SFI invites VSU students to perform in the Sinulog launching
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Published: 06 March 2014
The Sinulog Foundation, Inc. (SFI) through its Executive Director, Mr. Ricky R. Ballesteros, and the Cebu City Government invited the Visayas State University (VSU) to join in the Sinulog Launching on January 10, 2014. Considering that the junior Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education MAPEH major students usually conduct an educational tour in Cebu as part of their curriculum on festival management, the occasion was an opportunity for the MAPEH majors to have an actual experience dancing the Sinulog along the busy streets of the downtown area of Cebu City and at the same time to observe how the festival is being managed.
According to Mr. Lomel Q. Abarquez, instructor of the Institute of Human Kinetics and dance choreographer, “this is the second time that the University has been invited by the Sinulog Foundation to perform during the launching of the Sinulog, maybe because of its superb performance in last year’s opening.” VSU is the only university outside Cebu City that was requested to perform in the launching parade.
This year’s Sinulog opening salvo featured the flower festival anchored on the traditional theme “One Beat, One Dance, One Vision”.
The audience enjoyed the performance of the VSU contingent during the street dancing parade to the distinctive Sinulog beat from the Basilica Minore del Sto. Niño down to Fuente Osmeña and finally to the Cebu City Sports Center where the different dance troupes took the center stage and performed the flower festivals they are representing.
The occasion is part of the 448th Anniversary Fiesta Celebration of Senior Sto. Niño, the patron saint of Cebu City, with the theme “Sto. Niño: Hope of the People.” It kicked-off with a solemn mass in the afternoon of January 10, 2014 at the Basilica del Sto. Niño with Msgr. Roberto Alesna, as the main celebrant. Msgr. Alesna requested the people for a moment of silence and offered a minute of prayer for those who were victims of the 7.2 magnitude earthquake last October and Typhoon Yolanda last November.
Right after the mass, Cebu City Mayor Michael L. Rama, overall chairman of the Sinulog Festival 2014, formally declared the 34th Sinulog Festival open.
The schools that participated in the launching parade included: University of San Carlos, Cebu Doctors’ University, University of Southern Philippines, Southwestern University, University of San Jose-Recoletos, Cebu Technological University, Cebu Institute of Technology-University, University of the Visayas, Mandaue City Science High School, Abellana National High School, University of San Carlos High School-North Campus who danced the finale, and the Visayas State University.