Still dreaming of becoming a dancer someday.
When I was little, my very first ambition in life was to be a ballet dancer. My mom loves the ballet, so she excitedly enrolled me in ballet class at the top floor of SM Cubao. Two months later, I quit. I remember being so bored, and that we never actually got to dance. I wanted to be a ballerina because I liked moving to music (even when the music was all in my head) and I felt in those two months that all we did was bend and touch our toes and stretch and stand still. While my brothers got to run in the mud and kick a ball! I joined the soccer club in Ateneo soon after and that was the end of my ballet career. I was six years old.
I didn't dance again until fourth year high school when I was in the school play and had to dance on stage. That was the only time I remembered again that I liked dancing. So in college, I took Social Dance and Street Dance for PE and when I ran out of PEs, and couldn't afford dance lessons, I "trained" with the UP Pep squad with absolutely no intentions of becoming a cheerleader. When "my batch" of aspirants was required to join the UP Cheerdance competition, I wanted to quit my "application" but took pity on my batchmates cause the REALLY wanted to join the Pep Squad, but most of them were freshmen from the provinces, living in the UP Dorms, I was already in 4th year college. So I was like, fine... I found them a drum kit, and used our family van to drive would-be cheerleaders around from dorms to practice. We choreographed and rehearsed three hours everyday for two weeks and won second place, behind only an Engineering pep team that had already won in Engg week three months before. I had plate sized bruises on both knees, I was never more exhausted in my life, but I was also quite fulfilled and happy. After that, I had to realign my priorities, go back to actually studying, and seeing my friends and family. I think many of the girls I trained with ended up competing and winning in the UAAP.
After college graduation was JVP (the birth of this blog) and then working in Human Rights (gymmed a little bit, but almost no exercise) and then marriage and motherhood (totally and absolutely no exercise while pregnant or breastfeeding, cause I'm skinny and lazy). Early last year, my backaches, which I've had on and off since childhood, were so bad to the point that I couldn't sleep at night. I went to a doctor who took one look at me and my lifestyle and said, you need to move around. He prescribed a painkiller, but long term he recommended yoga or Pilates. Now, I've tried yoga, cause I hear so many great things about it from friends and all, but oh my lord, I feel like I'm gong to faint every time I do it! Just looking at Pilates makes me writhe in pain... Ugh! I knew I needed exercise but I hated all the latest exercise fads!
And then this: "It dawned on me that i am in my 30s" was last year. I put my daughters in ballet in Steps, where the teachers are funny and engaging, the class sizes are carefully minimized, and they get to dance ballet even though all the could do is point their toes and flap their arms. They love it! Not boring at all. I think if my ballet classes were like this, I may have stuck with it for far longer than two months. Ah well. But as for me, I DID continue to take Jazz for a whole year! And I can do the pas du buree now basta not too fast, and SOMETIMES I even manage to do a pirouette to the LEFT! Still not every time, but still!
My classmates this past year were now 1/3 my age (my twirly girls from last summer had graduated to Jazz Intermediate, so I got even younger twirly girls starting July), They were born the year I briefly inserted myself in the UP Pep Squad! But I adore them, and then there were slightly older teenagers, some were not ballerinas and we got to mess up our hitch turns together. They all leap higher than me, and kick stronger than me and can do all 32 crunches without curling into a little ball of pain on the dance floor, but I really do like them all, even if I can no longer relate with homework and boyfriends and "my mom won't let me".
So, last April we were in the States. Lia and Desi didn't come with us, so I signed them up for the summer workshop recital in June. I didn't know if I'd be allowed to join the recital because I would be missing half of the workshop, but I figured to wait and see. When I returned in May, I didn't know half the people in class! There were so many new people! Most were also not ballerinas, but they were all still younger and bendier than me. One was in her twenties! Yay! Hahaha! Anyway, on the first day of my return, I saw that they were already about half way through the recital choreography. If I was going to make the most of that month's tuition, I was going to have to catch up fast. AND THEN! After the class they announced that a designer was going to measure all the girls for recital costumes! All the receptionists were like, "Ma'am! Sumali na kayo!" Sabi ko, "Diba hindi na pwede?" Sabi nila, "Hindi Ma'am, pwede pa! Kaya nyo pa yan!" And Teacher Liesl was like, "You can catch up, the routine isn't finished anyway." And Teacher James said, "They're almost finished measuring. You have five minutes to decide." GAH! I did say in my post last year, that I should join the recital if I manage to stick to this thing for a year, and also one of my twirly ballerinas, Nikki, said to me before I left for the States "But Ina, you HAVE to join the recital! You HAVE to!" So I fell in line, got myself measured, and paid the recital fee the following week. Took a video of the dance so far, practiced at home to catch up and yesterday found myself on stage in a sparkly silver leotard and tiny gold sequinned skirt, dancing to Mamma Mia on the CCP Main Stage.
It was my very first recital ever. At anything. Not having taken any performing arts classes long enough to ever merit one. And it was also my daughters' first recital ever. I know I took the term "Stage Mother" to some kind of ultimate level last weekend, but that's another blog post. What I am thankful for is that, one, I'm short and skinny enough to be able to effectively blend in with a bunch of teenagers (all but one are taller than me). And two, that I get to learn and do new things this "late" in life. I'm thankful that we can afford to put three students through dance school (thank you Mike!). But most of all, it's good to remember that I like performing and I love to dance. I may never be great at it. But I think I'm ok for a 33 year old mother of three who just started last year. It was fun to be part of a big giant production again. And I am thankful.
