Bernardez, Camille Jesca | 2015-13247 | PE 2 STD (2:30-3:50 PM) | Reaction Paper

I. Competition

The competitions I attended are Game On: Open Styles Battle and Super24
Philippines Qualifiers 2019. I arrived early (12 NN) at the venue. I waited outside for
my street dance classmates and we lined up together. In the line, I observed that
most of the people around me know each other. Some of the people lining up with
us were previous coaches of those who are going to join the competitions.

As the gates opened, solo battle competitors and the audience entered the
venue. The competitors were freestyle dancing even before the competition started.
I was really amazed by the diversity of dances the competitors were doing. The open
styles battle started an hour after. There were around 20 participants, and my
classmates and I are familiar with one of them since he was one of the student
assistants. At the initial part of the competition, each of the competitors danced in
front of the judges for roughly a minute. The top 16 was announced then they
proceeded to a 1v1 battle. The winners in each battle became part of the top 8 then
a 2v2 battle was done. From there, the top 4 competitors were announced. My fellow
street dance class takers were cheering for the student assistant we are familiar
with. The top 4 battle was 1v1. Unfortunately, the one we were cheering for lost.
The final battle has some many rounds. When I thought it’s already over, they
suddenly announce that the final round will occur after the Super24 Philippines
Qualifiers. Some of us went home after that but I decided to stay because I was
really intrigued who will win.

The Super24 Philippines Qualifiers 2019 started around 30 minutes after the
open styles battle. They explained the mechanics and some stuff about Super24.
There was a Singaporean judge who actually performed as he was being introduced.
I was also surprised because the person who performed during the intermission was
actually one of the open styles battle’s final competitors. There were 6 groups who
will compete with one another. Among the 6, there were only two groups that were
synchronized and had a clean routine. My favorite performance was the group
wearing lavender-colored outfit. After the performance of the 6 groups, the final
round for the open styles battle occurred. They were both good but the one who
performed the intermission earlier actually did better. Then, they announced the
results for the Super24 Philippines Qualifiers. There was a tie and one of the groups
in that tie is my favorite routine. Both teams performed again. I actually left before
the winners for both competitions were announced because it is already late.

To sum it all up, I really enjoyed the experience. I was shouting and cheering
for random people I actually don’t know. One thing I also realized is that I have a
long way to go to catch up to the dancing skills the competitors have. I used to
dream about becoming a performer when I was young but due to many reasons I had
to focus on a different field. It was a really nice experience.

II. Concert

The concert I went to is ATeam’s The Demo 8. Again, I arrived quite early.
There were lots of people around the venue. The line was long. It was quite noisy
around the venue. I lined up with my street dance classmates again. It was the same
venue as the competitions I attended but they added more seats. We sat on the
seats we had before because we really liked the view from there.

The concert started with ATeam and ATeam kids performing. There were
series of performance from different groups such as Manila Soul, Manoeuvres, Power
Impact Dancers, Hatak, UPeepz and TPM. There were also performances done by
their students from the workshops and classes they held for summer. All of the
performers did great but I definitely have my favorites. My favorite ATeam routine
for this concert is their second routine (femme). I loved their outfits. I loved their
dances. Among all the performances though, my favorite performance was TPM’s. I
loved their synchronization. I loved the color of their outfit. They conquered the
stage! Literally. The stage looked small because the performers were a lot. I loved
everything about their performance actually.

One thing I realized is that ATeam has many fans, and their friends and
family are their best supporters. Somehow, everybody is familiar with one another
as they are all part of the street dance community. I really enjoyed the concert
despite the fact that it ended quite late and I got home late. I’m considering
attending other street dance-related events again because I really enjoyed these
experiences.
Photo 2. Selfie. Me before Game On: Open Styles Battle officially
starts.

Photo 2. Selfie. Me after Game On: Open Styles

battle and before Super24 Philippines
Qualifiers 2019 starts.

Photo 1. Group Selfie. Me and my street dance classmates holding our

tickets before the concert starts.