From gmanetwork.com (opinion and blogs) : “When cheer dancing is no longer just about bringing cheer by Antonio P Contreras, Sept. 16, 2014
“The UAAP Season 77 Cheer Dance Competition (CDC) is over. The Smart Araneta Coliseum was again full of representatives from the eight competing universities cheering their cheerers.
“Like last year, the team of the National University (NU) once again denied the University of the Philippines (UP) team its claim of being the champion on the mats. Unlike last year, the team I was rooting for, the De La Salle University (DLSU) Animo Squad, did not win, and even did worse by landing sixth. And like last year, the Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU) Blue Babble Battalion was at the tail-end.
“I did not have the luxury of watching live the performances, and only relied on their replay courtesy of Youtube.com. What I had instead was the luxury of being able to freeze, replay, and watch for the second, sometimes the third, time the performances.
“I may not be a gymnast, but I teach aerobics and I believe my human kinetic abilities are fairly respectable. I also choreograph routines, as this has to come naturally with my part-time job as a dance exercise instructor. In my previous life, I danced in a Filipino dance company based in Hawaii, and also learned how to dance the traditional ancient Hula Kahiko. I know my ballroom dances, and would probably have no problem becoming a DI if I get fired from my current job.
“I don’t mean to brag, but I guess I am just establishing some limited credentials lest I be accused of being a know-nothing amateur making some judgment about something I do not have any idea of at all. Hence, while the only closest connection I have with competitive cheer dancing is having a daughter in the Animo Squad, I have some idea of what it takes for a team to be a winner.
“So, here is my own take on UAAP CDC Season 77.
“Indeed, UP’s performance had the most audience impact, perhaps owing to the image it had built in the past as the team to watch. It always had this mantra that the rest in the UAAP conference may lay a stake on basketball, but UP will always rule cheer dancing. Unfortunately, that is no longer UP’s monopoly. Last year NU stole the crown from Diliman. And this year, NU had a cleaner execution. And in a tight contest of skills, execution mattered more than impact.
“But true to its reputation, UP kept its tradition of injecting some political message into its performance, where this year it chose to celebrate the theme of equality.
“And those UP fans who are frustrated should take comfort in the fact that this is not a political correctness contest. Being socially relevant is something that some people argue should be part of the criteria for judging. But there are also people who suggest that being politically relevant is more important than winning.
“I believe that UP, win or lose, already made a niche in cheer dancing history as the team that made cheer dancing as a platform for performance activism.
“UP’s tradition of using the CDC as a platform to make a political statement is indeed close to my heart, not only because UP is my alma Mater, but also because I myself use my aerobics classes to become venues to articulate my political stands, from reproductive health, to gender equality, to peace and development. I combine the suggestive power of music and the artistic potency of choreography to make those whom I lead in burning calories to also experience the discourse of my advocacies.
“I also use ethnic music and movements, from the cardio-burning routines seen in the dances of the Cordillera highlands to the muscle-toning movements from the various ethnic groups of Mindanao, to make a point that one does not have to rely on hip-hop, disco, Latin beat and the now ubiquitous Zumba to get a total body workout.
“This is why, of all the teams which performed, I really liked the performance of the University of the East (UE). Its Moslem-inspired number garnered my admiration for its desire to create a space for our own indigenous communities, instead of those from other places in Asia, seen in the Chinese-inspired performances of the University of Santo Tomas, which ended up in third place, and the Far Eastern University (FEU), or from an indigenous group from another continent represented by the American Indian routine of NU, or from what was advertised as intergalactic aliens from another planet which DLSU tried to but unable to coherently represent.
“NU has won for two straight years, thereby beginning to start a tradition of its own. It has also paved the way for a higher bar not only for the other teams, but even for itself, thereby pushing the competing teams even harder to invest more time and financial resources into their recruitment and training of cheer dancers. Going in NU’s favor is the seemingly limitless resources it has, with the millions that billionaire Henry Sy, its owner and owner of the SM Chain of Super Malls, is willing to pour into NU’s athletics program, including its CDC team.
“But what is disturbing in all of this is when an event like cheer dancing has become implicated in a political economy of signs and symbols that effectively displaced its real intent of boosting the morale of the athletes who fight on the floor and to rally their supporters to cheer for them.
