Let Pinky Puno take you to the dance floor

‘If life were a dance, it would be a combination of a rumba and a tango.’

Dancing is poetry with rhymes found in swaying arms and stanzas expressed through bending legs. And yes, with emotions that run high as manifested in arched backs. Ballroom dancing is flexibility in motion, made more fluid by one’s nimble spirit and agile soul. It is a form of artistic discipline made more buoyant by one’s passion to perfect the craft.

In the subject of ballroom dancing, let Pinky Puno take you to the dance floor.

“The best lesson I have learned is that dancing is food for the soul. Having a passion for ballroom dancing is a great thing. There is nothing malicious about it. This passion can create beauty in all aspects of your life. It has no age limit. You can ballroom dance into your nineties, which will make you smile more, laugh more, relate to people better, and enjoy life better,” says Pinky, whose romance with dancing started when she was seven years old when her mother Aurora Mendoza enrolled her and her sisters in ballet.

Pinky Puno with her partners Ryan Jago and Slava Sergiev dance to a standing ovation of All That Jazz at the Gala Night of Blackpool British Dance Festival.

Recently, Pinky, her Filipino dance partner Ryan Jago and 10-dance champion Belarusian Slava Sergiev were honored to do a Show Dance for the Gala Night of the British Dance Festival, said to be the most prestigious international ballroom dancing event held in Blackpool, England. The dance festival, according to Pinky, is a highly anticipated competition that started in 1920 and continues to the present in the famous Winter Gardens. At the end of their performance, the threesome dancing dynamo received a standing ovation. 

Pinky says it was their second time to perform as a “threesome for The Gala Night.”  Last year, they danced to the famous music titled Jealousy. This year, they requested the talented Polish-born Mariusz Olszewski to choreograph their Show Dance again. Pinky’s chosen music was All That Jazz from the musical Chicago.

The audience was made up of professionals and their students, competitors, adjudicators from England and abroad, members of The British Dance Council, and many past legends and dance champions. 

“From the moment the initial strains of the music started, we could sense excitement from the audience. Thirty seconds into the number, people were already clapping in rhythm. The music, the dance, and the Fosse movements with jive and samba steps created so much energy from me, Ryan, and Slava that the audience could not help but soak it all in. At the end of the fun number, the audience was up on their feet, giving our trio a standing ovation,” she recalls.

Pinky remembers the hosannas thrown their way by the bigwigs of world ballroom dancing. “Bryan Watson (10-time World Latin champion) said at the sidelines of the event, ‘It was the only number to receive a standing ovation.’ Renowned British adjudicator Gary Edwards (who is rumored to replace Len Goodman as judge for Britain’s show Strictly Come Dancing) approached us and said, ‘Our table was up on their feet even before the music ended. Thank you so much for giving us such a fabulous number!’ 

Pinky, Ryan and Slava perform a pas de trois in a Show Dance titled Jealousy.

“It was nothing but superlative reviews from numerous people. Eight-time Latin Blackpool champion legendary Carmen Vincelj invited us to perform our number at The Nevada Star Ball she is organizing with Bryan and Hans Galke this month. Sammy Stopford with wife Barbara McColl (also four-time Blackpool Latin champions), co-organizers of The Open World Championship in Paris with Donnie Burns (14-time world professional Latin champion) also enticed us to reprise our number in Paris in December,” says Pinky who is a mother of seven and a grandmother of 15.

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Ryan Jago, on the other hand, began his career as a ballet dancer before switching to ballroom and earned himself the title of National Amateur Latin Champion of Dance Sport Philippines. The Recoletos University in Bacolod honored him with the Most Distinguished Alumnus award in 2016.

“Ryan and I have been dancing together for a about five years. Belinda Adora, our 10-time Latin Champion, introduced him to me because I was looking for someone I could be practicing with during my trips to the Philippines,” says Pinky.

 According to Pinky, Ryan is an excellent dancer, teacher and dance partner. She and Ryan complement each other in physique, demeanor, wholesome attitude, clean lifestyle, and a willingness to keep learning.

“Ryan is a drill master, but he never makes me feel intimidated. We have never had any ‘battles’ unlike other dance partnerships. He is always patient and kind. Because he generates energy and a wonderful aura when he is on the dance floor, I pick up on it and I am able to produce it myself, too,” Pinky says.

Pinky and Ryan are planning to join the Embassy Ball in Los Angeles, the USDC (United States Dance Championships) in Orlando, and the Holiday Dance Classic Championships in Las Vegas.

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Pinky admits she cannot see herself not dancing. “When I am on the dance floor, there is a mixture of calmness and excitement. Sheer happiness envelopes me. I shut out my problems and just enjoy the human connection, the spirit of harmony and expression with my partner. I think of the story behind the dance and put my emotions into it. I feel empowered because I am in my elements. I feel challenged and energized by whatever movements are required. And I always feel a sense of gratitude that even at my late age, I am able to do what I do.”

When she was in fourth year high school in Maryknoll, the nuns of the school asked Pinky to teach ballet to other students. Her love for teaching ballet grew. When her late father architect Felipe Mendoza saw how much she loved to dance and to teach others, he built a ballet studio for Pinky called The New Manila Ballet Center in 1966. She started with two students until it grew to an average of 250 students per year. “I was teaching ballet until 1987 when we migrated to the US.”

What brought Pinky’s feet and spirit to ballroom dancing?

“In year 2000, I was watching The Ohio Star Ball competition on PBS (in the US). I was so inspired by the beauty and connection of two bodies dancing as one. I told myself — wow, that is absolutely breathtaking! I want to learn how to do that. But it took about five years before I actually realized that dream.”

If life were a dance, Pinky says, it would be a combination of a rumba and a tango. “The rumba dance is expressive, passionate, and emotional. A tango because the dance runs the gamut of love/hate, she loves me/she loves me not. Those two dances express the fire and sensibilities in one’s life,” she says.

There are no shortcuts to perfecting a craft. Pinky knows that too well. In ballroom dancing, she says, it is pure hard work, hours of practice until your body aches.

“You need to be driven and committed. You need to be humble enough to accept disappointments and setbacks but equally determined to keep trying. And when you dance, dance with your heart. They are not just steps. As they say: Devotion through emotion creates the motion,” she ends

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 (E-mail me at bumbaki@yahoo.com. Im also on Twitter @bum_tenorio and Instagram @bumtenorio. Have a blessed Sunday!)