PINKY PUNO
Dancing her way through midlife
By Marge C. Enriquez
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 22:45:00 11/03/2008
Filed Under: Lifestyle & Leisure
BABY boomers in the dance world will remember ballet proponent Pinky Mendoza-Puno and her fabulous recitals in the Meralco Theater.
In its 20-year existence, the recitals of her school, the New Manila Ballet Center, was known for their beautiful sets and resplendent costumes. The souvenir programs were printed in Hong Kong—this was before the era of local glossy magazines.
Puno, wife of Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno, has been shuttling between her home base, northern Virginia, and Manila for the past 20 years.
When most of her students hung up their pointe shoes, Puno took up ballroom dancing and now frequently competes in America.
“I had been teaching for so many years, and the attention was always for someone else and honing their skills. I dance for myself now,” she says.
Natural teacher
Puno started at the age of seven under Joji Felix-Velarde, Inday Mañosa, and the late Totoy Oteyza. A natural teacher, she taught ballet in Maryknoll. Her father, the late architect Felipe Mendoza, encouraged her passion by building her her own studio in 1967.
In 1987, Puno decided to raise her children in America, weary of the pressures of her father’s affiliation with the Marcoses.
Puno was watching ballroom competition on US TV and was mesmerized by the elegance of international dancing standards and the clockwork precision of a couple moving as a single unit. In 2000, at the age of 50, she decided to pursue the craft.
Puno was fit, since she regularly played tennis and bowling. Her first mentor and partner was former danseur Jojo Cariño. Eventually, they competed in two events in the US.
A supplier recommended a Russian partner and teacher who was a top-ranking competitor in America. When she met Slava Sergiev, 34, they looked in the mirror and agreed that they were just the right height for each other. His wife Kayta also began coaching her on female moves.
Lately, Puno has been taking lessons with Southeast Asian champion Belinda Adora to learn the nuances of female dancing.
Tough competition
Puno has been competing in the Professional/Amateur category, where students train with their teacher and compete with them. Her routine consists of 14 dances, including the American Smooth, a style evocative of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers’ partnership. She says joining the 50-years-old and above category is very tough. Many of the competing couples have been dancing for decades.
But, “Women can afford to get the best teachers and take as many lessons. The younger ones don’t have much free time,” she says.
Looking younger than 59—and despite two knee surgeries and a displaced shoulder—Puno feels she’s stronger than ever and her stamina more enduring. She practices at least two hours daily to prepare for the event.
“Doing the jive for one-and-a-half minutes is like running a 100-meter dash. It keeps me in shape,” she says.
Sometimes, when she finds a dance move too challenging, Puno gets intimidated and apologizes for her age.
But Slava would retort, ‘That’s no excuse. You can do it. Set your mind to it.”
“Ballroom dancing is also a ‘lead and follow’ discipline, so it teaches you to trust your partner completely,” says Puno. “You learn about body and hand connections. There is a joy about dancing together that a solitary physical activity does not have.”
“Dancing makes you forget your problems,” she adds. “The challenge is to make ballroom dancing look like a partnership. That’s what judges look for in the competition. They want to see how well you move and the kind of story you tell. These things bring out your creativity in the way you act.”
Second Philippine Starball
Puno is also showing off her organizational skills by producing the second Philippine Starball, an international ballroom dancing competition.
“Filipinos don’t have to go abroad to watch top-caliber dancers who are the equivalent of Tiger Woods in golf,” she says.
What makes the Starball unique in the country is that it follows the ballroom dance tradition where the events are held in a formal ambience, such as a deluxe hotel, and the audiences are dressed in their finery.
Thirty top-ranking couples will be flying to compete for the $10,000 grand prize. Even the judges are former world champions.
Last year, the Council of United Professional Dance Teachers of the Philippines approached her to organize the first Philippine Starball.
“I had the vision because I was exposed to such events,” she says. Puno mounted a commendable production that was covered by two international newspapers and touted as one of the “best competitions in the world.”
As an incentive, she dangles a free side trip to the beach to participants. Last year, the Department of Tourism hosted their stay at El Nido.
Today, midlife is no longer seen as a time of crisis, but as a time to refocus or reinvent. Puno is clearly having the time of her midlife.
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