00:00I don't know what I'm going to tell you, and I also don't know what I'm doing, but that we're going to live.
00:07We are going to live this darkness, and let us just think that we will make it through.
00:16At the onset, it gives you fear of what you're getting into, but as you continue, you just get into the process,
00:26trust the process, and live with it, and enjoy the moment.
00:36So your first entry into Bali, Philippines was as?
00:40As a board of trustees, and then treasurer, and the vice president, and the president.
00:51And now president, and how many years has it been since you assumed the presidency?
00:56Since 2019, just when we turned 50 years old. So we're 56 now. We're so old.
01:04But I read that you weren't initially keen on accepting the presidency of Bali, Philippines.
01:10Yes, it was offered to me actually nine years before that, but I was also with different boards.
01:17I was with 15 other boards at the time. And then I was thinking, I think, because I also had this habit, really, of, I don't want to be flaunting, but it's my passion, really.
01:32I would love to really look at ballets of the big companies in the world.
01:40International companies.
01:41Yes. I was really very blessed with hard work, from hard work, that I had this chance to see those ballets.
01:52And you cannot do that if you're with Bali, Philippines, because you have to be inside.
01:58You have to be in the Philippines.
02:00I know.
02:01So at one point, I have my subscriptions.
02:05I didn't cut any of my subscriptions, because it's expensive.
02:10And I said, oh, I'll just go.
02:11So that's one thing that I really didn't want to happen.
02:15I knew if I sat as their head, I won't be able to just pack and watch this show.
02:23And sometimes those shows never will happen again.
02:26These are dancers that you know you won't be able to see anymore.
02:31At one point, I was with one trustee who went to a theater, a very major theater in the world.
02:38And there was this ballerina that already retired.
02:44We were bawling.
02:46We were crying.
02:47Pia, when, you know, somehow in your life, you've come across when all the stars aligned.
02:53In ballet, when you're watching a show, it doesn't happen most of the time.
02:58Ninety-eight percent.
03:00It doesn't happen.
03:01But there's a moment when it happens, and you'll never forget that.
03:04So was anyone in the family surprised that, you know, you ended up becoming president of Ballet Philippines?
03:10I mean, I'm talking about your siblings, your parents or grandparents.
03:16Or they always knew that from the very beginning that you were really inclined towards the arts.
03:20I think it was just an organic thing, except that at one point, we were seated and I was watching the show.
03:30It was Margie, Margie Florendo, that was the president then that I got after her, the position.
03:38And my husband says, so, my, my, remember, this will be what you're going to do.
03:46Are you ready for it?
03:47And then my friend was like, why, what's happening?
03:49And my daughter said, oh, my mom, she hasn't told you yet, but she accepted to be the president.
03:56And I said, oh, I think everybody was just like, oh, yeah, no news.
04:01It wasn't a big surprise anymore.
04:04Which is funny, because, you know, it really turns your world around, everything.
04:10And then I stopped with my family business.
04:15I had to really just go through the ballet Philippines, because it takes so much of your time.
04:22It takes so much of not only the time, but the mindset of making sure that you produced and your lineup of shows are not only saleable,
04:36but it's something that will educate the audience.
04:40You know, when I came into ballet Philippines as the president, I had a little bit of, of, uh, some people saying,
04:49oh, she's going to run ballet Philippines as a business, which I did.
04:54Which is not necessarily bad.
04:55And I'm not going to deny that.
04:58I, when I came into ballet Philippines, I studied it.
05:01I studied its book.
05:02I studied its financials.
05:04Because I think, Pia, I love the buhol-buhol that they say.
05:09Ever since I was small, I love fixing buhol-buhol.
05:13You know, when there's a buhol-buhol.
05:15So you're the untire of knots.
05:16Yeah, I love that.
05:17Even in my mind, I do that.
05:19And, and so when there are problems, I love the problem solving.
05:23I think my strength really was knowing that potentially, as a business,
05:31ballet Philippines was meant to be run as a business corporation, more than anything,
05:37in order for it to sustain itself.
05:41So that means you were, um, you were at the helm, uh, right?
05:45During pandemic, at the peak of pandemic.
05:46Yes, that was, I think, the pivotal times of not only ballet Philippines,
05:54but, uh, a lot of our entertaining businesses, a lot of, even the artists, I suppose.
06:02That was the dark moment, no?
06:04At the same time, uh, it was the moment when we had to do our thing.
06:10So, uh, I didn't know anything about the digital world, but, uh, I woke up one time and I said,
06:19mm-hmm, we're going there.
06:21I don't know what is it all about, but we are going there.
06:25And I talked with my people over Zoom, and because that time was already after the,
06:32uh, the whole Philippines was closed, and I said, guys, um, I don't know what I'm going
06:39to tell you, and I also don't know what I'm doing, but that we're going to live.
06:45We are going to live this, uh, darkness, and let us just think that we will make it through.
06:53And we did.
06:55I called our communication director, Ping, Ping Valencia, and I told her,
07:03Ping, do you know anything about the website?
07:05I said, no, why?
07:07We're going there.
07:08I said, oh, my God.
07:11Yes, we're going there.
07:12From then on, we didn't, I think we would sleep only three hours, four hours,
07:17because you really didn't know what's happening.
07:19So, we did this, what you call, ballet.ph, and our main objective then was to survive.
07:30Dance, dance to survive.
07:33And so, we put up, um, a theater, a digital theater, while we CCP closed down,
07:41and we didn't want our dancers to be just there without nothing.
07:46It was a process that really was thinking about the dancers, the company, and the Filipino people.
07:55You know, Pia, when they say, uh, there's always good and bad, there's always darkness and lightness.
