It was not an easy endeavor for only a small group of people who share the common love for ballroom dancing to come together and dream to promote to the University as well as to those outside the UP Community, social dancing in its higher, competitive form – DanceSport. But an aspiration as great as such was not to remain undone; thus the birth of the UP Organization of DanceSport Enthusiasts on June 2005.
Primarily based in the College of Human Kinetics and under the guidance of Prof. Mynette Aguilar, UP-ODE worked on its mission to encourage people, especially the youth, to the appreciation and development of dancesport both as a form of art and athleticism and also to produce high caliber dancesport performers, athletes and coaches.
A year after its foundation, the organization changed its name to UP DanceSport Society, believing this name will better represent the organization’s ideals and will be more appealing to people.
It has been a fruitful start for UP DanceSport, being able to perform in various events in and out of the university such as the 2005 Pre-SEA Games Scientific Congress Banquet Night (November 2005) and having successfully organized major dancesport competitions namely:
· Tagisayawan: An Interclass Ballroom Dance Competition (September 10, 2005)
· Strictly Ballroom: An Interclass, Intercollegiate and Secondary School Ballroom Dance Competition (March 10, 2006)
· Tagisayawan II: An Interclass and Secondary School Ballroom Dance Competition (September 20, 2006)
· Strictly Ballroom II: A Ballroom Dance Concert and Competition (February 10, 2007)
- UP DanceSport members have also been successful in participating in intercollegiate and pre-amateur and amateur dancesport competitions and are proud to have placed and bagged certificates, medals, plaques and trophies in most of them. These competitions include:
- Intercollegiate DanceSport Competition organized by the University of Makati (Makati Sports Club October 21, 2006)
- WCDF World Open DanceSport Tournament (Pagcor Grand Theater December 3, 2006)
- 2007 Festival Supermall DanceSport Competition (Alabang Festival Mall April 18, 2007)
- $88 Cup 2nd Intercollegiate Ballroom Dancing Competition (Plaza Pilao, Paco, Manila May 26, 2007)
- Filipino-Chinese Friendship Cup 2007 FCAAF DanceSport Championship (Ninoy Aquino Stadium June 23, 2007)
UP DanceSport continues to establish and prove its name as a performing arts group inside and outside UP. It strives for the further development of its members as professional athletes and future coaches of dancesport that they may bring pride and honor to the university and make it a part of the records of Philippine Dancesport History.
*prepared by M.J Yabut
