Benguet Dancesport Team coach Charibelle Pingawan and her partner took home two gold medals in the recently-staged Cebu Open Dancesport at Beverly View Events Pavillion in Lahug, Cebu City.
Pingawan and her Manila-based partner, Reid Baradas, won the medals in the special event Latin 3 dance and SE Latin 5 dance events during the 14th Dan-ceSport sa Sugbu on Feb. 26 and 27.
Competing in an in-person contest after four years, she said the experience is priceless considering the serious injury she sustained during training for a competition in 2019.
This drove her to focus on coaching instead after months of recovering from her injury, then the pandemic hit which all the more inspired her to continue coaching.
“The pressure and anxiety were high.The training was hard but I am grateful that the right people are around me with the support of my partner, coach, family, friends, and my Benguet Dancesport team and to the whole community of Benguet and Cordillera,” Pingawan said.
The dynamic duo was coached by Victoria Mae Huyatid during the event organized by Cebu City government and Cebu province and supported by the Philippine DanceSport Federation.
Her ward in the Benguet Dancesport Team have been joining and winning in online competitions and she said her experience in the Cebu tilt is her basis to prepare them for in-person contests in the future.
She said solo dancing has been the trend during the pandemic but slowly, dancesports competitions are returning to couple dancing in the new normal.
Pingawan said the Cebu event is also her benchmark for the preparations they are doing for their 2022 Cordillera dancesport competition.
“Looking at how Cebu City did their event, it was a collaborative effort from the local government unit, the Philippine Dancesport Federation, Dancesport Organizations and the private sector,” she said. – Ofelia C. Empian
