Life as Dance

I don’t dance. Not b-boying, not ballet, not even if my life depended on it.

So it wasn’t me who had coffee with Inday Mañosa, executive director of the Philippine Ballet Theater. It wasn’t me who discussed Balanchine and Gershwin with the legendary ballet dancer and teacher, known to her students as Tita Inday. That was my dancing twin.

"You and Mitos (my classmate in high school and Inday’s niece who arranged the meeting) must come to the dress rehearsal and opening night. It’s really special because this year, we’re doing Balanchine," she says, her eyes twinkling.

Tita Inday shows us the program: "Balanchine! June 20 to 24 at the CCP Main Theater. A celebration of 20th century masterpieces by the greatest choreographer of our time, George Balanchine. The evening features the rhapsodic Serenade in four movements, a simple but brilliant vision of Tchaikovsky’s Serenade in C, where ladies in long, light blue tutus completely glorify and surrender to the music; Concerto Barrocco, a classical reinterpretation in perfect counterpoint of dance; Bach’s double violin Concerto in D minor sweeps dancers in white; Who Cares? a whimsical piece with the dynamics and energy of Manhattan, New York, danced to the medley of Gershwin’s famous songs like Embraceable You, The Man I Love, I’ve Got Rhythm."

I thought: S’wonderful, s’marvelous. So I spent a few days in the PBT studio at the Meralco Theater on Ortigas Ave., watching ballet dancers minus pointe shoes, tutus and tiaras in dance class with Russian ballet master Anatolie Para Cusiukov and at rehearsals with American ballet coach Robert Barnett.

Here’s what I learned about ballet dancers:

• They don’t weigh more than a hundred pounds.

• They can wear out a pair of pointe shoes in a month.

• They love chips.

• They have been known to dance with a sprained ankle.

• They always come on time.

• They are not terrified of Anatolie and Mr. B; I am.

One look at my list and Tita Inday decided to round up four female soloists of the PBT to chat with me. "If you get to know them, you will have a better appreciation of ballet," is her theory. "See you at opening night," she promises and leaves me with Cathee Lee-Roslovtsev, Faye Abigail Tan, Lea Baduria and Katrina Santos.

Cathee, 28, took ballet lessons when she was 6. She is a graduate of Mass Communications from Miriam College, but doesn’t like the late hours that communicators keep. "It affects my dancing," she says. She is married to Andre, a six-foot-two Russian dancer formerly of the Kremlin Ballet.

They met when Andre came over in 1996 as guest artist for PBT. They danced, fell in love and got married in 1999. Cathee also teaches ballet to nursery and kindergarten kids at Julie Borromeo’s studio. She realized she wanted to be a ballet dancer the first time she performed (as a guest) with the PBT. "They had such beautiful costumes, incredible lights and everyone was disciplined. I wanted to be part of this world. So I auditioned and I got in," she says. Dance is her life.

Faye, 18, is the youngest senior dancer in the company. She joined when she was 12, and has since traveled to Spain, Morocco, Canada and the US, dancing for the PBT. A third-year Communication Arts student in Angelicum College, she’s in school from 7:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Then her devoted dad picks her up and drives her to the studio by 2 p.m. and picks her up afterwards at 7 p.m. She says she wants to pursue law. That is, if she decides to give up dancing.

Lea, 22, started dancing at 10. The eldest of three and the main breadwinner, she had to give up school – she was a 2nd year dance major in UP Diliman – to work. My father was laid-off and my mom got sick, she says. Aside from her salary at the PBT, Lea teaches ballet in Star Gym at the Metropolitan Mall in Alabang and at Julie Borromeo’s studio. She is also a pre-school teacher of "free movement" at the Eleanor Esteban Learning Center in Makati.

She remembers dancing Giselle with a sprained ankle. "I had no understudy, so I had no choice but to dance. They wrapped my ankle in leucoplast so it would remain steady when we did pirouettes. It was the stiffest performance of my life, but I danced," she says. She can’t imagine herself doing anything else but dance.

Katrina, 34, has been there and danced that. Being the most senior member of PBT, she has performed with Lisa Macuja, Melanie Motus, Osias Barroso, Noreen Austria, and Maritoni Rufino. She is married to Gerald Mercado formerly of Ballet Philippines and they have a son, Elijah, who’s 3.

How do dancers survive? "I run a small school in my mom’s house, I teach ballet at Mom’s Pre-School near Brent School, there’s my salary at PBT and mga raket," she says. She is referring to corporate shows, launchings which need choreography and even a guest appearance at Eat Bulaga. "I was a firefly in an opening number," she says laughing. "They lifted me and I was swaying my arms. It’s not ballet but it was easy money."

For Katrina and the other members of PBT, life is dance.

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Balanchine! will run June 20 to 24 at the CCP Main Theater. For tickets, inquire at the CCP (832-11-25 ), PBT office at Meralco Theater (632-88-48), and at the Performing Arts Foundation (727-56-51).