In their own words, the artists of Ballet Manila share their thoughts and experiences on not merely surviving but flourishing in the very challenging world of dance. This series is a collection of personal anecdotes, as well as words of wisdom that can be heartwarming, funny or dramatic, but always inspiring regardless of what field one is pursuing.

It’s fun but it was also really tough because I wasn’t trained in the Vaganova style. It was more of a mix of RAD (Royal Academy of Dancing) and something original with the ballet teacher. All the port-de-bras were different. All the steps were different.

It was really hard. Everything was different. When I first came here, Sir Shaz [Ballet Manila co-artistic director Osias Barroso] was correcting my plies which was the most basic! So I was like, my basic is not the standard! I was really shocked! He was correcting my tendu! So I was like, “Plié, tendu, fail!” It was really sad. It was happy and sad. It was a good thing that he was correcting me but it meant that I couldn’t even do a proper plie!

Even though some people were telling me, “You’re doing fine with the company, I still see myself in the mirror different from everybody. At some point, I got really homesick and I was crying everyday. I can’t catch up! Even the lessons, I can’t catch up! My rehearsals weren’t going well. It was really tough.

After half a year, I started to catch up. I started to adapt to the new style. Now it’s really fun!

Top photo by Mark Sumaylo