Leaving with heavy hearts

Last night, Deborah Civardi boarded a plane for Sydney, Australia, where she will continue her ballroom dancing career. She will soon be joined by her dancing partner of more than two years, Alberto Dimarucut, a native of Lubao, Pampanga. Thus they will silently decimate our country’s chances of winning a world championship in dancesport. But they had no choice.

The endless stalemate between the DanceSport Council of the Philippines (DSCP) and the Philippine Professional DanceSport Association (PPDSA) of which Dimarucut is president, had prevented many talented competitors like Dimarucut and Civardi from representing the country in international competition. The DSCP is the Philippine governing body for the World Dance and Dance Sport Council (WD & DSC), which controls many competitions all over the globe. The PPDSA represents other dancesport groups. Without the imprimatur of the DSCP, PPDSA members are left out of the cold in the traditional Ten Dance (5 Latin, 5 Standard) events.

Last October, Dimarucut and Civardi entered the Australian selection for that country’s representative to the WD & DSC World Championship for 2003. In the event, called "Lord mayor of Sydney Professional Superbowl," the pair joined the relatively new South American Showdance division, a category where Latin dances are combined in a less restricted setting. In other words, lifts are allowed during performances, and pairs may choreograph to their own music, lighting, costumes, and so on.

"We thought about entering it because it was one division where the Filipino flair for dancing could come out," explained Dimarucut, who spent many of his 17 years dancing on Vilma Santos’ VIP (Vilma In Person). "You could really see the passion we have for dancing. Luckily, we won."

Although they bested 30 other couples, including the current Australian champion, unfortunately for us, the pair is now representing Australia, instead of the Philippines. This was painful for both of them, considering the personal investments they had both made to stay in the Philippines. Dimarucut had invested time and money in training in various venues, teaching until the early hours of the morning to keep body and spirit together.

"I can’t tell you how bad I feel that I’m not representing the Philippines," Dimarucut says. "I don’t have the words to explain."

Civardi, meanwhile, ignored repeated protests from her family in Sydney, who were constantly concerned about her health and safety. For many months, they trained at the PPDSA headquarters, a makeshift open-air facility on the roof of a building along Kamias Road in Quezon City.

"They’ve been pleading with me to come back, especially every time they hear about some terrorist activity, or find out I’ve been sick," says the ten-year veteran of Standard and Latin competitions. Civardi was constantly fighting of allergies and other illnesses because of the pollution at their venue.

"Obviously, I’m dancing with a foreigner," clarifies Dimarucut. "And they (local dancesport officials) don’t like that. But it is accepted everywhere. Almost all of the world champions are couples with partners from different countries."

On their run-up to the WD & DSC South American Showdance World Championships, Dimarucut and Civardi are aiming for the UK championships in January, and the British championships in May. They have been spotted by Des Matthews and Joan Allen, who have agreed to train them. Matthews is the president of the Australian National Dance Association, and represents Australia in the WD & DSC. He has also been chairman of the Australian Dancing Board. Allen, for her part, introduced Latin American dancing in Australia in the 1960’s, and is internationally known as the leading teacher of technique in Latin dancing for the continent.

With this kind of attention, Dimarucut and Civardi will definitely go places, and will help boost Australia to a place of prominence in world dancesport. Good for them, they found a place where they could pursue their dreams, politics be damned.

Good for them, bad for us.

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