The Eastbridge Dance Troupe is champion once again. At the ROPRISA Literary-Musical Competitions held at the Valley High Academy gym on September 18, 2026, our dancers took first place in the Intermediate Folk Dance Category against a field of seven private schools — bringing home the school's seventh ROPRISA folk dance championship.
The Dance: Gaway-Gaway of Jaro, Leyte
This year's winning piece was Gaway-Gaway, a harvest dance from Jaro, Leyte, where planting gaway — a plant of the taro family — was once the predominant occupation of the barrio folk. The dance celebrates a bountiful harvest, retelling the work of the fields through movement.
Its most charming signature is the "siko-siko" — a step that imitates the unavoidable bumping of elbows as neighbors pull gaway stalks from the ground side by side. The dancers perform in traditional peasant attire, the girls in long-sleeved blouses with sleeves rolled back for work, carrying the nigo, or bilao, that symbolizes the gathering of the harvest.
Folk dance at this level is not just performance — it is heritage, discipline, teamwork, and storytelling in one. Months of practice live inside every minute on that floor.
The Champions
The Eastbridge Dance Troupe:
- Jordyn Isabell Cruz — Grade 6
- Juliana Miguelle Castro — Grade 6
- Bernise Celestine Talay — Grade 6
- Aatasha Khatwani — Grade 6
- Isla Francoise Dirige — Grade 6
- Nyle Kaiden Gadiel Ronquillo — Grade 6
- Glenn Yaeden Camacho — Grade 6
- Luis Gabriel Loquias — Grade 5
- Zion Theodore Ibe — Grade 5
- Ross Yesekiel Delfina — Grade 5
- Kenzo Henry Carbo — Grade 5
- Fiora Seraphine Bathan — Grade 5
The troupe danced under the guidance of choreographer Paul G. Sagrado and trainer Glenda L. Espero — the hands behind a program that has now produced seven championships.
Seven Championships, One School
This seventh crown was not won in a straight line — and that makes it worth more, not less. Across the years, the troupe's reign has been interrupted exactly twice: once in 2018, when Eastbridge took second place, and once by the pandemic, which silenced the competition stage from 2020 to 2022. Each time, the dancers came back — and won again.
Eastbridge has fewer than two hundred students. Seven ROPRISA folk dance championships now stand beside that number — proof, once again, that our small class sizes where every child is known, gifts like these are found early, trained patiently, and given a stage. Congratulations, Purple Knights — and salamat to the parents whose support carries every costume, every rehearsal, and every victory. 💜
Every child has gifts worth discovering.
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