After missing out on the gold in the 2nd Cordillera Dance Festival, Mico Dumalos and Mary Luz It-itan got their groove and danced their way to the top podium in the 24th Philippine Dancesport Federation, Inc. National Dancesport last October 29 and 30 at the Ultra Philsports Arena in Pasig City.
The pairwas the lone entry from the Benguet Dancesport Team to win the gold particularly in Under 21 Latin for the event which served also as a Southeast Asian Games qualifier. The week prior, the duo landed second in the same event in the Baguio Convention Center hosted Cordillera dancefest which was attended by two other SEA countries and 24 other localities.
The two completed their Pasig foray with a bronze medal in grade C Amateur Latin.
Two other pairs and three individual entries were entered into the competition by BDT in the national selection where the best performance after Dumalos and It-itan was the fourth place of Keven John Allit and Jam Cayago who did it in special event 1C Latin. The duo completed their campaign with a quarter finals appearance in grade D and C Latin.
Mickhaella Caluza came out with sterling performances as she landed fifth among 27 competitors in junior cha-cha-cha and seventh among 21 competitors in junior jive. Her last event, junior rhumba, yielded a top 12 performance out of 22 competitors.
The other entries saw them making it to the quarterfinals with Denise Avrianna Rodas doing it in the three events she joined: junior Latin solo cha cha cha, junior Latin solo rhumba and junior Latin solo jive.
Jayson Ace Abenoja and Maezelle Jairah Tadeo also danced their way to the quarterfinals in grade D standard. The same performance for the pair of Caster Lan Pacya and Kharanissa Borlongan in junior C standard and junior A standard.
On the other hand, Mark Leonard Arbella finished in the top 18 of 27 entries in junior cha cha cha top 12 of 21 competitors in junior jive.
The team left a few days after the successful staging of the second Cordillera dancefest where they also called for public support for the SEAGames qualifier as they hope to follow Baguio grown Stephanie Sabalo in the biggest international regional competitions.
The Irisan resident Sabalo together with partner and real life husband Angelo Marquez has earned a total of four golds in the last two staging of the biennial event. Pigeon Lobien