08:01Uh, the good thing when that happened was we were able to make a master, master class
08:08with the superstars of the ballet world, uh, in a normal time, you won't be able even to say hi to these people,
08:18or even watch them, because they are just untouchable in terms of their, their position in the world of ballet.
08:29Oh, I'm talking about the principal, uh, dancers of the Royal Ballet by Zoom.
08:36So, with Bolshoi, the Marinsky, the Australian Ballet, everybody, we had them,
08:46and we have very good artistic director, Misha Martin-Yuk, then came, uh, came aboard.
08:53He is a Russian, um, very, very well-respected, and the principal dancer of the Moscow Ballet.
09:00So, he knew all of these guys, but even he, if it's just not COVID, he would not even be able to get in touch with it.
09:08So, he would call, or I would write a letter, and say, pro bono, gratis, could you please come and, and have, uh, a master class with our dancers?
09:21And it was not monetized at all.
09:23It was free for everyone.
09:25It was open to the world, so we would have students from all over the world.
09:31At one time, we even got the Batsheva Dance Company of Israel, a modern dance company.
09:38He would even be able to talk to them.
09:41Uh, they have a schedule of five years for you to talk.
09:46We got them to teach us for a month.
09:49Oh, a month?
09:50A month, yeah.
09:51Yeah, so, all of this, uh, I could name drop everybody, and you were like, whoa, uh, that's the good point there.
09:58And, and also, the best one was really that the dancers, they were able to continue dancing, to continue training.
10:08So, when the world reopened, we were ready.
10:12We were just so ready, technically speaking.
10:16And, also, I think the confidence level was different, because they knew.
10:21One time, I was talking with this principal dancer.
10:26She even has this, this show, um, she even has a movie.
10:30And, she was coming in as a master, and a master class.
10:33And, of course, before that happened, she said, hi, hello, thank you so much.
10:37Sabi niya, why are you existing?
10:40Well, I'm in Boston now, and a lot of our dance companies that are very big are, are, right now, sleeping or dead.
10:50Ah.
10:50So, even they were surprised.
10:52They were surprised.
10:54At the onset, it, it gives you fear of what you're getting into.
10:59But, as you continue, you just get into the process, trust the process, and, and live with it, and enjoy the moment.
11:09I would always meet with the people, with my staff, and I would say to them, look, guys, let's just think.
11:15We are a Galleon.
11:17We're a Galleon.
11:18We don't know where we're heading.
11:19We're heading, there's a hurricane around us, but we have to survive, or we capsize with the ship.
11:26I said, so you have to rally behind me.
11:28As your captain, I'll either sink us, or look for a port for us to anchor safely.
11:34And, they did.
11:35They rallied behind.
11:37And, the good thing with Valley Philippines, and that's always what I'm saying, our secret weapon, I would say, is the board.
11:47Since its inception, 56 years ago, I think it's the board.
11:53It's the trustees that carries the company.
11:56They are very, very supportive.
11:58They are hands-on in a way that they know exactly what you're doing.
12:02And, because they are such pillars of the industries, that's one thing, also, that you have to really look into, also, as the head of a company.
12:12The dancers, are they well enough, are they even prepared to transcend their ballerina days?
12:20After that, it's a very short period of their lives.
12:23You need to look into that, are they dancing properly, and then thinking about how they're going to move with their careers, and are they dancing the right roles?
12:36Are they given the right exposures?
12:39You know, all those things, you have to talk it over with your artistic director, although my artistic director is sublime.
12:48I think, Valley Philippines was very, very blessed to have him.
12:54He had been giving them technicalities.
12:59When I say that, it's the techniques of the ballet discipline, which is based on the Russian Vaganova style and the discipline.
13:13So, not only that, he gives them training, but he also looks into, even sometimes he has drama classes on how the pilikmata can work it.
13:26Wow.
13:27Work your pilikmata.
13:29Not even the eyes, the eyelashes talaga.
13:32Or your eyebrow, do something with it.
13:35And the like, the partnering classes, endless of classes for that.
13:41It's just not really dancing.
13:43It's a different world.
13:44Mm-hmm.
13:45How do you prepare the ballerinas for retirement?
13:48Because like you said, they do have to retire earlier than most other people would from their jobs.
13:53So, as much as possible, like one now is pregnant, so instead of telling her, stop, come back when you're ready.
14:02So, we put her into our public relations.
14:06Ah, okay.
14:07Social media.
14:08Nice to meet you differently.
14:09Yes.
14:10And if they love it, and they become great working on that, that's another career path.
14:16Because Pia, if you don't like the dancers, they will have the talent exodus, which we're so famous of.
14:27And by exodus, you mean they go abroad?
14:29They go abroad because they dance better there.
14:32It happened a lot of times to us.
14:34Okay.
14:35It's heartbreaking.
14:36Some of our principal dancers would come, and I would really tell them, look, you're in a ballet company that can give you the stage.
14:45Own it.
14:46Mm-hmm.
14:47Because if you're abroad, what do you have?
14:50Okay.
14:51You can better yourself because, of course, it's a different world, but this is your country.
14:59Mm-hmm.
15:00This is your own.
15:02Own it.
15:03Make it as your heritage, your legacy to your children in the future.
15:09Mm-hmm.
15:10Mm-hmm.
15:11You know?
15:12Then, they're listening.
15:13Mm-hmm.
15:14Because these are very intuitively intelligent people.
15:17Mm-hmm.
15:18To be able to balance your whole body on the stage on the tiptoe.
15:22Yeah.
15:23Oh.
15:24It's hard.
15:25That means intelligence, you know?
15:26So, yeah, they're very intelligent people.
15:28And lovely.
15:29Literally lovely.
15:30Literally lovely.
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