Sandurot Festival 2017 – Showdown
Dumaguete City – Negros Oriental
The Sandurot Festival 2017 Showdown marked the highlight of the festival celebrations. It was held in Quezon Park which was crowded like seldom before. The 10 contingents who also participated during the Sandurot 2017 Parade in the streets of the city were charged and ready to show all VIPs and VUPs what they practiced in countless hours. Our special “Thank You” to our long-time friend and city councilor Michael Bandal, who helped us getting a great spot for taking these pictures and share with you, our site-visitors all over the world.
Sandurot Festival 2017 Showdown
Due to some delays, the Sandurot Festival 2017 Showdown started with quite late. However, this was not setback for the dancers who practiced endlessly to be ready for that moment. All practice paid out. The 10 contingents were well prepared and enthusiastic. The thousands of spectators thanked them with loud cheering and applause.
It was quite obvious that the budget and options of some contingents were much smaller than of others. It is hard for a small public Elementary School to compete against a private University with in-house orchestra, marching bands and countless performing arts groups. Anyway, we really don’t care much about the actual contest, but enjoy the event as on big celebration. The big winner was certainly the people who came early enough to secure a good spot to watch the whole show.
The showdown was certainly the highlight of the Sandurot Festival 2017. However, to be honest it need to be said, that the move from November to September is still hard to understand. It was basically other than the showdown a 10 day celebration without any events. Some food stands and some “Wood on String” stands are not really something new and breathtaking, even if one tries to make it sound good. As we always hear the talking about local heritage, we really wonder where the traditional Folk-Dancing, the Balak and Balitaw performance and other heritage event were. Some exhibition of clay bubble-heads, which look like the production-failures of Thai Buddha heads, simply doesn’t cut the cheese.
The Sandurot Festival 2017 (the actual festival day) was a great event in three parts. Everybody who had the chance to see the performers dancing through the streets will verify that. For all others we just can hope that our images give you an idea about the colorful enjoyable celebrations on this day in Dumaguete City
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