It was called the STEP UP Dance Competition. I competed with the Boom Box Dance Crew, my office mates from Convergys Philippines, all of us under the Collections account. The winner of the competition will represent our site to the yearly Christmas Party with Convergys One at SMX Convention Center.
I was happy with the theme, which is STREET HIP-HOP. With that, we got the expertise of my friend VJ to choreograph the routine. I believed in the routine and the dancers as well. The hardest part of the training is the reconciliation of the schedules. We had different shifts. One of us works on a day shift. The rest is on graveyard, but still different time slots. I think there were only 3 days that we were complete during the training. But still, we made it. We completed the routine despite having no sleep, at times. We had to go through bleaching our pants for our costume, the painful smell of Zonrox. But all for the team, we did it.
Competition day came and we performed 2nd. Sad to say, there were very few from our account who were able to watch us. The competition started at 5am, while almost everyone was dialing. But there were some who dared to go against there schedules just to watch.
The performance was awesome. Being the second (or third) leader of the group, I am proud to what the team has done. Though we placed 4th (out of four teams, yes) I never regretted anything. I blame the organizers more. Why? Where in the dancing world would you see a dance competition judged by non-dancers? I respect them and their authority to the office but it's still a dance competition. I am not wishing for Georcelle Dapat or Jhong Hilario to judge but there are a lot of great dancers out there who has the expertise and the authority in the dance community. So what can you expect out of the CEOs and Brand Management Officers who judged the competition? Do they know what Street Hip-hop is? Or are they just looking for the Showtime-ish performance?
I hope the organizers learned something out of this year's Step Up. Dance is not just an ordinary entertainment. It has a discipline and organization.
Oh well. Much has been said about this. This is not the only competition I will have. And I am hungry for more.
And I say this is bittersweet because even though we did not win, we have been hearing/receiving comments that we did not deserve the 4th place. And more of friends and office mates recognized the talent of the team.
I miss the team. With this, I have made another group of friends. Please welcome, the BOOM BOX DANCE CREW
Top: Pam, Markee
2nd: Leo, Libay, James
3rd: Sab, Bernard, Tin
4th: Ms. Pau. Feds
We are born from a Boom Box.
Till next dance gig guys..
