One On One

I wish I could stretch like that...

  Had a one on one class with Kuya Henry, the Ballet Manila trained teacher, last night. When I woke up this morning I felt very sick. I think I'll have to miss pointe class tomorrow T_T. Why, why, why? This flu has been going around me and my classmates at school. My head hurts so much... I don't remember the last time I had fever. I'm just watching ballet videos and reading BalletNEWS' Cupcakes & Conversation Series.

  Last night Kuya Henry asked me if I was on a diet to which I replied no. It was time I started counting my food, he said, because my tummy sticks out. I tried doing sit ups every day before, when I was still in LCB, but my little bulge just wont go down! :P

  He taught me this stretching routine which they did in BM. Its called Vaganova Stretch. It's really different when there's someone there to help you stretch. It's easier and you get a better stretch. I should do this more often.

   On the barre he said, "Slowly when you move! In ballet your movement is as if you are in an aquarium." which gave me an idea of practicing Por de Bras in a swimming pool. We did pirouettes across the room. "When you turn, attack, no, the attack in ballet is different, were not going to war!"

  Oh yeah and we just used music from the radio, not classical. He said classical makes him sleepy :P

  He also gave me tips for a higher arch. I should wear my pointe shoes around the house and force my arch when sitting down.

  I hope I get better by Monday...

Haters

  So this guy tells me that ballet is boring and that dance club just makes our bodies hurt. What is he throwing at me? I mean what the heck will he get from saying these things anyway? He’s not even part of Dance club! Well, he was but he quit and told me he hates it.

  Ok, I have to understand that when you go professional there will be standing ovations and tomato throwing. There will be times when you’ll be booed off the stage and, when that happens, you just have to remember all the people who said you were talented.

  I still have my loyal Dance club-ers to count on for inspiration. Yes my own students inspire me. They inspire me to keep going because they like what I do, that what I do works for them. They are so much nicer than my little critic anyway.

  It’s useless to ask “What did I do to get this kind of treatment?” because we’ll never know. So many different things go on in people’s minds and there could be a thousand things for him to dislike me. Maybe he finds me annoying, self centered. Or maybe he’s just jealous or doesn't even know the magnitude of what he's saying… :P

  And maybe ballet is boring, TO HIM. And maybe dance club is a strenuous activity, FOR HIM. It’s all a matter of opinion and one guy with foul mouth aint’ gonna’ make mah dance club crumble!!!! Movie stars get it all the time, I mean all this talk of Justin Bieber or Charice being cyber bullied. That’s how it rolls…

Haters only make you famous!

A Visit from Ballet Philippines

Ballet Philippines Artistic Director Paul Alexander Morales

 Watched Ballet Philippines perform "Faces of Eve" in SM Mall Davao on Sunday. They were so good!! What I noticed most of all was that their jumps were silent, as in soundless! They performed both classical and contemporary pieces. I took some videos but, unfortunately, they won't upload.The pictures are kinda blurry too T_T.

  Most of what they performed were works by Filipino artists (Go Pinoy!) like; "To Whom It May Concern" by Novy Bereber, "Crisostomo Ibarra" <3 by: Paul Alexander Morales, and a lot more. They also performed Variations from "Harlequinade", and "The Sleeping Beauty".

  I'd say my favorite part was a contemporary piece in which the dancers wore white. I forgot it's title but it was  a really exciting piece.

Locsin's students with BP dancers

  I wish ballet companies would come to perform more often, I mean, we need stuff like this! There's barely any "happenings" around here and when there is the people of Davao flock in one place to be there.

  Anyway, here's a link to the company members of BP:
Ballet Philippines - THE COMPANY
I recognize some dancers including the one I was starstruck with <3 LOL :P Hehe

Dance Club Pictures

  Dance club. This Friday's Jazz class was great! Our students are improving. We didn't do progression this week, we went straight to the Choreography. We danced to 'Black and Gold' choreo by Pat. It rained so hard we had to shout to be heard. Water kept dripping from the gym's ceiling so we decided to practice on the stage... But it was still good.

  After class, we took random pictures around the gym... There was this huge puddle where we did some dance poses like baby freeze and arabesque :D Fun excited for next week. I hope I come up with some good choreo :D