UAAP Cheerdance Competition

Rules

The competition rules has been revised through the years since it began. The following is based on the most recent rules drafted in 2012.

Basic rules

1. One official team per UAAP-member university
2. 15-25 UAAP-eligible students
3. Max of 5 spotters/propsmen, in all-black garb
4. Up to 2 substitutes 12 hours before the competition.

Performance

1. Routines must have
2. School cheer yelled live. Any stunt, pyramid, and tumbling done during the cheer routine will be judged under the cheer category of each element.
3. Dance Routine
4. Stunts (lifts and tosses)
5. Pyramids
6. Tumblings (standing and running)
7. Maximum of 7 snares and 12 bass drums if the venue is Araneta Coliseum; 5 snares and 6 bass drums if the venue is SM Arena
8. Cheerleaders may not perform outside the boundary line of 15x20 meters performance area

Judges

Prior 2009, the panel of judges compose of representative from 8 UAAP-member schools and a representative from a credible gymnastics organizations. In 2009, UAAP replaced the panel of judges with representatives from various cheerleading, dance, and gymnastics organizations.

In 2013, a different way of composing the panel of judges was made. A single judge was assigned in every element in the cheerleading criteria. For the dance criteria, four judges were tasked to judge this particular criteria.

Criteria

The criteria for judging varies year-on-year. In 2008, the criteria were changed to a more cheerleading-focused point-system, giving a maximum score for each element of cheerleading and/or dancing. For 2013 edition, the criteria were divided into two: cheerleading and dance criteria. Cheerleading criteria were sub-divided into four elements (tumbling, stunt, tosses, and pyramid) with a maximum of 100 points for each element, while the dance criteria, which had a maximum of 100 points per number of judges for dance, were subdivided into four sub-criteria (over-all effectiveness, choreography, technique and execution).

Results

Every season, the host school for the UAAP Cheerdance Competition may or may not be different from the league's season host school.

Notes:

Group stunts division

In 2011, UAAP introduced the Group Stunts Competition. However, only five members per school competed where Adamson Pep Squad, DLSU Animo Squad, and UST Salinggawi Dance Troupe did not participate. In 2012, six member-schools participated in the Group Stunts Competition. This includes AdU, NU, DLSU, FEU, UP, and UST. In 2014, only Ateneo did not join.

Chronology of events

The UST Salinggawi Dance Troupe won the first three years of competition from 1994 to 1996. During those years, UP used to send its own dance troupe, the UP Filipiniana Dance Troupe. In the 1998 season, UST Salinggawi Dance Troupe did not compete and instead joined the 1st Lipton Cheering Cup Competition. Also in that year, UP established a new pep squad, called UP Varsity Pep Squad, as its official delegate to the competition to replace the UP Filipiniana Dance Troupe.

The rivalry between the two squads began in 1999 when UST returned to reclaim the title after their year of absence. However, they only finished second behind UP Pep Squad. In 2001, UP Pep Squad matched the record of UST's three consecutive wins.

In 2002, UST Salinggawi Dance Troupe regained the title while UP Pep Squad finished third. The next three years had UST Salinggawi Dance Troupe in first place and UP Pep Squad as runner-up. In 2006, UST Salinggawi Dance Troupe received their eighth title via five consecutive victories setting the highest score in the history of the competition while UP Pep Squad finished third on that year.

UP Pep Squad regained the title in 2007 and garnered their fifth title in 2008, with UST as second placer. The UP Pep Squad's goal of a second three-peat was not realized in 2009. In that year, UST failed to enter top three for the first time. In 2010, UP regained the title while UST came back in the podium finishing third. UP had another three-peat after winning the 2011 and 2012 editions - the same years when UST failed to enter top three again.

Neither UP nor UST won the cheerdance tilt in from 2013 to 2015. In 2013, UST had its lowest ranking and settled seventh place. As of 2013, UP never placed outside top three while UST failed to get a podium ranking four times in five years.

In 2014, UST successfully rejoined the podium finish at third place while UP placed second. In 2015, after nine years, UST defeated UP by winning second place while UP settled for third. As of 2015, both teams have identical number of championship titles at eight. UP, despite being dethroned, is by far the most established team for having stayed at the podium for 20 years straight.

Controversy

Questions were raised on the results of the 2015 Cheerdance Competition after NU Pep Squad won despite committing multiple errors including falls on their lifts and pyramids. This is in contrast with runners-up UP and UST executing clean programs. The UAAP community in the social media was outraged mainly due to their disbelief of the ranking and allegations of biased judging and corruption. NU claimed that their stunts have higher degree of difficulty compared to other teams. Due to this, UP filed an official complaint for the case detailing several judging inaccuracies but was remained unresolved with UAAP officials. As a response to the unresolved issues and to focus on international competitions, UP Pep Squad decided to skip the 2016 competition.