First Davao Belly Dance festival set on Oct. 11

DAVAO CITY, Oct. 8 (PNA) -– The first Davao Belly Dance festival will be launched on Oct. 11 at the Venue, this city by Holiday Gym and Spa (HGS), the ultimate destination for health and wellness.

The main features of the festival include Belly Aero Marathon, Belly Dance Competition and Belly Aero Demo (featuring fusion with Hiphop and Striptease).

The Belly Aero Marathon is open to all belly aero enthusiasts ages 15 years old and above.

The marathon will run for two hours with one minute water breaks at certain intervals and will follow aero format complete with warm-up and cool down and will focus on belly aero with some aero hip hop and striptease moves in between.

A registration fee of P100 will be collected from all contestants.

The sponsoring firm HGS reserves the right to disqualify any contestant whose behavior is intrusive or disruptive to other contestants, the judges or the audience.

Criteria for judging will be form and execution for 30 points; stamina and endurance for 35 points; ability to follow for 20 points; physique for 10 points and audience impact for 5 points, with a total of 100 points.

The champion for the Belly Aero Marathon will receive a trophy, a cash prize of P2,500, three months free workout at Holiday Gym and one body massage certificate from Holiday Spa. The first runner-up will receive a plaque, a cash prize of P1,000, two months free workout at Holiday Gym and one foot spa certificate from Holiday Spa. The second runner-up will receive a plaque, a cash prize of P1,000, one month free workout at Holiday Gym and one foot massage from Holiday Spa.

Meanwhile, the Belly Dance Competition will have a registration fee of P500 per group. It will be open to all belly dance enthusiasts ages 15 years old and above.

A group must have a minimum of three dancers and maximum of five dancers and will be allowed to perform one dance only. The group must observe the time limit which is strictly minimum of three minutes to maximum of four minutes.

Criteria of judging for the Belly Dance competition are technique for 30 points (hip articulation, level of difficulty, footwork, fluidity; musicality for 30 points (movement visually represent choice of music, appropriate movement to tempo of music); performance skill for 25 points (coordination, timing, synchronization, audience impact) and costume for 15 points.

The champion for the Belly Dance Competition will get a trophy, a cash prize of P5,000, one month free workout each at Holiday Gym and four pieces body massage certificate from Holiday Spa. The first runner-up will get P3,000 cash, two weeks free workout each at Holiday Gym and four pieces foot spa certificates from Holiday Spa. The second runner-up will get P2,000 cash, one week free workout each at Holiday Gym, four pieces foot massage certificates from Holiday Spa.

HGS said attire must be appropriate for a family-friendly venue, undergarments must be worn and cover-ups worn when not performing. Contestants are not allowed to trade spots or request lineup positions.

Dancers using props must get them on/offstage without assistance and within their performance time. No unauthorized photography or filming of any part of the competition is allowed.

Belly dancing started in North Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, and is one of the oldest social dances in world history. It consists of movements that are executed throughout the body. The focus of the dance is the pelvic and hip area. It is, fundamentally, a solo improvisational dance with its own unique dance vocabulary that is fluidly integrated with the music’s rhythm.