Iiiiiiiiiiit's SHOW TIME!

After 4 days of lengthy hours of hard work put into the dance rehearsals, it all comes down to a 5-minute performance oozing with energy, complete focus, and projection. After the repetitive runs, you're ears and body have grown accustomed to not only syncing itself to the beat, but unifying itself with the other dancers that you tend to naturally breathe and move together as one. Ironically, it takes years to be able to form a group of dancers that blend well together; but in this case, it took only 4 days for everyone to flow; which goes to show that things can be done if all parties are open to it.

Pictures of the DAY OF the birthday-concert taping of the Philippines Mega Star Sharon Cuneta, to be aired this Sunday on local channel ABS-CBN 2.Chester and his piggy faceLovebirds Froilan and CrissieThe teamHighschool confidante KC and ISM Dance Company choreographer, mentor, and motherduck Eleanor "Yek" BarlongayWith Ella and Yek in full-blown thick-ass makeup with false eyelashes, which made me feel like a drag queenAll dressed in our supertight catsuit! We all look alike and look like were from Cirque du Soleil.Thanks to our makeup artist (who also works as an impersonator)!
After warm up comes yet another quick run in our dressroom with Ayen and her Tiger eyesThen we drinkAnd take more photosAnd practice our projection, which 11 yearold Ella and Chester rock atWhile Peter gets a re-touch
Making whacky faces with HipHop King Ace on my right and lead pullerI Heart Yek For LifeI Heart KC For LifeTo Highschool and Beyond!With Tito Doug, THE Douglas Nierras. Thank you so much!

A dancer's bod years later

I'm dancing again and although mentally and physically it takes a toll on you after a long time of no training whatsoever, at the end of 5-7 hours of hyper-stretching and strengthening, even when your anaerobic system is churning on rusty wheels and you start seeing stars and feel like passing out, you feel good. Any dancer could probably relate to this feeling, and the feeling of waking up in the morning with your muscles sore you practically try and roll yourself off of the bed like a plank because sitting up, folding your legs, getting up, is just physically painful. But it feels so good and I'm loving my bruised knees and tight stomach (because inhaling and sucking in your gut hurts).
We're prepping for KC Concepcion's mom's birthday celebration/concert on Thursday and its been exciting. Powerdance is so hardcore. Douglas Nierras is terrifying but an amazing choreographer. I'll try and make time to get more photos but for now, I only have 1 that I took before yesterday's rehearsal. I'll add more later, and try to include videos of us fooling around and freestyling.
---
More pictures for today, after strengthening during our 10-minute water break.Yes, we like to fool around.

PART 3: Recap on Winter Break

PREVIOUSLY: We spent a day and an evening at Hong Kong Disneyland and the following morning, we had to get ready and pack again cause we were checking out of Disney and moving into the city. While my parents were checking out, my sisters and I were at the arts and crafts room with the “elves” lol. I met Garfield, lol, I guess that’s his English name. He confirmed some Tagalog words he knew, practiced his English with me, and expressed his plans on visiting the Philippines. He was a student working part-time, like myself, and he was very artistic. He made me a Minnie Mouse décor out of wood, super cool (btw the décor isn't photogenic)We took some photos around Disney too.Was quite a long ride to the other island.That same evening, I took the MTR to the last stop, Tung Chung, to meet with Filipino performers from Disney. My old dance teacher from Powerdance was now working with Disney and is a part of the Lion King musical so I thought it would be great to interview them for INQUIRER.net.So I scheduled to meet with them only to find out that after a 1-hour commute at 10PM, that interviews were prohibited as part of their contract with Disney. I think it was forever engraved into his mind that I was still like a baby that all along he kept thinking it was for a project or thesis or something school-related and not for my profession. I could not even fully show the extent of my frustration since I did not want them to lose their jobs just so I could get a story, but indeed smoke was coming out my nose when Joseph told me it wasn’t possible. So we just sat around outside the station, in the cold, and reminisced. I had to get back before midnight because the MTR station closes at 12.

It was a rough night that night, and the next day, we just walked around all over town for some shopping since it was our last day in Hong Kong. No pictures that day, it was a day off from my camera.