4th Mantawi Festival: Over P1M up for winners in street dance contest

More than one million pesos in prizes will be given away to the winners of this year's street-dancing competition in the 4th Mantawi Festival as the streets of Mandaue City will once again come alive with the revelry scheduled on May 7.

This year's winners for the street-dancing category will receive P130,000, P100,000 and P75,000 for the first, second and third places, respectively.

For the showdown contest, winners shall receive P250,000, P200,000 and P150,000 for first, second and third places, respectively. Other special awards include Best Choreographer (P50,000), Best in Costume (P75,000) and Best in Musicality (P35,000).

Contingents outside Metro Cebu, within Cebu and within Mandaue City who will emerge as winners shall also receive P20,000, P12,000 and P8,000 as food allowance, respectively.

This year's festivity will pay homage to the past and recognize potential for the future as celebration kicks off with the theme, "Taking Roots, Soaring High with ASEAN", Mandaue City being the pivotal venue for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit this December.

"In order for us to progress, we must look back to our roots. Look back to the very foundation our forefathers had built for Mandaue. The culture, identity, pride and heritage of Mandauehanons as always will be our guiding beacon towards prosperity," Mayor Thadeo Ouano said during a press conference yesterday.

The celebration will be highlighted by a street-dancing activity featuring contenders from all over the country, who will dance from the City Hall to the Cebu Boardwalk at the North Reclamation Area.

Through the said festival, the city reconnects to its roots as the "merchant's paradise" of Cebu back then. It would also recognize its role in Cebu's economic growth through the centuries. Its historical past affirms its present identity as a highly urbanized industrial center and a new tourism destination where arts and culture become tools for progress and prosperity.

As throngs of people are expected to flood the city's thoroughfares, traffic and police enforcers from the Mandaue City Police Office and the Traffic Efficiency Development and Management Office will be deployed. - Mitchelle P. Calipayan