Cebuano dancesport bets to US

Dancesport-Team Cebu City will be leaving Cebu today to begin their quest for supremacy in the United States of America.

DTCC will be composed of 12 dancers, who will be competing mostly under the senior division.

Leading the cast are Cebu City Sports Commission dancesport directress Eleanor Hayco together with DTCC official and athlete Ricca Alix, "playing coach" Crisaldo "Loloi" Rendon, real-life couples Jojie and Jonah del Rosario and Lowell Briones and Jeanen Bergado, Reynante Saldua, Jimmy Noel, Karla Fornolles, Jimmy Marquez and Charlea Ragaras.

The 12-member Cebuano squad will be competing in three different competitions in the US starting with the International Grand Ball Dance Competition on July 28-30 in San Francisco, California.

The next stop will be another international battle in Manhattan, the commercial and cultural center of New York City on August 8-10.

The last stop will be in Las Vegas with the Star Ball contest also set next month.

The Freeman also learned that aside from competing, they will also be doing shows in different parts of the US for the Filipino community, who supported their trip.

The Cebu City government is allocating P800,000 for their month-long stint.

After conquering Asia, DTCC are confident that they can also build up a very good impression in the US.

Cebu City Sports Commission dance sport director Edward Hayco believed that Cebuanos can also excel in US.

Once they will be able to establish themselves in US, they will be heading for the summit of Mt. Everest of dancesport that is to compete in Europe.

Meanwhile, DTCC will, after all, join the 2006 DanceSport Council of the Philippines-Mid-year Ranking and Competition at the Philsports Arena today even without the presence of some of its officials and pioneering members.

Earlier, Hayco said that the Cebuanos will not be joining the event due to budget constraints.

However, the other DTCC members sourced out funding by soliciting from different sponsors just to be able to compete and hopefully defend their crown.

The Freeman learned that there are 11 couples representing DTCC. Some of the couples are guests and dance instructors of DTCC.

Half of the total number of entries belongs to the younger level including Virgianie Oyao and Jumil Bacalso, Jefferson Pimentel and Dane Xylalla Balili and Roi Rendon and Christy Kim Velez under the junior A-standard and latin and Kevin Minoza and Rodah Mae Fernandez in the youth-A-standard and latin disciplines.

Real-life couples Joel and Anna Madera, is also in the line-up as they compete in the amateur standard event and Israel Rona and Jennifer Amahan in the amateur level latin dances.

Mariscris Hermosa, for her part, will be pairing with Manuel Cali in the senior-A-latin as another DTCC dance teacher, Roland Pacaña pairs with Korean national Teena You.

Completing the cast are Danilo Gagani Jr. and Maria Azonette Balbuena in the standard grade D and Special Event-2 female and Tom Ingan and Ana Marie Yap in the special event 1 female competition and Marlon Segisner and Maria Socorro Moinahan in the standard grade E and D.

Manila-based seasoned Cebuanos are also expected to show up and add impact to DTCC's quest.