Dance sport winners bared; Arts, Culture exhibits open
Mayor Celso Lobregat and Cong. Beng Climaco and members of the City Council congratulate the winners in the 2009 Dance Sport Competition, one of the city-initiated activities for the Zamboanga Hermosa Festival, held at the city coliseum in Tetuan Thursday afternoon. (JOEY BAUTISTA)
Contestants from Pilar College and Montessori de Zamboanga bested other school competitors in the 2009 Dance Sport tilt held Thursday afternoon at the Mayor Vitaliano Agan Coliseum in Tetuan.
Adjudged winners (tertiary level) were Kristelle Dominique Saceda and James Tinapunan of Pilar College, first place; Julie Ann Rojas and Arien de Jesus of Universidad de Zamboanga, second place; and Queenie Saavedra and Adolf Gangoso, third place.
Montessori de Zamboanga ruled the high school level with its couples Christine Marie S. Gapoy and Alfred Frank Tinapunan, Maeverinn Lyel G. Gutitierez and Cedrick A. Tinapunan grabbed the first and third places, respectively, while the Western Mindanao State University (WMSU) pairs of Yvonne Napao and Kaifer Morgan Susulan placed second.
The winning pairs went home richer by P5,000- first prize; P3,000- second prize and P2,000- third prize, courtesy of the city government.
The competition was part of Fiesta Hermosa ’09, a month-long festivity in celebration of Fiesta Pilar on Monday, October 12, a special non-working holiday in Zamboanga City.
Also part of the celebration is the Nawan Mindanao! Arts and Culture Festival for Peace which formally opened yesterday morning at the National Museum, Fort Pilar under the auspices of the National Commission on Culture and the Arts (NCCA) through its guest curator and Zamboangueña artist Ms. Icelle Gloria D. Borja.
A historian in her own right, Borja said Zamboanga plays the host city to the festival as “nawan,” a Subano word for “to future” was also a Subano name for the Pasonanca-Tumaga river, which is the lifeblood of Zamboanga.
The Zamboanga Peninsula, according to Borja, was also known for its “seven” rivers—thus the symbolism in the seven rays of the sun as the Subanon pays homage to the rising sun.
On display at the museum are products of the so-called “Schools of Living Traditions” that includes pottery making, weaving, bronze casting, carvings, wood and stone (okir) mat weaving, basket weaving, beadworks, the art of making the banner and wall decors (luhol, kikitilan), the colorful vinta sails and dances.
Other exhibits are Mascota collections from different local fashion designers, namely; Monching Fernandes, Nilo Lacson, Joy Verar and Jo Hary’s; paintings of local and Mindanao artists—Romel Racho, Eric Fabian, Celine B. Estrada, Rameer Tawasil, Isidro Floreta, Ibn Saud Salipyasin Ahmad, Ferdie Limbo, Romulo Galicano, Don Gurrea, Sajid, Fil dela Cruz, Juni Grappa and Borja, the curator herself.
Meanwhile, Borja has invited the Zamboangueños and students to visit her exhibits during office hours (8:00 a.m.-12:00 nn./ 1:00-5:00 p.m.) until October 31. (Vic Larato)