my patchwork quilt

"in ballet, the corps de ballet (from French, body of the ballet) is the group of dancers who are not soloists. They are a permanent part of the ballet company and often work as a backdrop for the principal dancers. A corps de ballet works as one, with synchronized movements and corresponding positioning..."...wikepedia

a good one lights up any soloist's performance

a mediocre one can bring down the whole production despite good performances by the lead dancers

My Corps de Ballet  always mesmerized- they moved as one, felt as one, breathed as one....and on stage they shone like no other!  years of dancing together trained the dancers to feel each other's movements and  touch their audience's soul!

 

 

 

this info from the official website of the company...

Ballet Philippines Presents Coppélia this weekend-

 December 11-14,2008

Schedule- Dec 11          10am and 3 pm
                Dec 12           3pm and 8 pm
                Dec 13           3 pm and 8 pm
                Dec 14          10 am and 3 pm

TICKET INFORMATION:
Ticket World Outlets: +632 891 9999
CCP Box Office: +632 832 3704
Ballet Philippines: +632 551-0221/551-1003/832-3689/832-6011

As one of the world’s most popular classical story ballets, Coppélia’s sentimental comic story is beloved by ballet audiences the world over. As the story unfolds, Dr Coppélius, the eccentric toymaker, has created the lifelike Coppélia doll and wishes for nothing more than to bring her to life. He imagines that his dream has finally come true, but has merely been caught up in the tomfoolery surrounding a lovers' tiff. In the end, love triumphs over all in this comedy of mistaken identity. The finale is a breathtaking celebration of the lovers' marriage. Coppélia is an enchanting, effervescent family ballet, for audiences of all ages and a perfect holiday treat!.

Ballet Philippines’ shimmering new production of Alan Hineline’s Coppélia is accompanied by the soaring music of Léo Delibes played live by members of the Manila Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Jeffrey Solares. Designs for the whimsical sets are by Mio Infante; Eric Pineda has created costumes that will transport audiences into the ballet’s 19th century.

QUICK FACTS:
Music by Leo Delibes
Original staging by Arthur Saint-Leon
Librettoby Charles Nuitter and Arthur Saint-Léon (after E.T.A. Hoffmann)
Staged and directed by Alan Hineline
Set Design by Mio Infante
Costumes Design by Eric Pineda
Lighting Design by Katsch Catoy
World Premiere: Theatre Imperial de l'Opera, Paris, May 25, 1870

to enjoy the production better, link up to know the ballet story before you watch the performances

Watch La Revolucion Filipina at the CCP starting Sept 18 2008.

My daughter gets to perform for the first time with Ballet Philippines. Please do not consider this as a damper but one has to brush up on Philipiine History in order to fully appreciate the dance- Trust me. You will love it- both the dance and the history. What they experienced then is still what we are going through as a country right now. Seems like we never learned from the past- maybe because we never learned our history the right way.  (Boy, am I preachy today!)

Easy for my family, we have my sister Ipat who can give us a whole rundown and a very thorough understanding of that particular time in history.

O di kaya, I asked daughter2 to post a summary in her blog. 
Sana ma post soon. It's very interesting pala.
Why dont I post it myself? Mas maganda yung take from the dancer's view.

It was a lazy Sunday morning. With Jeffrey from California visiting family and friends, we decided to meet with him in Tagaytay for an early dinner.
Foodies that we are, the Faustinos decided to get there early and check out the Greek Taverna that is MANOS. In spite of having had lunch before we headed out to Tagaytay, we still managed to order most of what was on the menu. For P2000 we pigged out on Greek salad, pork chops and fries, tzatziki and saganaki, dolmades, gyros, baklava and leche flan, homemade pita and some dip made with fish roe.

Bag of Beans for coffee and dessert. Cheesecake, banana split, apple pie a la Mode and more.















Early dinner was spent at Firelake Grill at the Cliffhouse. We were shocked at the prices on the menu but gave it a try anyway. Mike, our waiter was way too friendly to disappoint. It was a pleasant surprise that we only spent Php 4000 for a group of 15. Pasta w prawns, Angus beef rib eye, tuna nicoise and a beef salad wiith Thai chili dressing,, grilled salmon with sides of garlic mashed potatoes, Philly cheese steaks in pasta., spaghetti bolognese for the little ones. and a couple of beers.
Verbena restaurant at Country Suites capped the day with more dessert and coffee. Panna Cotta Heaven, Hagen Daz ice crean, Orange Chocolate cake, Tiramisu and their best seller- something called chocolate marquise.

Doctors work really hard day in and day out- night in and night out!  My son occasionally gets really frustrated when his dad calls to tell us he wont be home for the night- Son just sighs and says- I know. another toxic patient! Yes we have had our share of toxic patients- last minute ICU admissions and emergency dialysis.
Yesterday, was different, It was fellowship night after a 3 day lecture series and nephrologists (kidney MD's) from all over the Philippines gathered to feast on a cholesterol laden banquet and perform for their fellow MD's. It was Broadway night- The Batangas team prepared a number from the musical CATS. My family trooped to EDSA Shangrila to watch my husband, claw his way on stage.They rehearsed for only 4 days so it was interesting to see what they could do- They performed the song Memory  and passed with flying colors- clawing their way around the stage was a different story though- but they seriously took on their roles-Wonder what Simon Cowell would say.... A for make up?
They did not win top prize (Yes, it was contest) but they had fun and that was more important than the 10thousand pesos prize money. Congratulations to the Cebu doctors who danced their way with gusto doing GREASE! 
Back to work tomorrow.

