Going Back to My Roots

Before I ever became the hair-whipping hip-hop dancer; before Legit Status 2009 and the World Hip Hop Dance Championships; before AC Dance Troupe and the La Salle Dance Company - Street (whoa, this is a whole lotta name-dropping ha ha); I used to be a ballet dancer.

I grew up doing ballet at Steps Dance Studio. I took my classes regularly starting at the age of four (4). I used to do just ballet, but when a new teacher came along (by the name of Ms. Julie Alagde), I found myself doing jazz and modern dance at around ten (10) years old. My love for jazz and modern grew as I became more exposed to different teachers and choreographers, participated at different dance gigs (one of which required us to paint our hair blue), and took more classes outside Steps. I grew up at that studio; I would go straight to ballet class after school, and would stay there until 10 or 11 PM, taking class and rehearsing.

Rehearsing for Peasant Pas de Quatre (Giselle)
(L-R: McCoy, Jeca, Madge, Chabi and I)

The linoleum, ugly feet and dead toenails, and pink tights were just a few interesting factors of my then-daily life. As I grew up, I found that I had a bigger interest in jazz and modern than my first love of ballet. I realized that I excelled more at the pieces that allowed me to move my body freely, instead of constrictively, and those which allowed me to express myself in a more experimental way than the forced smile I became chagrin to when doing ballet.

One of those amazing modern classes with Julie Alagde

Wi_Fi Body Dance Festival: Dancing a piece by James Laforteza with McCoy & Jeca

"Amazing Grace" segment from "Our Father's Playground" - a modern/African piece choreographed by Julie Alagde
(ca. 2005)

But ballet will always be my first love.

My biggest accomplishment was taking on the role of Kitri -- the female lead in the ballet Don Quixote -- and going through the rigorous process of preparing for the Grand Pas de Deux. It was the most tiring, but most enthralling, ballet experience of my life, and I will always be grateful to Teacher Perry Sevidal for having given me that opportunity to live my dream.

Rehearsing for the role of Kitri in Don Quixote
(ca. 2008)

Along the way, I branched out to different companies, like performing with the Philippine Ballet Theater (PBT) in one of their re-stagings of Swan Lake, as well as taking master classes in ballet & Horton at Ballet Philippines (BP) a few years later. My most memorable of all ballet/jazz/modern experiences, however, would have to be when I performed under the tutelage of Enrico Labayen, whose choreography and unique teaching style made me fall in love with my favorite of all dance genres, neo-classical.

It is safe to say that dance makes up a huge chunk of my entire life, and now that I look back, I don't know where I would be without it.

PBT's Swan Lake - ca. 2005

Peasant Pas de Quatre (Giselle) with Jeca - ca. 2005