JILL BELLYDANCER

I would like to start listing down these moments in my life that are worth taking note of, some of these are not something to be proud of, but they have shaped me well into being the person that i am today, amen!

1. I have been to Alaska, South Africa, Australia, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, France, New Zealand, USA,Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Canada, London, Hawaii (my favorite place in the world

2. I have danced for Eat Bulaga, GMA Supershow, Show and Tell, Eezy Dancing, Keep on Dancing, Asap, Sop, while i was a member of Whiplash and Bodytalk How old am I? i guess you can deduce….

3.  Throughout my 17 years of dance career as a professional, i can’t forget this costume-  I had to dance wearing shards of glass (real sharp, mind you) glued onto a unitard, i couldn’t sit down to rest!!  It was like carrying  load 50 pounds total! I forget what show it was but it must have been the Araw Awards at the CCP

4.  I was one of the labada girls holding a bareta (long bar of laundry soap) for a Mr. Clean commercial. We shot it along hilly grasslands, forgot the venue, but there were like 30 dancers, all professional, holding palangganas, baretas (yey), white shirts, etc. Ready, sing “Mr. Clean, mahal ka namin.. Dulot mo, labadami, labango, labalinis din!!”

5.  During a Shell Diesoline Ultra product launch in the provinces, we had to dance atop a truck, a rolling stage i guess, and it was inclined. Oh God! Finding your balance while dancing your heart out was the name of the game!

6.  I had the chance to meet these actors during provincial tours mga 1996 i think, when they were not yet that famous! Judy Ann Santos, Rica Peralejo, Roselle Nava, Beth Tamayo, Angelu de leon, Donita Rose, Dale Villar (where is he now?)

7.  I have had clients ask me to send them exotic dancers, needless to say, i gave them a piece of my mind

8.  I have had encounters with really UNPROFESSIONAL marketing agents, imagine, walking out on me at a meeting just because we couldn’t see eye to eye, how immature can you be? Did not receive any “thank you for your time, etc” talk when i had to be the one to go to their office for that 1st meeting! Really shocking! On my journal, the heading for that day was, “NIGHTMARE MEETING!”

9.  I have been betrayed maybe, uhm, give or take 4 times?  Good thing each new time it happens, it hurts me less and less.  I am very sensitive and attuned to people’s motives and intentions, but i guess sometimes,  i am not a good judge of character….

10.  I have been on a 6-seater plane, feels like a car driving off into the clouds

11.  I have  travelled to far-off places like Europe alone, sleep in  hotel rooms alone, eat my meals alone and drive abroad. I do have fears, but i have learned not to listen

I am inspired! Suddenly, my teaching career has brought meaning to my life!! Those who have worked with me know that i am a perfectionist, sometimes to a fault. I can be abrasive and relentless when i have a vision, and i will stop at nothing to get it…

Let’s just say that i have gained some detractors because not all dancers  i have worked with see the importance of seamless synchronicity in a choreography.  To be honest, at times I want to shut down/off my need for uniformity and aesthetic symmetry when i preview the dance I am creating during rehearsals, i tell myself to just let it be, that it’s ok, that the audience won’t notice that one arm is out of sync with the rest anyway, BUT I CAN NOT SHUT IT OFF!!

Then one day, I had a realization! It can be done! As long as some of my loyal students trust me, as long as they believe in me, and they respect my artistic inputs with regards their technique and executing the dance, then it can be done!

Respect begets respect. You respect me as a choreographer, i’ll definitely respect you as a dancer. I believe that i am a perfectionist because I know that people can do more, that people can go beyond what they think they can do…

Every week, i mentor these 8 special ladies i call the “Goblins”. With them with me, who can be against me? They lend to me their strength when i teach, i now have a purpose,  and they helped me gain more  confidence in this bellydance community in the Philippines.  Students can be loyal, they can love you, they can be your friends.

We hope to change ourselves to become better dancers and artists one synchronized step at at time. It is hard, yes, to dance as one, performing  the exact same movements though we are different dancers.  But if you will it to happen, it will happen. 

I love you, my goblins!

It has been a long time since i wrote anything, no thanks to Facebook!  I am really enjoying Facebook, and to think im a tech-phobe (is there such a word)?  Anyway, the title is Bellyfest so i am going to talk about the Bellyfest!

I am so happy and proud, we have the perfect cast and we are one in our vision!  Regardless of monetary setbacks, we are pushing through with this year’s show! I will be honest, during the start of this year,  i felt hesitant to push through with the event because there were very little sponsors to help this year, and i am scared to lose money (aren’t we all? I’m only human and i have a husband and son to think about)

But, i was assured by my fellow dancers (lead and back up Bellyfest dancers) that they understand and will help out no matter what!  Our only goal is to present to the world our love for Bellydance!

It is sad that there are a lot of personal conflicts happening in the bellydance world in this country, but being with the Bellyfest cast made me realize that in this world, your true friends wil help you no matter what, and that if you love people, they will love you back.  Conflicts are everywhere, you cannot escape that.  It is by being beset with problems and challenges that you learn most about yourself and about the people around you.

So, i dedicate this to the bellyfest 2009 cast!  You have made me believe in the power of friendship!Please click on http://bellyfest.asiapad.com to view our website!  See you this May 31, 2009 at the Glorietta Activity Center!

