{"id":234227,"date":"2016-08-15T06:06:40","date_gmt":"2016-08-14T20:06:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=234227"},"modified":"2016-08-15T06:06:40","modified_gmt":"2016-08-14T20:06:40","slug":"smads-concludes-stint-hip-hop-tilt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/smads-concludes-stint-hip-hop-tilt\/","title":{"rendered":"SMADS concludes stint in hip hop tilt"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Saipan<\/a>
Saipan Music and Dance Studio dancers last week competed in Hip Hop International held in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Contributed Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Saipan Music and Dance Studio dancers completed their stint in Hip Hop International after performing in the first round of competition from Aug. 9 to 10 in Las Vegas, Nevada. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere were over 70 plus crews in their varsity division that competed and only the top 40 crews advance into the semifinals. We were hopeful to be called on, of course but so were the other 500 plus dancers. We weren\u2019t as surprised knowing we didn\u2019t make it to the second round. Competition out there is really tough! We were against the best crews in the world,\u201d said SMADS head choreographer Kevin John Razon.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough we felt like we had a slight edge over some of the crews especially after watching the rest of the competition, we were lucky enough to be the very first dance troupe on stage as we opened the division. The kids were very happy of the outcome and felt a lot more confident after. We weren\u2019t expecting anything special. Everyone\u2019s mindset going into the competition was just to give it our best!\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

When asked what he thought the best moment the kids had during the competition, Razon said, \u201cI think the best moment for the kids was prior to getting on stage as the first performers. As they proceeded to the backstage area, all the other countries and dancers were so welcoming. Numerous strangers and event coordinators and workers wished them good luck. The kids told me, \u2018Even if it was the first time to enter Hip Hop International, everyone made us feel like we belong. Like, we\u2019ve always been here with them.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n

Asked if SMADS dancers will try again next year, Razon answered in the affirmative. <\/p>\n

\u201cYes, we will definitely be working hard to get back! It was our first international competition\u2026 We would definitely not miss a chance to participate again.\u201d <\/p>\n

Razon hopes that SMADS dancers would get more support from the community in time for next year\u2019s competition. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re looking toward more support from the community and everyone around us in 2017. We\u2019re hoping for more supporters that would also participate in the event. Now that we understand the feeling of the competition, next time we\u2019ll be more prepared than ever. We\u2019ll be bigger, better, and stronger. We are not disheartened by this loss. We\u2019ve only just begun!\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The SMADS dancers who competed in Las Vegas are Carl Marquez, 17; John Cavinta, 16; Lance Elayda, 16; Catherine Castro, 16; Carl Lambat, 15; Jenalyn Tinio, 15; Mary Sablan, 15; and Donna Galvez, 15. The dancers are accompanied by Angelica Chong-Valencia, assistant head choreographer\/team leader; Prajan Panthi-Sunar, choreographer; and Ester Sablan, SMADS owner.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Saipan Music and Dance Studio dancers completed their stint in Hip Hop International after performing…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":234230,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[12947,163,304,5353],"class_list":["post-234227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","tag-hip-hop-international","tag-kids","tag-las-vegas","tag-smads"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=234227"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234227\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/234230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=234227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=234227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=234227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}