Like any love affair, there are hills and valleys when it comes to loving dance – days when I cannot seem to get enough of it, and times, too, when I just want to retreat into a quiet little corner and have nothing to do with it. Always, though, the latter is short-lived, like a petty LQ, and when I melt once again into the routine of attending classes, I find that there are more and more reasons to fall in love with the movement, the music.
Dance is my favorite stress buster. Like praying and eating, it is the one thing I can do, happy or sad, mad or glad. Like children who choose to run and hop when they can just walk, those in love with dance (not necessarily professional dancers), dance from one end of the room to the other, in the shower, going down the stairs, while carrying out household chores, right before stepping out the front door, while waiting in line. It makes for a happy feeling that is hard to shake off and leave behind in the studio. You carry the steps in your mind, in your heart, go through the motions mentally whenever you can, and when the situation allows it, tangibly, too. Yup, at times I may look like a total loony but hey, we are all loonies in many different ways.
Once in the US embassy I was doing my flamenco footwork discreetly (or so I thought) when Juliana’s Yaya Lita nudged me to make me aware that people were staring while pretending not to. Of course I stopped. Only to resume seven minutes later when a very well-dressed young man started to do what looked like Muay Thai to me. After all, two almost-loonies in one place are always better than one. At least the people waiting had free entertainment, never mind if it was of the bemused kind.
There are things you have to do, that you can’t get wait to get over with, and then there are other things you love to do so much time is hardly a factor to consider. Dancing is like that for me. When I get to do what I love to do, my cheeks are naturally flushed, my heart beats happily, my spirit soars. I guess the same goes for everybody.
I took up dance for myself. I had no plan or desire to perform for an audience (save for our dance school recitals where the audience is made up of kith and kin who would still love us whether or not we mess up on stage).
For me dance is a very sensible way to keep fit while I indulge in all the cholesterol-laden treats I so love. And it is a wonderful bonding activity with my Juliana. We can really go crazy and just dance and dance the afternoon away. Often her daddy joins in on the fun and there is instant comedy right there – three silly individuals, three different sizes, one music, hundreds of comical dance interpretations, loads of fun.
Today, Nov. 6, is exactly three years to the month I started taking up dance. I am far from being even a fourth of the kind of dancer I hope to be someday but the journey sure has been nothing short of wonderful. I have met many wonderful people, made lots of new friends, been inspired by dedicated, beautiful teachers.
And believe it or not, I will be hosting a dance show. It is entitled Shall We Dance: The Celebrity Dance Challenge and will air on ABC 5 starting tonight at 9 p.m. I hope you catch it, it is something entirely new to me because the show will feature ballroom, Latin, and social dancing. I have never formally done any of those, so I am learning as I go along, taking baby steps, enjoying it for what it is.
The format of the show is a dance showdown where the contestants are celebrities paired with dance sport professionals. The celebrities have no formal ballroom dancing background but they do not make light of the challenge, opting instead to maximize and absorb as much as they can during rehearsals.
On the second week of each new batch of dance challengers (there will be three batches), elimination begins. The couple that will make it to the monthly finals will move on to compete in the grand finals where half-a-million pesos is at stake. It has so far been loads of fun doing the show, I enjoy watching the celebrities work hard and consequently show off their dance choreographies. I know it will be painful for me to watch a dancing couple walk away come elimination time. But that is the reality of the show.
I do hope you will have as much fun watching the show as we did taping it.
Starting tonight, and for many more Sunday nights thereafter, will you come dance with me?