Cadiz City Dinagsa Festival Opening Salvo

Last Saturday, Cadiz City held the annual Dinagsa Opening Salvo. The City’s main festival was held a day later with streetdancing along the city’s main streets as well as inside the plaza complex.

During the opening Salvo, several major festivals of Negros Occidental were invited to perform in an afternoon of streetdancing and arena presentation. But instead of just going to the streets, which I normally do, what I did was join a town from its preparation, down to its finale performance.

So last Friday, I took a bus ride via Ceres Liner from Bacolod City to the town of Manapla. Manapla is known for its delectable puto or rice cake. I then went straight to Brgy Sta Teresa, the 2010 Champion of the Manang Pula Festival.

From there I helped in preparing the groups props which will be used a day later. We painted some cardboard shaped as fishes, did some retouches on the costumes, as well as revise the backdrop for the group’s performance.

Later that evening, they had their dress rehearsal run through. It was my first time to see them perform and I am so amazed at the energy of these kids. I love the music! It just makes me want to dance too.

After the rehearsals, we had the usual inuman sessions with the propsmen. Ang saya saya! The drinking spree ended early in the morning, just a few hours before the call time of the dancers.

Dress Rehearsal

Saturday, we all woke up early in the morning to do some last minute checking of the props, costumes and all the stuffs that will be transported to Cadiz City. At around 11 AM we had our lunch of chicken tinola. Dancers, propsmen, choreographer, support staff and all, share the same meal.

Early morning warm up and stretching

After the heavy brunch, the dancers then had their face made up, then wore their pants. I can now feel the excitement of these kids who’ll be dancing just a couple of hours away, representing their hometown.

A little bit more later, a school bus arrived which transported us to Cadiz City. The streetdance is scheduled at 2PM, but we arrived at the assembly area at 1PM.

Also joining the Cadiz City Dinagsa Festival Opening Salvo are the Babaylan Festival of Bago City, the Tigkalalag Festival of Isabela, the Himayaan Festival of Himamaylan and a few others.

There was a heavy downpour in Bacolod when I left for Manapla, but I was pleasantly surprised that the weather in Cadiz city is warm and sunny. An exact opposite of whats happening in Bacolod, which is just 2 hours away by bus.

Then off they went out in the streets to dance. I was just supposed to be there to observe and take photos, but later I also ended up as one of the propsmen carrying the banner with the image of Senor San Roque, Manapla’s Patron Saint.

The dance performances that afternoon was merely a showcase and not a competition so not much pressure was felt among the dancers and the staff. The dance ended in high spirits as the group performed a well executed routine. After the presentation, we went back to Manapla. But I also decided to go home that same night to Bacolod.

It was a weekened full of surprises and excitement. It was a weekend where I got to meet new friends who are also into dancing. It was also during this trip where my love for dancing got ignited again and I decided to go back into streetdancing again later this year, HOPEFULLY!

After seeing the performance of Brgy Sta Teresa in Cadiz City, I am so tempted to revise my travel schedule for August 2011. I would really love to go back to Manapla and experience the Manag Pula Festival Streetdancing Competition!