The beat is on for Iloilo City's Dinagyang festival
The thunderous and addicting beat of drums already filled the air in this city as participating tribes in the Kasadyahan and Ati Tribe competitions paraded, danced and showed a bit of their choreography in the five judging areas situated in the city's major thoroughfares Friday during the Opening Salvo of the 2006 Dinagyang Festival, the most awaited event of the Ilonggos.
During the past years the Dinagyang Opening Salvos were held in the afternoon thus, rerouting of the city's traffic was only implemented at the start of the parade participated in by the tribes joining the Ati tribe competition. This time, commuters experienced the traffic rerouting as early as 9:00 in the morning after the Iloilo Dinagyang Festival Executive Committee decided to hold the event the whole day giving the morning for the Kasadyahan tribes while the afternoon for the Ati tribes.
Dinagyang Executive Committee Publicity and Media Relations Group Head Nena Magalona said the Opening Salvo also serves as tribes' familiarization of the extended parade routes and the performance areas which were relocated to accommodate more spectators and visitors.
Every year, domestic and foreign tourists and visitors fill the streets of the city of Iloilo to witness these two main spectacles of the festival in honor of Sto. Nino. The Kasadyahan and Ati tribe competitions are slated on January 28 and 29, respectively.
This year, 7 tribes will compete in the Kasadyahan contest participated in by tribes not only from schools in Iloilo City but also from the local government units of neighboring towns and provinces. The tribes are as follows: Tribu Mandurriaonon of Mandurriao National High School, Iloilo City; Tribu Paghidaet of Lapaz National High School, Iloilo City; Tribu Tultugan and Tribu Manoggama of the municipality of Maasin; Tribu Camando of Leon; Tribu Bana-ag of Anilao; and Tribu Kamunuan of the province of Antique.
On the other hand, excitement and fascination are building up in the Dinagyang Ati competition as 20 tribes from the merged open and barangay categories strengthened and enhanced their artistic and creative skills in choreography to showcase more impressive and colorful presentations in this year's competition.
Starting this year, the Executive Committee designated street dancing areas to provide viewers who cannot be accommodated in the judging areas, a good glimpse of the tribes performances. The tribe who shall be rated in their street dancing skills will perform in the following areas: Aldeguer for YMCA route, Philippine National Bank for Valeria route, Payless Plaza for Quezon route, Mabini for Ledesma route, de Leon for Iznart route and the University of Iloilo for the Ortiz route.
This 2006, the following cash prizes await the winners in both competitions: P100,000 for the champions; P50,000 for the 1st runner-up; P40,000 for the 2nd runner-up;P30,000 for the 3rd runner-up; and P20,000 for the 4th runner-up. Also, cash prizes will be given to the Best in Performance -P10,000; Best in Choreography - P10,000; Best in Music - P10,000; and Best in Costume - P10,000. In the Kasadyahan contest, tribe with the Best Float will receive P1 0,000 and Best Choreographer - P5,000 while in the Ati contest declared Best in Costume will go home with P5,000, Best Headdress - P5,000, Best Discipline - P5,000 and Best Choreographer - P5,000. Top winners will also receive trophies and certificates.
Other relevant activities to add color and vitality to the festivity are the Dinagyang Exhibits, Trade exhibit, Ms. Dinagyang Pageant, Food Festival, Fluvial Procession and Foot Parade among others. (PIA)