I just wrote my last email for the day (by day, I meant yesterday, as it is now 1am and it is a new day, after all) and I set up my very efficient Out of Office Assistant so that I can concentrate on my school's recital tomorrow. My school is the near-30-year old TEAM Dance Studio, and we'll be doing the full-length Nutcracker and some new works by my dad, Eli Jacinto. This is why I haven't blogged much, or updated Runthru much -- at this point, let me apologize to those who have features upcoming, I'll get to them very soon. For the rest of you, do check http://www.runthru.com.ph for new stuff by next week (at the latest).
Admittedly, I'm always busy when there's a show; the work-life balance (wherein "life" translates to "dance," as it does to all who dance) is very challenging when you need to take time out of your 9-to-5 to rehearse and perform. But with our school's recitals, performing and rehearsing is the last on my mind. And then, we always have the annual recital three days before Christmas. You can see how things can get quite crazy.
At this point, I think I'll take the liberty of not promising that this, the inability to update Runthru Online, won't happen next year. This is so going to happen again next year. No apologies. Many people have Christmas family traditions, like completing Simbang Gabi together, or decorating the Christmas tree, or going up to Baguio to roast marshmallows in a fireplace. My family's is putting up a recital every year.
I used to feel bad that I couldn't watch others' shows during this season - either I'm too busy, or I got sick I'm so busy - but when I think of it, I owe a lot to TEAM Dance Studio, and there shouldn't be anything to feel bad for at all. This is where I started dancing, but at the same time, my dad started TEAM Dance Studio because of me. As it approaches its 30th anniversary as a school, I realize that I myself have been dancing for 30 years (well, I'm counting from my first ballet class at the age of 6). In a way, TEAM Dance Studio's history is my history, and of the many kids who've studied dance under me, the many kids I've restaged recitals for. It survives because I chose it as my priority. This makes me proud and, sincerely, quite moved.
If you're around the Alabang area, TEAM Dance Studio will be presenting The Nutcracker at the Insular Life Theater tomorrow evening (December 22, 2010) at 7:30 pm. You'll find me onstage with this big, proud grin on my face.
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Would also like to mark the milestone that is The Nutcracker becoming a part of Filipino culture, what with the manic number of Nutcrackers put on this month (which has always been an American phenomenon, never a Filipino one), the use of the Overture and the Waltz of the Flowers as pipe-in music at coffee shops and restaurants and the army of Nutcracker Soldiers strewn all across the Ayala malls. Thank you Ayala, for the free advertising.
Earlier today, on our way to the theatre and worrying about breaking our Nutcracker -- the doll is supposed to break in the first act, and neither of us were keen on breaking a particularly good Nutcracker even for a show -- my brother stopped the car in front of his neighbor's house and said to me, "Quick, go get the Nutcracker on his gate! We'll return it naman..." Some of the other neighbors had the Santa lights with the racing reindeer up front of their house. This family had two Nutcrackers guarding the entrance. It just fills me up with glee.
Of course, there will be those who just looove to say that even if it's becoming a "Filipino" tradition, isn't that still an elitist tradition? Well, gee, isn't Christmas at its capitalist best? Don't rain on my parade, Ebenezer.
Okay, gotta get my old, decrepit body ready for tomorrow's craziness. Good night, everyone! Happy holidays!
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Photo from our last Nutcracker back in 2005, taken by either Francis Reyes or Nina Sandejas. That's me as King Rat, one of my favorite roles, ever.
