UST makes it five in row in UAAP cheerdance

By Joey Villar The Philippine Star 09/11/2006 University of Sto. Tomas’ Salinggawi Dance Troupe is unbeaten in the UAAP cheer-dance competition for five seasons running now. As amazing as they were the last four years, the UST cheer-dancers simply outperformed the opposition, once again wowing the huge crowd at the Araneta Coliseum. With their near-flawless execution of their wondrous number highlighted by acrobatic moves and heart-stopping tosses of dancers in the air, the Thomasians earned 95.96 points to easily win the event. The FEU Pep Squad finished second with 93.2 points then came University of the Philippines at third with 91.7 points. UST took home the trophy, the top prize of P150,000 and the bragging rights as the country’s top cheer-dancing school. "We did expect to win again this year," said a jubilant UST senior board representative Felicitas Francisco. "We’re happy we won it again," said choreographer Ryan Silva, who’s also responsible for UST’s victories the previous years. Silva later expressed gratitude to all who supported them, most especially the UST’s Dominican fathers. Adamson, which had always been in the lower half of the cheer-dance totem pole, was a big surprise this year as it finished a strong fourth. Ateneo placed fifth, followed by University of the East then National U. La Salle was also suspended in the cheer-dance competition.by Laforge at PEx I believe UST's win this year is a convincing one. I don't know, but, perhaps it's the analyst in me that spawns me to look into details. Salinggawi's tosses were incommensurable--straight and perfectly executed. The stunts were breaknecks. I usually impute the asynchronous building and dismounts of pyramids and stunts, but this year's routine was too polished to even resemble asynchronousity. I'm not an expert in this field so I would fly out from the appropriate technical terms due for cheerdancing or cheerleading and gymnastics. I am, nevertheless speaking of the general percussion the details of the routine did to the entire routine. Some do argue about how fitter FEU would have been for the win. I would disagree. I concur with my friend's observation that FEU significantly rushed their routine. Perhaps it was the original tempo, but they made it look like they were in a hurry. Even the building and dismounting of their pyramids were obviously scampered. Salinggawi's execution, on the other hand, was assuredly swift. From up there (Upper B), there was somewhat a "slow-motion" effect that enveloped every move they did. Slow motion is in quotation mark since I don't mean the literal translation. I mean that the routine was fast-paced but it wasn't fast at all. The tempo considerably gave justice to their whole program. Their 2004 routine was fast-paced, too, but this one's details were consummated considerably! I loved their "Superman" sequence. It was captured superbly on TV. I had goosebumps really! And the choice of music was excellent. The mix was even more fluid than the routine! The other squads' choice and mix of music weren't too laudable. UST's was smashing demonstration of efficiency and inspiration. During their performace and after seeing all those unique tosses, I finally convinced myself that the winner has been chosen! I don't know how to describe the experience more expressively than this. I would appreciate if someone comes up with an objective criticism about this competition. But for me, I've always looked up to the Salinggawi dance troupe as my "high-calibered" cheerleaders who STARTED IT ALL in the 90's! Tags: UST, salinggawi, cheerdance, competition, 2006, UAAP, doctormagnus