Sharing with you a letter from a dear friend, excerpts of which ,ended up in Juan Mercado's opinion column Viewpoint.
It mirrors my sentiments exactly.
 
I am tired of being ridiculed because I always strive to do what seems fair and right.  Here, I seem to be the odd man out.

Our country deserves better- what are we to do?
What will it take to effect real change?

For the complete article,please refer to the attachment below. here are excerpts:

"Many like me feel anger at the brazenness of men we call our leaders, embarrassment to share the same nationality with them, frustration for our nation and helplessness at my own ineffectuality.

But I am writing this because I need to do something concrete. I need to let others know that ordinary citizens like me do not remain lukewarm to issues that would later affect me and my children. I want to make it known that there are also Filipinos who dream of something better for the Philippines. I want them to know that my country is not filled with scalawags and crooks in every corner, and that there are citizens left who believe in decency, fairness, a right to speak, a right to voice out ideas, a right to tell the people we have trusted to lead us that they have abused their power and that it is time for them to step down. I refuse to let this country go to hell because it is the only country I call mine and it is my responsibility to make sure I have done what I could for it.

For love of this country, for the future of our children, for the many who have sacrificed and died to uphold our rights and ideals, I urge you to do what you can. As ordinary citizens, we can do much more for the Philippines than sit around and let crooks lead us to perdition. We owe ourselves this. And we owe our country even more."

It's kung hei fat choi!  Happy Chinese New Year to all

I have never been as surprised as last night ,when my son came home with a mango cake  for me.

I gingerly opened the Red Ribbon box and gushed- OOOH its a heart shaped cake-! must be because it's almost Valentines huh! Heck NO! 
 cake was lopsided because he hand carried it on the bus on his way home! He probably missed the air conditioned ones too at baka nakatayo pa siya.

We waited for midnight to feast on it- His sister was not yet home so we passed the time with  Coffee Prince on GMA7, Spring Waltz on ABS CBN, Saksi and Bandila-

 And then, we each had 2
slices of the sweetest cake of all. Happy Birthday to Me.

tucked in an old envelope of schoolwork, doodles, comic strips,letters and diaries is this little book, written and illustrated by my daughter when she was only 8 or 9 years old. this was how she used to pass her time when she was little. no internet back then- just books and audio tapes and a little TV.

I was thrilled at the imagination and creativity that went with the work so I had it bound to give it the look of a little book- i wanted her to feel like a "big time" author of children's literature. back then she felt embarrassed by what I did....

all of 10 pages, it tells the story of all the animals who wanted to go see the newborn son of the jungle king- the toucan, the python, monkey snake, elephant,tiger and the giraffe. (this must have been at the time the Lion King came out....) because of the huge crowd of animal well wishers, the poor giraffe, who had a short neck then had to strain and stretch its neck so he could get a glimpse of the new prince of the jungle.... and it stretched, and stretched and stretched.... and he was never the same again!

she should really be proud of this work- the illustrations and the colors are wonderful. take it from me- I am her mama!

 I hope she gets to give this and the gift of imagination to her own children someday.

My Korean neighbor Jiho gave me the earliest birthday present (am turning "tyfive" come February) - a potted plant whose flower closely resembles the gumamela. He got it from the flower stalls at the Manila Seedling Bank. It was a very pleasant surprise at the end of a terribly long and boring day. He could not tell me its name as the vendor gave him a scientific name, which of course, he could not remember from the time he paid for it. I dont think the vendor could have written it down for him either.
Aside from my interest in identifying the flower, I would like to share it with you all because I think it was so sweet of the young man to have bought this on impulse for me. Jiho lives by himself in my neighborhood. His dad is constantly on assignment out of the country and his mom has been in Korea for quite sometime, taking care of family business too. He misses his mother- am glad to be second mom to him- temporarily. He is quite a handful at 24.
If anyone knows the name of this plant or how to care for it, please let me know.
Rose of Sharon siguro-

in this time of looking through our homes for unwanted clutter and cleaning up our closets , throwing or giving away what seems insignifant to us for now, it is ironic that I got the chance to relive the past through "clutter" from the 1900's-  the "clutter" now ocupies so much room in a 1970's home in Bulacan. They have transcended time to give so much joy to its owner who, with valiant effort, tried to save these possessions from their lahar covered home in Bacolor.I can only gape at the massive furniture, some with delicate "solihiya", stripped of their varnish to the bare wood ,still showing parts where it had been submerged in lahar- sets of dishes and silverware  from whence their family used to throw parties for binyag and weddings and birthdays- old photographs of his ancestors, intricately carved "santos" and humongous 10 ft doors - (all in one pieceof wood)- that used to open to their bedrooms, bintana, poste, at kung anu ano pa

I look through my own home now and wonder, which of these things that I own would have as much significance to my children and their children's children 100 years from now- and which one among them would last as long....

my photograph perhaps....