Skechers 6 - Shoutouts and Opinion

Skechers 6 was awesome! The level of dance in the country has certainly gone up since last year's Skechers 5, and I'm very proud of the winners.

Company of Ateneo Dancers
This group, otherwise known as CADS, have finally won Skechers! It's been years in the making; they have finished consistently in the top 3, but always just missing out on the top dog position. My krump brother and Skittle supporter friend, Phillip Pamintuan, a huge congratulations on this one! You guys ABSOLUTELY deserve to win the championship. When I saw your routine, it was all heart and soul, and I was very inspired and encouraged. No better winners than you guys. I may be a hardcore Green, but on that day, I was singing Blue :) Now, that's a compliment I never give! LOL. Congratulations on breaking the UP - Street invincibility.

University of the Philippines - Manila
The dance group of UP - Manila, known to the dance community as Indayog, finally bagged a top 3 spot. I am very proud of these guys, especially since a lot of my Skittlez kids have danced with them a few months ago. They were all heart and soul as well, and the great thing was, one could actually see they were having lots of fun on stage. Very inspiring. To a Skittle friend, Dan Manalastas, congratulations to your crew! It was a well-deserved trophy. I am very proud that my crew has affiliations to you guys.

La Salle Dance Company - Street
LSDC, even though you guys didn't bag a trophy this year unlike the previous couple of Skechers competition, I have to say that I really loved the piece this year. It was raw, energetic, and highly passionate - character traits that define a champion and would-be champions. I understand that I personally had several differences with you guys, but in the end of it all, we are all dancers dancing under one roof: our university. My fellow Lasallian dancers, this is simply a trial of fire. Remember, ignis aurum probat: gold is made purer by fire. This is a challenge, and the only way is up. Remember what happened to Skittlez last year? We didn't get the championship, even though our piece was insane. We came back this year. That's exactly what I expect of you guys. To come back, and give CADS, UP - Street, and UP - Indayog (the top 3 placers, respectively) a run for their money. I believe in you guys. Don't ever take off the Armor of God that I told you guys about. IT DOES NOT FAIL.

La Salle Green Hills Air Force
Air what? AIR FORCE! Finally, champions! I am very proud of you guys as well, more so that so many Skittle boys and friends came either from LSGH and/or were members of Air Force. LSGH gave us our competition members Pau and Rocky, as well as mainstay dancers JC, Big Pao, Mickey, and Cham. The piece was sick, and it was, again, a well-deserved win. I am officially a hardcore fan of the GH dance boys aka AIR FORCE :)

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Skechers 6 as a whole
I was very disappointed and somewhat insulted with the battle system of Skechers. The battle system, over the few years that it has been in place, really needs an overhaul. Preferably with the advice of actual underground icons, and the Philippines is not short of them. What I witnessed was a gross disrespect of the dance battle system, the sacred cipher, and the esteemed dance icons present that night. Let me touch these three points one by one.

A dance battle is an activity of sharing. Winning is besides the point sometimes; the important thing is the dancers share with each other their best dancing abilities, and try to outdo themselves in order to improve and get stronger in their art. Now, this happens when the battlers take their art seriously. What I saw in Skechers 6 was mostly a bunch of hooligans making fools out of themselves - and indirectly, the art and culture that they represent, namely, street dance. What a disgrace.

The cipher is the battle ground. It is the venue where opposing dancers would share their skills and talent with each other, utilizing skills such as creativity, flow, musicality, and sheer talent. What happened in many of the battles were stunt performers flying and flipping - displaying utter disregard to the music playing on their particular battle. It was highly disrespectful to the dance styles certain music adhere to, and disrespectful to genuine practitioners of said style. What a disgrace.

One of the judges was the great Lenny Len. Among the audience present were two-time world champion members of the former Philippine All-Stars, funk community's Pinoy Funk'n Style, Philippines premier krump group Krumpinoy, as well as various icons in their respective styles. Hence, it was simply unacceptable that many of the dancers that battled pretty much spat on many of the dance styles by doing just one thing: gymnastics. I understand that stunts are part and parcel of dance pieces, but they do not have, as far as I know, any direct correlation to genuinely battling unless as part of a complete dance set. Horrific. What a disgrace.

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My final verdict of Skechers 6 is this:

Dance crews and companies:
WELL DONE

Skechers and organizers:
More on street dance art and culture, less on selling your products.

Jay~