WELCOME back.
Four years since their last podium finish, the UST Salinggawi Dance Troupe (SDT) returned to prominence with a third-place finish in the 2014 UAAP Cheerdance Competition at the Smart Araneta Coliseum last Sept. 14.
With a near-perfect execution of a Chinese-themed routine, SDT climbed four notches from their seventh place finish last season to bag the bronze medal and a P140,000 cash prize. SDT got a total of 625 points.
With visually entertaining props, SDT stunned the audience through their seven-man pyramid stunts, air flips, high tosses and synchronized floor tumbling.
SDT also formed the letters “UST” in the finale of their performance, drawing loud cheers from the record 22,093 UAAP fans in attendance.
Salinggawi team captain MC de la Cruz said their worst finish last season served as their motivation to display a podium-worthy performance this year.
“’Yung last year po, hindi na po namin tinitingnan as failure, parang gusto na lang po namin siyang tingnan as motivation. Syempre, kapag nalaglag ka, gusto mo na babangon ka bigla. From the ashes, gusto naming umangat,” De la Cruz said.
Defending champion National University Pep Squad made true of their “Bark to Back” battle cry and won a second straight cheerdance title, scoring 677.5 points with a breathtaking Indian American-themed routine. The University of Philippines Pep Squad settled for second place anew, garnering a total of 658 points from their equality-themed performance.
De La Salle University, which performed a space-themed routine, fell out of the Top three and landed at sixth with 557 points. The pirate-inspired Adamson University Pep Squad surprised everybody and won fourth place after earning 600 points.
Far Eastern University (599.5), University of the East (503) and Ateneo de Manila (494.5) placed fifth, seventh and eighth respectively.
Salinggawi and UP are still the winningest teams in cheerdance history with eight championships apiece.
Completing their comeback, SDT also won second place in the group stunts category after garnering 251 points behind new champion FEU. NU placed third.
For this year’s edition of the cheerdance competition, the panel of judges was composed of local and international choreographers and cheerdance coaches, namely Douglas Nierras, Jean Marc Cordero, Bong Tan, Nancy Crowe, Celine Tanjuatco, Yeeming Tan, Beverly Hon, Bernard Daniel Puatu and Paula Isabel D. Nunag.
The criteria for judging were divided into two categories: cheerleading and dance.
The cheerleading criteria included tumbling (100 points), stunts (100 points), pyramids (100 points) and tosses (100 points). The dance criteria included overall effect (10 points), choreography (30 points), technique (30 points) and group execution (30 points).
