Cebu dancesport team captures 11 golds in US

In its first foray into American ballroom dancing competition, Dancesport Team Cebu City (DTCC) won 11 gold medals at the 38th International Grand Ball Championships held recently at the Marriott Hotel in San Francisco, California.

The Cebuano dancers opened their assault by taking the golds in three categories: Amateur Standard 3 Dance, won by Jojie and Jonah del Rosario, and two team awards for Latin Formation and Standard Formation.

The team also won in the Open Gold Tango, Open Gold Waltz Adult and Open Adult Pre-Novice Latin through the Del Rosario couple; Open Adult Pre-Champ Latin on the efforts of Jimmy Noel and Karla Fornolles; Open Silver Waltz, Open Silver Quickstep and Open Silver Foxtrot (Renante Saldua and Ricca Gatal Alix); and Open Gold Tango Adult 2 and Open Gold Foxtro Adult 2 (Loloi Rendon and Eleanor Hayco)

It bested competitors from the US, South America, Puerto Rico and Russia.

Cebu City councilor Jack Jakosalem, who accompanied the group as chairman of the Cebu City sports council, said that they didn’t expect to win gold medals in their first US outing, although the team has triumphed in Asian events in Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia.

After the three-day event in California, the team was scheduled to hold public performances at the Dance Village in Los Angeles and Las Vegas. The Cebu dancesport team will later proceed to the Empire State Dancesport Championship in Manhattan, and back to the West Coast for the Nevada Star Ball Dancesport Championship from August 17 to 20.