Pirouettes and Pas de bourrées to victory: the story of a ballerina
As soon as people start to fill the seats of the hall, the music starts to blare up. The stage is ready and all eyes await the dancer and the dance.
Summer Magsino, a Grade 12 Senior High School student in the University of Santo Tomas (UST), wowed the crowd as she swept first place in the 18 and under contemporary solo category of the 19th Asia Pacific Dance Competition held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia last Aug. 17-20.
The former captain of the UST Junior High School (UST JHS) Pep Squad also won first place under the contemporary solo category in last year’s Andong Mask Dance Festival held in South Korea.
The Halili Cruz School of Ballet, the institution where Magsino has grown as a dancer, joins the annual Asia Pacific Dance Competition. This year, Magsino was chosen to represent Halili, and the country as well.
Baby swirls and leaps
Magsino started her dancing career when she enrolled in Halili Cruz School of Ballet when she was 4 under the supervision of her ballet teacher, Grace Perez.
According to her, the reason for her versatility in dancing is the wide variety of dance lessons offered in the school, ballet, contemporary jazz, hip-hop, and lyrical to name a few.
In the year 2013, she also enrolled in the hip-hop classes of the Manoeuvres, a popular all-male street dance group during the 90’s. In 2014, she became part of the Addlib baby crew, a powerhouse crew of multi-talented individuals who excel in different forms of dance and performance art.
Ballerina by heart
Magsino found her passion for ballet when she started attending summer workshops in Halili when she was in 8th Grade.
“I’m super happy that my family is so supportive of me, because there are some dancers who don’t get the same support,” Magsino said in an interview with The Spiral Journal.
Her parents, aunts and grandmother are the ones who finance all her needs when it comes to ballet lessons, costumes, and shoes.
Magsino prides herself in classical ballet and neoclassical ballet, but also teaches jazz in Halili Cruz School of Ballet.
“I don’t earn any salary from being an assistant teacher, but the feeling is different when you get to teach children and share your talents with them,” she said.
Although being student-dancer is no easy lifestyle, Magsino, with the support of her family still manages to juggle her academics and ballet.
“My mom told me that it’s okay if I didn’t want to do [ballet] anymore, but I said no. I still [want] it,” Magsino said.
As for her future, Magsino still wants to continue her passion in dancing, even if she plans to take a different path and take up Dentistry.
“I feel that art here in the Philippines is not that accepted and is not given that much importance unlike in other countries,” Magsino said. “It’s like art in the country is only practiced as a hobby and not as a profession.”
Magsino plans to go to conservatory schools in different countries after she graduates to continue her pursuing her passion.
“You don’t need to be the best dancer, you just need to be passionate on what you are doing, because dancers are not great because of their talent, they are great because of their passion,” she said.