- City High wins Indak-Indak 2023 after skipping the competition in 2022
THE DAVAO City National High School- Sining Sayon Dawet Cultural Ensemble triumphed over five competing contingents of the Indak-Indak sa Kadalanan schools-based category.
City High stunned the judges with their performance that highlighted Duwaya (polygamy), showcasing a festive Bangsamoro wedding.
Apart from receiving a whopping one million pesos for the grand prize, they bagged the Best Music, Best Choreographer, Best Visual Appeal, Pau-pau Choice Awards, and Pocari Sweat choice awards.
Bryan Batu Ellorino, DCNHS- SSDCE artistic director, told TIMES they did not expect to win as they only had less than a month to prepare the piece.
“Tanan nga mga award nga gihatag siguro deserve pud siguro namo madawat tungod amo man jud syang gihagoan, amo gistudyhan ang concept ug siguro amo napud syang gipangandaman (I believe we deserve all of the awards we received because we worked hard, we studied the concept and we really prepared for it,” Ellorino said.
The contest piece was revised to a bigger concept of the smaller version from the Sayaw Kadayawan 2018 where the group was also hailed champion.
Ellorino said that their comeback was hard work paid off as the group did not participate in last year’s Indak- Indak due to the short number of interested students.
“Naandaman namo kay tungod gipasidan-an na ang bata nga moapil mi… Kadto sauna dili pa to full-blown nga face-to-face tungod sa COVID, karon nga full blown na among gipaningkamotan nga maka participate (We have prepared for it because we oriented the students that we will be participating… Before it wasn’t full-blown face-to-face and now that it is, we have strived to be able to participate,” Ellorino said.
He revealed that they will be joining the Indak-Indak 2024 with a revised version of their Sayaw Kadayawan 2019 piece, which they also bagged the grand prize.
The street dancing competition took place on Aug. 19 at San Pedro Square, San Pedro Davao City as one of the culminating activities of the Kadayawan Festival.
Three-peat champion
Meanwhile, the Sindac Anib Performing Ensemble of Bislig, Surigao del Sur won the grand prize for Indak–Indak Open category.
Sindac Anib is the three-time champion of the category as they won for three consecutive years from 2019, 2022 and this year’s competition.
Aside from the grand prize, they also received minor awards such as Best Music and Best Choreography.