I didn't dance again until fourth year high school when I was in the school play and had to dance on stage. That was the only time I remembered again that I liked dancing. So in college, I took Social Dance and Street Dance for PE and when I ran out of PEs, and couldn't afford dance lessons, I "trained" with the UP Pep squad with absolutely no intentions of becoming a cheerleader. When "my batch" of aspirants was required to join the UP Cheerdance competition, I wanted to quit my "application" but took pity on my batchmates cause the REALLY wanted to join the Pep Squad, but most of them were freshmen from the provinces, living in the UP Dorms, I was already in 4th year college. So I was like, fine... I found them a drum kit, and used our family van to drive would-be cheerleaders around from dorms to practice. We choreographed and rehearsed three hours everyday for two weeks and won second place, behind only an Engineering pep team that had already won in Engg week three months before. I had plate sized bruises on both knees, I was never more exhausted in my life, but I was also quite fulfilled and happy. After that, I had to realign my priorities, go back to actually studying, and seeing my friends and family. I think many of the girls I trained with ended up competing and winning in the UAAP.
After college graduation was JVP (the birth of this blog) and then working in Human Rights (gymmed a little bit, but almost no exercise) and then marriage and motherhood (totally and absolutely no exercise while pregnant or breastfeeding, cause I'm skinny and lazy). Early last year, my backaches, which I've had on and off since childhood, were so bad to the point that I couldn't sleep at night. I went to a doctor who took one look at me and my lifestyle and said, you need to move around. He prescribed a painkiller, but long term he recommended yoga or Pilates. Now, I've tried yoga, cause I hear so many great things about it from friends and all, but oh my lord, I feel like I'm gong to faint every time I do it! Just looking at Pilates makes me writhe in pain... Ugh! I knew I needed exercise but I hated all the latest exercise fads!
And then this: "It dawned on me that i am in my 30s" was last year. I put my daughters in ballet in Steps, where the teachers are funny and engaging, the class sizes are carefully minimized, and they get to dance ballet even though all the could do is point their toes and flap their arms. They love it! Not boring at all. I think if my ballet classes were like this, I may have stuck with it for far longer than two months. Ah well. But as for me, I DID continue to take Jazz for a whole year! And I can do the pas du buree now basta not too fast, and SOMETIMES I even manage to do a pirouette to the LEFT! Still not every time, but still!
My classmates this past year were now 1/3 my age (my twirly girls from last summer had graduated to Jazz Intermediate, so I got even younger twirly girls starting July), They were born the year I briefly inserted myself in the UP Pep Squad! But I adore them, and then there were slightly older teenagers, some were not ballerinas and we got to mess up our hitch turns together. They all leap higher than me, and kick stronger than me and can do all 32 crunches without curling into a little ball of pain on the dance floor, but I really do like them all, even if I can no longer relate with homework and boyfriends and "my mom won't let me".
So, last April we were in the States. Lia and Desi didn't come with us, so I signed them up for the summer workshop recital in June. I didn't know if I'd be allowed to join the recital because I would be missing half of the workshop, but I figured to wait and see. When I returned in May, I didn't know half the people in class! There were so many new people! Most were also not ballerinas, but they were all still younger and bendier than me. One was in her twenties! Yay! Hahaha! Anyway, on the first day of my return, I saw that they were already about half way through the recital choreography. If I was going to make the most of that month's tuition, I was going to have to catch up fast. AND THEN! After the class they announced that a designer was going to measure all the girls for recital costumes! All the receptionists were like, "Ma'am! Sumali na kayo!" Sabi ko, "Diba hindi na pwede?" Sabi nila, "Hindi Ma'am, pwede pa! Kaya nyo pa yan!" And Teacher Liesl was like, "You can catch up, the routine isn't finished anyway." And Teacher James said, "They're almost finished measuring. You have five minutes to decide." GAH! I did say in my post last year, that I should join the recital if I manage to stick to this thing for a year, and also one of my twirly ballerinas, Nikki, said to me before I left for the States "But Ina, you HAVE to join the recital! You HAVE to!" So I fell in line, got myself measured, and paid the recital fee the following week. Took a video of the dance so far, practiced at home to catch up and yesterday found myself on stage in a sparkly silver leotard and tiny gold sequinned skirt, dancing to Mamma Mia on the CCP Main Stage.
It was my very first recital ever. At anything. Not having taken any performing arts classes long enough to ever merit one. And it was also my daughters' first recital ever. I know I took the term "Stage Mother" to some kind of ultimate level last weekend, but that's another blog post. What I am thankful for is that, one, I'm short and skinny enough to be able to effectively blend in with a bunch of teenagers (all but one are taller than me). And two, that I get to learn and do new things this "late" in life. I'm thankful that we can afford to put three students through dance school (thank you Mike!). But most of all, it's good to remember that I like performing and I love to dance. I may never be great at it. But I think I'm ok for a 33 year old mother of three who just started last year. It was fun to be part of a big giant production again. And I am thankful.