Doing the country proud once more

MANILA, Philippines - BB Gandanghari (Rustom Padilla back then) would have been proud. So would KC Concepcion, Ciara Sotto, Queenie, Robin Padilla’s daughter and members of the Hong Kong Disneyland dancers.

They’ve trained under the Shirley Halili-Cruz School of Ballet, which again heaped honors for the country. The white building along Quezon Ave., Quezon City has become the second home for dancers who won 12 (out of 14) perpetual and 21 gold trophies (for classical ballet, neo-classical dance, modern dance and contemporary dance) in Bangkok, where they represented the country at the 11th Asia-Pacific Dance Competition. The team also won the over-all championship for Modern Dance and Classical Ballet.

“While I had been going around the world to judge in many international competitions,” gushed one of the adjudicators, “I have never seen such strength, power and technique.”

The homegrown team’s Muay Thai-inspired number may have been unique. But it proved no match for the Filipinos’ choreography, stage presence and facial expression.

Minnie Francia, whose daughter Ella competed in 12 Under Modern/Lyrical category, recalls, “The audience was shouting, ‘Bravo, bravo!’ The Australian adjudicator said the choreography fit the music.”

You can’t blame school owner Shirley Halili-Cruz from shouting about her students’ latest feat from the treetops. Didn’t her 70-strong delegation beat more than 26 dance groups from 10 Asia-Pacific countries?

So bulky were her team’s 50-plus trophies and medals they had to pay extra for excess baggage. To think they prepared for the three-day contest in July only a month before it was actually held!

“We went to the US and Korea for a dance festival,” she explains.

The secret lies in one word: Encouragement. Like a doting mom, Halili-Cruz is there, every step of the way. Yes, she shows her students how to pirouette well. But she also listens to their problems, shares their little secrets, laughs and cries with them. The teacher, in other words, is also a friend.

“I know who their crushes are,” she flashes a naughty smile. “Sometimes, the parents ask me to talk to their troubled child.”

Some of the students have literally grown up in Halili-Cruz’s school. In fact, one of the girls who competed in Bangkok first set foot in the school at age three. She’s now 15.

Thus, her students go away feeling confident after “Miss Shirley” gathers them backstage on the big day of the contest for a pep talk. Thus assured that they are well-armed, not just technically but emotionally, she settles down to a chair in the audience area to enjoy their every move on stage.

While she can be a friend, Halili-Cruz can be firm in things that matter, like school. Studies, she intones, takes precedence over dance classes. Thus, her classes are timed after school hours. A student who has a conflict between school and dance classes must finish her homework or attend to her books first. Figures why these students have good grades in school.

No wonder the parents are that supportive. One of them even volunteered to be official photographer of the Bangkok team. 

The happy parents also bring in food for the traditional victory party.

“We usually get 20 pieces of lechon,” Halili-Cruz reports.

Success, however, doesn’t make her complacent. After all, her school has a reputation to keep. So Halili-Cruz continues to brush up on her craft. She attends at least two dance conferences abroad every year. The last ones were in Europe and the US.

Success is sweet, but it comes with a price. That’s why Shirley Halili-Cruz is literally and figuratively on her toes with her students. That — and a healthy dose of mothering — is the secret.