CEBU WILL once again be on the spotlight in the national dancesport scene as the Dancesport Council of the Philippines Inc. (DSCPI) holds its mid-year ranking and competition on July 5 at the Grand Pacific Ballroom of the Waterfront Hotel and Casino in Lahug.

DSCPI will depart from its usual routine of staging the event in Manila to give way to Cebu, which will be fielding in a delegation of 120 couples from the 229 couples slated to participate in the prestigious competition.

Dancesport-Team Cebu City (DTCC) head coach Loloi Rendon said that having the competition here in Cebu will give young dancesport athletes, especially those coming from the barangay-based summer dancesport workshops, the chance to strut their skills against top competition nationwide. More…

Pitching it as “something new to the traditional Sinulog presentation,” Capitol security consultant Byron Garcia yesterday formally asked organizers to let provincial detainees dance during the Sinulog on Jan. 20.

Garcia wrote a two-page letter to Cebu City Vice Mayor Michael Rama, chairman of the Sinulog Foundation Inc., in which he also addressed security concerns.

Meanwhile, Rama is considering the possibility of having inmates from the Cebu City Jail perform too. More…

A VIDEO of Cebu prison inmates performing their version of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” has landed in Time Magazine’s list of top 10 viral videos for 2007.

“Vincent Price was right when he said, ‘No mere mortal can resist the evil of the Thriller’: The video has been downloaded more than 9 million times,” said Time Magazine on its website. Inq.net

The Philippines’ innovation of its penology system through the so-called “Dancing Inmates” program has caught international attention with eight million viewers in the YouTube website and counting.

Director Pedro Noval of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Region 7, said that four countries South Korea, Chile, Ecuador and Cambodia have expressed interest of the unique program after viewing a video of 1,500 inmates from Cebu gracefully dancing to the tune “Thrilla” during an international penology forum, focusing on strategy and performance held in South Korea recently.

Noval was the Philippine representative to the convention. More…

Another best of the best battle dancesports will be happening in Cebu titled as “DanceSport sa Sugbu, International Dance Sport Federation(ISDF) Open,” this dance competition will bring locals and international together in a high-level dance competition that promises to make your legs switch if not altogether make you catch the dance fever (BITE).  

The event will be held in Waterfront Casino and Hotel Lahug, Cebu City on September 22, 2007.