I have this project with Nestle and Brainbeam events and i must say, i am lucky to be getting work these days!  Times are hard but God is so good to be giving me projects like these!  Went to Pangasinan, Nueva Ecija, Cebu (tomorrow) , Pampanga (Nov 15) and Cavite next saturday!  Exciting but tiring as well!  I am lucky to have this job!  I get to touch people and they get to learn something from me and i from them!  Happy life!

Met Chef Jeremy, art teacher Anna Knicolai, Voice teacher Joel Alinsunurin and Connie from Golds Gym and it has all been fun fun fun!  We will surely miss each other when all this is over!  I have missed my classes at Golds, Globe, Peak and Polo Club because of all these out of town trips but i need this, i guess!  To break my routine sometimes and to shake me up so that i have more belly energy to dance with my regular students again!

Lord give me strength to do all that i have to do!

I have also realized that i am really “Makapal na ang mukha” in a good way!  I dont get nervous anymore when i have to speak in front of a group!  Which is great since my job entails me to be really candid and energetic!  I just get the mic and talk and i actually enjoy doing this!  Sigh! Thank God I am a people-person!!

Last November 5, Summer and i were hired to dance as bellydancers (ano pa nga ba?? lol) for the movie Tanging Ina Part 2!  Not sure if you’ll see me, i hope so!  Relatively quick shoot as compared to Agent x44 when i did it last last year!  3 days in Pampanga and don’t blink at all, because you will only see me for 2 seconds, and it was hazy lighting because it was a club scene, lol!

Appl, Jen and Osang accompanied us and we had great fun!  But i hope Jen and Osang will one day forgive me, because Summer and i kept on having our pics taken with AiAi and Eugene Domingo when they also wanted to take pictures with them!  Sorry, i really forgot!!

It will be shown Christmas time in time for the Metro Manila Film Festival!  Watch it pls?  And do not blink!!

Last nov 9,  I conducted the 1st performer workshop at Peak and i am happy that there were 4 girls who were willing to face their fears and learn how to be a better performer by joining me in this workshop!

This is not your normal workshop as there were invited judeges to rate your performance and tell it to you in your face, whether you lack facial expression or you should have added more slow movements, etc.  Plus, we had a video and a tv so we could easily see how we look as we perform!

Kudos to Joyce, Dulce, Kristine and Mel!

Bellydance really changes lives!  I am so happy bellydance found me!

Keep on dancing!

1.  The person who cares the most loses the most, and im not talking about relationships ( i believe that love is should be shared and by giving, you receive more love) I am actually talking about work.  I mean, if you care about a job, and you screw it up (whether your fault or not, it doesnt matter), you lose a part of yourself…

This happened to me recently.  I cared so much about the project, i wanted it to work thinking that people were depending on me.  I worked fast, did a good job, and then i learn that i am just one of the people they asked for help…  would have helped me if i knew where i stood, so next time, i will ask first – “APART FROM ME, IS THERE ANYONE ELSE????”

I believe that everything happens for a reason and that all is not in vain if we learn something from our negative experiences.  Lesson learned.  Thank you!

I feel sad. A client, Apple, asked me one time, how does one become a professional dancer? And i replied, if you get paid to perform, you’re professionally dancing already therefore, you are a professional dancer right??

But i beg to disagree! Being a professional is different from just dancing and getting paid to do it. A professional cares what other people think of them, a professional knows that you don’t use people just to get ahead in your career, and most of all, a professional practices humility!

All the best dancers started out as beginners. We should not think that we are the best, because there will always be someone better than us. I have encountered a lot of aspiring dancers who forgot to be grateful to their teachers, and that is very sad. Once you start thinking you have nothing more to learn, that is the end of you.

I had an encounter with an international dancer, and she put on a lot of airs and demanded a lot. I was surprised and discussed it with a friend. So, my friend goes, “Would i ever get to where she is now in her career? You know so i can throw my weight around and feel superior ” Hahaha! I hope i never get to be like that dancer. If you are exceptionally good, it does not matter if you are not acknowledged the way you want it! You are good and other people will see that without your demanding for their attention. Neither talent nor fame gives you the right to throw your weight around!

I am that old, i know that product “pagoda cold wave lotion”, i guess you can guess how old i am, hahaha! Whenever i say that name, what i mean is i’m pagod, or i’m tired. Hahaha! I guess it kinda stuck because when i was still with Whiplash, i got exposed to gay lingo and we’d say, janet Jackson = mainit (hot), emmias/muk ap = make-up, lafang = eat, Judith Banal = panalo (winner), and goda = pagod (tired), but for me , it will still be pagoda cold wave lotion (i can still remember the commercial with this girl’s really bouncy curls bobbing up and down as she’s dancing with an imaginary partner in a disco, funny talaga!!

But wait, why am i pagoda? My son’s yaya left for three weeks (she’s back now), im teaching kids this summer 3x a week and their energy is really another level but i love them, theyre really cute and lovable, and practicing for bellyfest (june 28 show at the Glorietta), choreographed 6 dances just this month, and added mon and thu 11Am bellydance classes at peak so its an additional load on my schedule. Kinda hard on my back already, i cannot carry my son anymore, uhm, i really be shouldnt because HE’S 4 YEARS OLD NA PALA AND NAGPAPAKARGA PA!!

But i am not complaining! I like that i am busy but of course i miss my daytime naps! Ooohhh, i love to sleep, i once slept for 20 hours straight! I was so tired that time because we had a big show. BUTI NAGISING PA AKO!!