When In Manila you will be undoubtedly surrounded by dancers.
“To learn to dance by practicing dancing, or to learn to live by practicing living, the principles are the same,” once said by renowned American dancer and choreographer, Martha Graham. Indeed, the art of dance has grown more popular and more practiced in the local Philippine dance scene over the years. What used to be a nation that once focused on only the native folk dances has become a melting pot of dancers with ballet, jazz, ballroom dance, theater, modern dance, contemporary, neo-classical, and hip-hop backgrounds.
What commonly breeds dancers nowadays is the expressive activity of freestyling, where dancers gather in different open areas like parking spaces or unused lots and dance without limitation. This kind of practice allows dancers to branch out from what can be limiting technique or steps commonly found in a dance class and simply move to the kind of music they hear.
Aside from underground dance crews, however, there has also been a surge in dance groups from schools all over the nation, where annual fierce competitions are a standard.
The La Salle Dance Company-Street (LSDC-Street) is the official street dance organization at De La Salle University – Manila. Variety serves as the premise of their art, where the group maintains a culture of participating in healthy competition and engaging in master dance classes with numerous choreographers, all of which cater to various styles of hip-hop dance.
This coming July 30-August 5, 2012, LSDC-Street will be competing at the 11th World Hip-Hop Dance Championships – MegaCrew Division – at Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, representing not only the University, but also the country. They will be competing at the event along with two other teams in the same division from the Philippines.
This renowned street dance competition has featured numerous local dance crews that were successful at their own respect: Legit Status (Varsity Division – 7th in the 2009 finals, 6th in the 2010 semi-finals, 5th in the 2011 finals), The Crew (Adult Division – 6th in the 2011 finals), and The Philippines All-Stars (Adult Division – champions in the 2008 finals).
With their first attempt at this international competition, LSDC-Street aims to promote the array of dance styles they have acquired through choreography created by their very own dancers. The team is composed of nine batches of dancers – a combination of the university alums and its current students – proving that the dance can grow and change, but the dancers remain committed to their craft. Having taken home the championship title for four local dance competitions over the past year (Maximum Groovity 7, Lactacyd ConfiDance, Skechers Street Dance Battle Year 7, and the 2nd UAAP Street Dance Competition), the group has one goal in mind: to continue their success by promoting their hard-earned efforts in the global dance scene.
Wheninmanila, let’s support LSDC-Street as they battle it out in 11th World Hip-Hop Dance Championships – MegaCrew Division this August.
Twitter: @lsdcstreet #LSDCStreetToWorlds Facebook: lsdcstreet Website: LSDC Street Youtube video: Arrows aimed at Vegas
DLSU dances for the country: #LSDCStreetToWorlds
