Sarung Banggi | Folk Dance Competition at our School

Hi hive friends! It's me Dan. It's been awhile since my last blog cause I have been super busy with school lately especially that we are nearing the end of the school year.

One of the things thats kept me busy this past few weeks was our folk dance competition and we've finally finished our presentation last week. I'm really glad it's over; no more stressful days for all the dancers who participated in the competition.

First of all, our school principal announced that there would be a folk dance competition for all grade levels, with two groups assigned for each type of folk dance. Our group was assigned to perform the Sarung Banggi folk dance, while the other group performed the Surtido Bana.

Sarung Banggi is a native folk dance in Bicol Region which is actually a courtship dance. It translate into the local dialect as "one night or one evening".

One month before the competition, we found someone to be our choreographer so our performance would be great and we could win. Our choreographer, Sir Julius, was really nice and not stubborn. He was very kind to us as long as we didn't make mistakes during practice.

Our group practiced for almost a month to achieve victory. Since we still had classes, we only practiced three times a week and continued on Saturdays and Sundays. We worked really hard and promised not to let our choreographer down. Even when Sir Julius couldn't attend practice, we continued on our own to memorize the steps.

On the day of the competition, we had our last practice in the morning because the presentation was in the afternoon. At first, we were all nervous and didn’t know what to do, but thanks to Sir Julius, who supported and cheered for us, our nervousness disappeared.

If you're wondering, there were four sections in the Grade 8 level. Our section was the first to present, which made us even more nervous, fearing mistakes. But we focused on what our choreographer said and performed well. After our presentation, we were so happy because we did a great job with no mistakes. The judges even stood up and clapped for us!

We didn't go home immediately because we had to wait for the results. When it was time to announce the champion, we all prayed and closed our eyes.

Guess what? Our section became the champion for the folk dance competition!

All our hard work paid off, and we thanked our great choreographer. The other group, Surtido Bana, also became champions due to their hard work.

So overall, our section got champions for both folk dances: Surtido Bana and Sarung Banggi. Our adviser was thrilled to hear that our section won two championships.

Here are my other classmates who performed Surtido Bana

We will never forget this memory and are really thankful to our choreographer. That’s all, guys. Thank you for spending your time reading my blog. I appreciate all your heartwarming support. See you again on my next blog, hive friends!