training for the World Hip Hop Dance Championships, and multiple performance requests from various organizations.
“Despite balancing everything between school work and training for World Hip Hop, LSDC-Street decided to join Smart Jump In Dance Off because it was the first of its kind in the country,” shares Ella Fortun, former Assistant Company Manager of the group, “We admit that the competition was difficult. That’s why our second place win was so memorable. We didn’t expect it! We’re grateful now more than ever.”
On the other side of the dance floor, FMD Extreme from St. John Bosco Institute of Arts and Science, San Mateo reaped the gold from the competition and bagged a cash prize of Php 300,000 with their routine capping of the entire showdown.
Meanwhile, University of Cebu’s University of Cebu Dance Troupe concluded their competition routine with the bronze medal and a cash prize worth of Php 100,000 after their beaten track.
The three teams bested five other groups who made it into the finals. While all in all, the eight finalists were chosen and sifted from a pool of 66 other semi-finalists via regional dance-offs held in different venues from July 7-13, 2013.
Conquering worlds
“Our next step is taking it to the world stage,” says Fortun. Members and some alumni of the team will be flying to Las Vegas this August to compete in the 12th World Hip Hop Dance Championships, representing not only the university but the country as well. The competition will be held on August 6-11 at Red Rock Resort, Nevada, Las Vegas, and will be attended by crews from roughly 40 nations.
LSDC-Street will be battling it out in the Megacrew division. Flying to Las Vegas with them to represent the country are eight other teams, including the University of the Philippines’ UP Street who will also be competing in the Megacrew division.
