- SCOOP-Dancesport
For Becky Garcia, president of the Dance Sports Federation of the Philippines, it is.
This, Ms. Garcia declared during Friday’s SCOOP On Air Forum where she appeared as guest, along with Filipino men and women dancers who combined for 10 gold medals in the Day 1 of 30th Southeast Asian Games two Sunday’s ago.
“Our dancers impressive showing in their respective events, hopefully, that the sport we love is alive in n the SEA Games as it is alive in the Olympic Games,” Ms. Garcia exclaimed in reference to one of the segment of the sports – the break dance – which will be played din the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
“And, we hope, too, that the sport of dancing will become a permanent fixture in the SEA Games and the Asian Games calendar,” Garcia, a Manila Times lifestyle columnist, said.
The tandems of Sean Mischa Aranar and Ana Leonila Nualla and Mark Jayson Gayon and Mary Joy Renigen, who were with the DSF head in the Forum organized by the Sports Organization of the Philippines in coordination with The Manila Times Publications, agreed.
The two tandems accounted for five of dance sports’ 10 gold medals that host Philippines used as launching pad in its overall championship campaign, which look on the track from December 1 on to today, two days before the Games’ closing ceremonies.
“Dancing, like other sports in the calendar of all multi-event meets as the SEA Games, Asian Games and the OIympics, is a sport and should be treated as that,” Nualla said.
“Ang dance sports po is no for fun as many believe,” Nualla assured. “Like in all other sports, dancers, before competing spend times in preparations,” Nualla, a graduate of the Pamantasan ng Maynila, explained.
“Unlike other sports that are being contested while sitting, we dancers exert physical strength for several hours daily while preparing for competitions.”
“And our preparations take not only a week, but months even years like whast we did in our build up for this year’s Games,” she said.
“At gaya ng ibang sport, we also spend hour in training na very strenuous that our bodies are hurting when we get home,” Gayon and Afanar, butted in.
Renigen, for her part, said what makes dancing harder than other events is that performers are require to develop special skills in order to be good.
“Besides, grace, we also have to adopt to the music in or events, like tango, for instance,” Renigen pointed out. “Kilangan matuto kami ng technical quality in so we can perform our numbers well. “
Kailangan din perfect ang aming movement with our partners kasi outside of break dance, all segments of dancing requires partner,” she continued. “Choreography and presentation are also required to impress the judges, who decie the winners in competitions.”
Everybody attested that that contrary to the belief of many, dancing is also expensive in the sense that practitioners need, too, international exposure.
“Kami sa Philippine team have to travel to as far as Europe because it in there that sports dancing originated,” Gayon disclosed.
“And it is in Europe, too, where the best professional coaches and trainers come from,” Garcia, who came to the forum with Greek husband George Sarakinis in tow, interrupted.
“That’s why we have to hire European coaches to come here to further hone our dancers’ skills,” she said.