By Saul E. Pa-a
BATANGAS CITY, (PNA) — The Provincial Tourism and Cultural Affairs Office released Wednesday its set of rules and guidelines for the Festival Dance and Float Parade in connection with the province’s celebration of Ala Eh! Festival 2013 from Dec 1 to 8.
Festival organizers said the Festival Dance Competition consists of three components with corresponding percentage for the judging criteria such as the Street Dance (40 percent), Costume (20 percent) and the five-minute Court Dancing (40 percent).
For the street dance competition, the contingents’ concept or theme of the performance, costume and props must depict Batangueño culture, values and tradition.
Each contingent must be composed of a minimum of forty (40) and a maximum of 60 dancers – high school students — including the musicians and prop bearers.
According to the festival guidelines, the contingents are responsible to ensure their assigned numbers, name of their city/municipality and corresponding festival are visible to the judges.
These signages will be provided by the Provincial Tourism and Cultural Affairs Office.
A common holding area is designated at the Provincial Capitol’s Marble Terrace with the assembly time at 7:00 AM.
The parade route passes through the 2.41 kilometer stretch from the Provincial Capitol to the Batangas City Sports Coliseum.
The festival dance contest will use a common beat for the street dancing and each group is given the digital copy of the beat available on CD from Provincial Tourism and Cultural Affairs Office starting October 31.
Organizers also emphasized that the street dance should be continuous all throughout the parade and any contingent that stops or stays long in front of the judging area during the street dance parade will be penalized with a corresponding deduction of .5 from the total score.
Five (5) judging areas for the street dance parade and float competition shall be established.
Festival street dancing entries are advised that use of flammable materials such as pyrotechnics as part of the performance in both the Street Dance and 5-minute Exhibition segment is strictly prohibited.
Also for safety purposes, props should not exceed 14 feet tall and contingents are prohibited from performing stunts that are extremely dangerous.
Criteria for the street dance include: Theme/Concept-25 percent; Performance which includes Coordination, Style, Synchronization-25 percent; Choreography-30 percent and Consistency-20 percent. The total score however will be computed with only 40 percent out of three segments.
The organizers explained that part of the component for judging is the Costume Competition for the street dancing groups who will assemble at Batangas City Sports Coliseum after the parade.
Judges for the costume tilt will approach the groups for the close-up inspection/judgment guided by the numbers assigned to each group at the Coliseum.
The costume competition criteria includes Design (50 percent) and Workmanship (50 percent) which total score is computed as only 20 percent from the three components.
The provincial tourism and cultural affairs office explained that the third component is the five-minute dance exhibition competition.
According to the PTCAO, the concept or theme of the performance, costume and props must depict Batangueño culture, values and tradition.
The five-minute court dance exhibition performance will be at the Batangas City Sports Coliseum and the performance time of five minutues excludes entrance and exit of the performers.
Dance exhibition clock-time begins as soon as the festival dancers are properly set up in the venue and ends as the first participant dancer leaves.
PTCAO also pointed out that the beat for the 5-minute dance must be exactly-timed as checked by the organizers and approved by the Provincial Tourism Officer.
The beat for the 5-minute court dance is the group’s choice but no vocals are allowed and the entry audio CD must be submitted to the PTCAO at least two days before the parade.
The five-minute court dancing will be judged according to Theme/Concept (30 percent) which portrays the Thematic Interpretation, Relevance and True presentation of culture and tradition including music.
Another criterion is Choreography (30 percent) for creativity and artistry of movement patterns, formation, smooth transitions and appropriateness of movement.
Performance gets another 30 percent for execution, mastery and coordination, synchronicity and precision, energy and projection.
The props are also assessed with 10 percent for artistry, design, effective use and their relevance to the performance and concept.
Festival Street Dance prizes include P150,000 – Over-all Champion; P100,000 – 2nd Place; P 50,000 – 3rd Place.