Mandaue’s own dance showdown in Panagtagbo

Mandaue City has its own street dancing and religious rites for the Panagtagbo Festival tomorrow, days ahead of the Sinulog grand parade.

The Thursday event will have seven contingents from the city’s 27 barangays competing for a P100,000 cash prize.

It starts with a 4:30 p.m. Mass and rededication of images of the Holy Family in the National Shrine of St. Joseph in the city center.

The Jan. 17 festival comes a day before the Traslacion or ceremonial transfer of the images of the Sto. Niño de Cebu and Virgen of Guadalupe from Cebu City to the  Mandaue church in a symbolic meeting of figures of the Holy Family –- son, mother and father, St. Joseph on Friday. Panagtagbo is Cebuano for “meeting”

The Sto. Niño will stay overnight in the church before embarking on a fluvial procession from the Ouano wharf at 6 a.m. to Cebu City.

The dance showdown will be held at the Heritage Plaza in front of City Hall, said Clarence Sanchez, vice president of Taga Mandaue Inc.

“The dancers will be dancing with one tune of Panagtagbo together with its basic steps,” he said.

The Mandaue City government is spending P2 million for the festival, which was introduced last year. This is the first time a street dance competition and photo contest for the Traslacion will be held.

The core group of last year’s Panagtagbo dancers from the Mandaue School of Arts performed in different malls last week.

On Friday, Mandaue Mayor Jonas Cortes and city officials will receive the holy image of the Sto. Niño in a handover at the boundary of Cebu and Mandaue cities near Innodata. A 3 kilometer motorcade to the St. Joseph Shrine will have traffic rerouted and extra enforcers on the road /Reporter Jucell Marie P. Cuyos