A healthy way to bond

MANILA, Philippines - Anyone can dance. 116 Dance Studio will show you how.

Located at LRI Design Plaza at 210 Nicanor Garcia St. (formerly Reposo), Makati City, the 116 Dance Studio has sub-wood padded flooring, wall-to-wall mirrors, effective lighting system and dance teachers, among them Leo Linga, Brando Balmedina and Edna Ledesma, who are duly licensed by the United Kingdom Alliance and who in turn teach dance according to the syllabus steps developed by the United Kingdom Alliance.

The studio offers courses on social dancing and the rigorous and structured six-level Medals Program. Students who finish the Medals Program are qualified for evaluation and certification by dance experts from the United Kingdom Alliance who come to Manila to give the formal examination twice a year.

Among the students are business executives, harried professionals, stressed-out career women, mother-and-daughter tandems, students, expats and diplomats who lost weight and developed good posture and, along the way, discovered their new, “younger” personalities, after a few months of dancing.

One of them, Nikki Ganihong, is a svelte 30-year-old auditor in a finance firm. Seven months ago, Nikki, weighing 150 lbs and wearing size-12 clothes, enrolled in the Absolute Beginners Social Dance Class. Spending two hours per week in non-stop body movements, Nikki lost more than 10 lbs. in a month. In two months, Nikki started buying size-10 clothes. She also enrolled in the more advance medalist dance classes. Today, Nikki weighs 126 lbs., wears size-6 clothes and eats anything she wants without having to worry about regaining lost poundage.

Closer family ties was also fostered when a family of four enrolled in social dancing last year primarily to prepare themselves for social interaction while on a cruise. Dancing together at the 116 Dance Studio also proved to be healthy “bonding” time for groups of siblings, mothers and daughters and barkadas.