E CATIGBIAN, Bohol, June 17 (PIA)--IMPECCABLE hand and foot-tamping routines performed in perfect unison pushed Immaculate Mary Academy (IMA) Katigbawan dancers to bag this year’s championship trophy at the recent street dancing and exhibition competitions in time for the 62 nd Foundation Day celebration of the town Friday. After the throb of the improvised bass drums from oversized empty oil drums, cracking snares and a cacophony of percussion instruments, the announcement from panel of judges chair Nila Ytac signaled shrieks and jubilation from the dancers, especially from the winning dance contingent.

IMA romped with the Katigbawan Festival’s Streetdancing competition and the exhibition categories for high schools while Catigbian Central west Elementary School bagged the elementary street-dancing awards. There were not exhibition categories for elementary contingents. With the feat performed in a town whose dancing contingent has conquered the more prestigious annual Sandugo streetdancing competition in the province, IMA’s victory over her clearly hard to beat contenders which have shown skills at par with Bohol’s best mass dance contingents is no small feat. IMA is just one of the two private high schools in Catigbian, the other one being Holy Infant Academy in Baang. IMA staked her claim from five serious contenders like the powerhouse Catigbian National High School, Mantacida High School, Holy Infant High School, Haguilanan High School and Hagbuaya High School, where most of the town’s Sandugo dance contingent is picked. IMA’s victory came slim, the judges bared later.

Theme for the dance competition revolves around the life of Catigbianons: sturdy people who have tamed nature and the environment in a largely agricultural landscape. Most common to all the dancing contingents is carabao dance steps, the unmistakable swaying of the heads, arms folded sidewards in imitation of a bull’s horn, the back kick and the stamp of feet. And nothing can be more challenging that having dancers performing in the rains, on muddied oval with a packed audience of Catigbianons and well-wishers who were standing, oblivious to the rains. Most of the town’s 22 barangays with elementary schools and even those with only primary schools merged to complete a dancing contingent, another rare show of leadership which town mayor Roberto Salinas is fast claiming. All contenders presented daring choreographed mass dance routines, employed tricks complemented by a colorful array of mobile but manual handheld props that lent more pomp to their numbers. A band of drummers and percussionists including members of the famous Pentagon Drum and Bugle Corps of Tagbilaran provided the beats for the competing contingent’s tempo. (Rey Anthony Chiu)