|Grabbed from the video of Ricky Ballesteros
MANDAUE CITY, Cebu – Work at the Sinulog 2023 venue at the South Road Properties (SRP) continued even during the wee hours.
Filling materials were poured to cover the muddy parts of the venue located just in front of the Sinulog 2023 stage before it was asphalted, according to Ricky Ballesteros, who was in the area to witness the practice of an out of town contingent late night on Friday, January 13, 2023.
Performers from Bailes de Luces of La Castellana, Negros Occidental rehearsed while construction workers worked nearby.
“Construction workers doubling time to finish the vicinity of the Grand stage and the bleachers at SRP venue of the Sinulog 2023 Grand Parade…my hats off to the hardworking and dedicated workers. Hopefully it will be finished on time if the weather will cooperate,” Ballesteros said in a social media post.
However, he noticed that after filling materials were added, the Sinulog 2023 stage that used to be about three feet in height is now “almost levelled to the ground.”
“So if it [asphalting] will be finished, it [the stage] will just look like a cemented floor. Just place basketball goals , it can be use as standard size basketball court. This is what you call, the wonders of engineering,” said the former executive director of the Sinulog Foundation Inc. (SFI), who is also an events organizer.
Ballesteros said that in organizing big events like the Sinulog, “the stage must be elevated so the judges can see the whole body of the performers including the foot works when they perform.”
“The judges must be in an elevated vantage point so they can see the line , formation, discipline , spatial element (use of space) and the choreography . If they only see half of the body , the performers will look like manannaggals from afar (manananggal is a mythical creature in the Philippines that separates from their lower part of its body),” he added.
/bmjo
RELATED STORIES
Sinulog 2023 will still be at SRP
Cebu governor on Sinulog at SRP: I wish, pray for event’s success
Sinulog performers on SRP venue: ‘Lisud gyud’