The Varsitarian

September 17, 9:49 p.m. - A WELL-EXECUTED routine does not guarantee a spot in the cheerdance Top 3.

The Salinggawi Dance Troupe again dropped out of the Top 3 in the 2011 Samsung UAAP Cheerdance Competition at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum this afternoon.

Donning a gold Dominican cross on their black-yellow-white costume, Salinggawi slid to fourth place behind skillful Far Eastern University (FEU) Cheering Squad.

The University of the Philippines (UP) Pep Squad easily defended the cheerdance crown with their Madonna-inspired routine that left the audience in awe, while the De La Salle University Animo Squad unexpectedly won second place.

Asked about what went wrong with Salinggawi this year, chief choreographer Ryan Silva cited the team’s weakness in tumbling and gymnastics.

“I must admit, the team lacks mastery in terms of tumbling. This is because they aren’t really gymnasts when they joined [the dance troupe],” he said.

Echoing Silva, outgoing team captain Adams Bernabe said each Salinggawi member entered the team with “raw” talents.

“Everything we can do now is the product of our training here in [Salinggawi]. It is here where we get to discover our skills,” he said. “With a little more practice, I guess [the troupe] will be able to improve.”

Silva said the sequence of performances in the competition could have been also a factor.

“Perhaps the [order] of the teams’ performances was wrong. If we were able to perform before the top two schools (UP and FEU), the results could have been different,” he said.

Adamson University Pep Squad placed fifth, followed by the National University Pep Squad at sixth. The Ateneode Manila University Blue Babble Batallion and the University of the East Pep Squad placed seventh and eighth, respectively. Alexis Ailex C. Villamor Jr.