By Jodi Mary Banan
This coming 24th of July all may witness the first-ever hip-hop pageant: Redefining Elements, here in the Philippines, hosted by the Dance program of De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde with the Benilde Experimental Dance company. This event aims to showcase local hip-hop talents from different parts of the country in a celebration of art, advocacy, and unity. The idea for this pageant was first proposed by Benilde Experimental Dance’s Artistic Director, Christine Crame, and sprang into action by the Dance program’s hip hop master, Mycs Villoso with an amazing team of students. This pageant introduces the great advocacies and artistic abilities of each contestant that venture from supporting languages, people, culture, and art to how the hip-hop culture and its spirit have grown in different communities from every corner of the Philippines.
The quest to “Redefine the Elements” of Hip-Hop within the renowned Pearl of the Orient brings its vision to our sparkling shores and cities to reveal the amazing force of art, peace, and unity. In this preliminary round of the competition, all the candidates go through several stages of assessment that display their prowess in the dance form and embodiment of the dance culture. The judges of this competition are big names in the industry as well as advocates of their own with the founder and director of the SHADY GANG Oriel “O-Shady” Aclo, Artistic Director of Philippine Allstars Lema Diaz, and Chief Creative Officer at Beyond Passion Entertainment International Inc., Ian Villanueva. From all the contestants the leading seven will be the ones to represent the Philippines in the finals where they will compete against other contestants from South-East Asia later this year.
Through this pageant, the Dance program of De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde hopes to commemorate hip-hop as a culture that has grown roots with Filipino dancers. Watch all these amazing talents and this first-ever Hip-Hop Pageant live at 5:00 PM by signing up in the audience registration on the official Facebook page of Benilde Experimental Dance.
