An Unexpected Victory…

As I was composing this blog, I was thinking about everything that the group had been through; from the first day of the rehearsals up to the night of the performance. And till this moment, I am still overwhelmed with what we have achieved as a group.

From as early as October this year, a number of government employees from different departments formed a dance group as their contribution to their sector’s aim for the Php1M prize.

Winners take all –that was the rule!

We used to be the underdogs. During the practices, one would feel that we were not very enthusiastic about what we were doing. Many of us (dancers) would probably agree with me if I said that we were just doing our part because we had to and not because we wanted to. We didn’t like the music, we didn’t like the theme, and even though we had been practicing for weeks we didn’t seem to be accomplishing anything.

The presentation to the executives didn’t at all make us feel relieved or proud of what we had accomplished so far. And what’s even worse was that when they demanded to see the full length of the dance, they didn’t like it one bit, thinking that it was not for competition, but merely a simple dance number. Everybody was starting to get frustrated. We were just a couple of weeks away from the big event and we felt neglected.

It’s true that we had a one-time opportunity to air out our grievances concerning the dance, and we were given the chance to change the entire number into something that all of us would be interested performing, but it did not boost our morale at all when we heard somebody said that we were dancing “just for the heck of it”. Hmm, quite unappreciative fellow, considering the fact that what she saw was the run-through that everybody (the choreographer and the dancers) just happened to agree to do one last time before going home. Well, I guess she didn’t hear the dancers say “Ok, last one! Last one!” Inasmuch as everybody was tired due to the strenuous activity that we had been trying to perfect for almost five hours every day, a gesture of appreciation would have been better than spitting out something which was being thought of by one person as a “constructive criticism”.

During those remaining two weeks, we honestly felt that we would make a mess on the final day. Every day, one or two sets of steps were being changed, removed or added. But what kept us going on was our incomparable teamwork. Yet the dance steps were really too much considering the fact that we were not professional dancers, many of the members might have been considered by others to have been “too old” for hiphop, and many of us were experiencing minor leg problems every now and then, it’s very inspiring to know that everyone of us never left anyone till the end. Everybody kept helping anybody who needed it.

There was no competition or jealousy among the group. Everybody was willing to teach those who were having difficulties in mastering the dance, and the support that each member gave to one another was beyond compare!

Aside from the fact that everybody was guided and protected by God during the entire dance performance, I believe that one of the main factors that greatly contributed to our group’s success was our faith in each other.

Who would have thought that these underdogs would come this far???

i’m very privileged to have been a part of this extraordinary group…I’m very proud of our team, guys! :)

Acknowledgment:

I’d like to thank the person who took this video. Whoever you are, you did great!! Thank you!