“Cheer dancing is supposed to be about fun. In fact, the whole endeavor of sports, of which it has become one, has to be seen in the context of a healthy competition between teams for entertainment purposes, for physical fitness, and in some instances, as an alternative to physical violence. Any dictionary would define sports as an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against others for entertainment. Its derivative adjective refers to a behavior of a person who behaves in a good manner in response to a defeat.
“But when sports in general becomes a cultural commodity, and more so if it is now located in the context of an educational system that has also become commoditized, its real meaning becomes disarticulated. For most schools the possession of medals and trophies become symbolic investments in the honor of the school. And the value of sports to become a source of fun and recreation is clouded by pride in victory and depression in defeat, and when the virtue of being a “sport” in the world of sports is compromised by a sore-loser attitude. This is what happens when the stakes become higher, and the investments become steeper.
“I am not saying that being a champion in UAAP is a crucial consideration for parents to send their children to a particular university, but in a world where symbols and signs become significant, being a winner increases the symbolic capital of an academic institution. After all, universities are now marketed not only as places of learning, but also as commercialized brands. And the CDC is a celebration of this orgy of commercialization and merchandising. In fact, its official title is the Samsung Cheer Dance Competition, and is being carried live on TV by ABS-CBN, where the latter earns a lot of ad placements.
“It is in this context that NU and UP, the rivals that they have become on the arena of cheer dancing find themselves located in different contextual realities, but in the end may also have similarities.
“UP has always complained about the lack of an organized alumni support for its athletics program, even as it does not need an athletic trophy from UAAP to attract top-notch students. On the other hand, while NU does not have well-endowed alumni, such is no longer necessary when you have a rich owner. And for NU to build a reputation as the school with top-notch athletic programs in all fields may be how its owner would like it to be marketed and branded. NU uses its financial largesse to invest in competitive salaries for its coaches and trainers, and in aggressive recruitment and training of its athletes, to a point of even insuring the economic welfare of their families.
“UP may have its Iskolar ng Bayan for the best and the brightest, providing state subsidies to deserving but poor students. But what NU provides is also a ticket to getting an education for those who have athletic talents but are financially constrained. NU may look at its athletics program as a brand it wants itself to be imagined, but UP is also doing this. Its use of the CDC as a platform for political theater is keeping faith to a brand that it has constructed for itself in the eyes of the public.
“UP flaunts its being the bastion of social relevance, but I am willing to bet that there are more children of the elites studying in state-subsidized UP, than in privately-owned, commercialized NU.
“Losing in a hotly contested event can make someone also lose one’s authenticity and bearing. Indeed, I remain in awe at how UP performed. I would have preferred its political message to have made a difference. But whatever political message of equality the team worked hard to convey was compromised when some bitter UP fans began alluding to its having a sole monopoly to high academic ranking as its source of comfort in the face of the loss. Indeed, one could not celebrate equality in UP’s CDC routine when in the same breath there is an air of elitism that comes after to numb the pain from its defeat.
“It is precisely because of this that I am in deep awe at Adamson University’s (ADU) simplicity, from its team’s plain outfits, to its uncomplicated moves. Perhaps, it is this simplicity of this university, whose men’s basketball team was able to “dethrone” UP from the bottom of the event’s rankings, which made the execution of its routine error-free. This eventually landed them the fourth spot, ahead of FEU, DLSU, UE and ADMU.
“But if there is one team that deserves special mention, it is ADMU’s Blue Babble Battalion. It is only this team that gave the impression of having members who were actually having fun, and having a good time, and couldn’t care less of winning or losing. Even if they landed (again) at the bottom of the heap, they gave real meaning to “cheering!”
“After all, it is not about winning. It is about giving cheer!
“And perhaps, it is only when this whole business of cheer dancing will simply be about what it is supposed to be—to give all of us collective cheer regardless of which team we support, and not about competition, or school honor and pride—that we will begin to truly enjoy its real meaning.
“And that is why I will once again cheer for the members of the DLSU Animo Squad. ANIMO LA SALLE! You may have failed to win for us the title, and failed to land a spot in the winner’s circle, and confused all of us as to the real nature of what you were doing. Some said you were Peter Pans. Others labeled you as Shreks, or even Kermit the Frog, or straight from Pixie Forest, or a bunch of animated plants, and not the intergalactic aliens you wished us to imagine you. But you most definitely danced to cheer those of us in the community which you represented!
“And that is more than enough.
