No Pain...hey, NO pain!
Going to sleep late last night (early this morning), I dreaded waking up to sore muscles and pain all over my body. But surprisingly so, I was able to get up with only tightness in my thighs. It felt like I just ran Lake Merced! So the "it's-a-good-kind-of-pain" feeling DOES exist! My arms are a lil' somewhat tender after doing "figure 8's" and my tummy area hurts from too much sucking in. But other than that, it sounds like I had a good workout!

Larawan flashbacks
Gee, this whole week seems to be full of flashbacks! I'm still glued to the TV watching VH-1's "I Love the 70's" (the conclusion with 1978-1979 is tonight). After that dance practice last night, I was feeling pretty good...um, after the whole nausea and collapsing lungs episodes passed. But it totally brought back memories- not of Barangay or Likha, but of Larawan. For those of you who don't know, I was being serious about the whole tsinelas throwing bit. Hell, sometimes tsinelas, sometimes drum sticks, and all the other times, it was whatever Ate Edwina could get her hands on! My Ate, Chris, and Kuya Sam could all attest to this! Proud to say that my sister nor I were ever the direct targets of flying objects, but we did have to do the "Duck! Incoming!" drop-to-the-floor-and-cover-your-heads stunt. I WON'T say who the targets were, but I sure as hell happy it wasn't me!

Blood, Sweat, and Tears
Being in Larawan was a really good move. For those who don't know, most Larawan members were originally from Barangay...all of us were students or alumni of UC Berkeley, UC Santa Cruz, and SF State. Ate Edwina was actually helping Barangay improve dance-wise, costume-wise, attitude-wise, and most importantly, discipline-wise. If memory serves correct, it was after the 5-year anniversary of Barangay that Ate and I decided to "defect" to Larawan. It was more of a "professional growth in folk dancing" decision. We both felt that we weren't really developing as a dancer in Barangay at the time, so we left with Edwina.

Now let me say a few words about Ate Edwina. This woman was a scary lady! Her looks alone can kill! And like I've mentioned before, if she's not in a good mood or she's frustrated that someone can't get "these simple moves," objects started flying! But she was one of those people that could be a pussycat, too. Kind of like the whole Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde syndrome...the bi-polar disease...(hey Jon, did you get that one?!). She could be one of the nicest, sweetest and yes, funniest people around. That's probably the reason why we were like a family! Aside from that, I have to give her props 'cuz Edwina was a very talented dancer. After all, she did dance professionally when she was younger and traveled around the world. We were taught to make our costumes, props, hair (btw: I was dope at doing buns!), and makeup (for the life of me, I STILL can't put on stage makeup...I suck!). She even taught the guys to play instruments, too. People were better at some things than others, but we did the whole teamwork thang and everything worked out.

But she could get under your skin, too. There was something about the way her eyes bulged and how her voice shrieked. Everyone hated to hear that one word, "AGAIN!" as we would tiredly and painfully start from the beginning. Sometimes, it was really enough to make anyone cry! She was also a perfectionist and a stickler for details. While other dance companies glued their fans together for Singkil, we had to cramp our fingers and hold them open. Nevermind that she switched to BIGGER fans making it seem impossible to hold it open for 10 seconds, let alone a whole dance. Then there were the castanets for Spanish. Oh yah! She threw those, too! She had bought pieces of bamboo, but them, sanded them down, and "custom-made" them in size.

One of the main things that I will take from Ate Edwina is how she taught us discipline. Discipline to hold those damn fans, to bend a certain way, to "if it hurts, then you know you're doing it right!", to lose weight (yes, we all lost weight...if we didn't, we didn't get a dance!), and to not screw around during practice. (looking back, the screwing around rarely happened...remember flying objects?!). There was really no such thing as "Take five" with her. If it wasn't our dance that was being practiced, then we had better be practicing something on the side OR working on costumes and props OR doing something dance related. That's why we always said that we'd practice "in the other room" or go to the bathroom. That was our only down time..considering that practices would run to about 1am! The gals even had to wear leotards to practice...ew, I hated those! It was one of those with snaps at the crotch...totally uncomfortable! We learned that if by chance it happened that we cut ourselves dancing or slipped and hurt ourselves, we had to keep going...the show must go on!

ANYWAYS, wow! Talk about flashback week! Whew! See, then after all is said and done, I just come away with the feeling of, "My goodness, that was back when I was in high school!" And that was well, gee, too long ago! Yah, I could say that I've danced for about 10 years, but out of those 10 years, I would say it was the last 5 years that I really learned the art of Pilipino folk dancing. Course there's so much more to learn and I'm so looking forward to it!

Okay ya'll, there's my novel for today. Oh, in case you're interested, check out vh1.com. Enjoy! And for you 80's fans out there, there is a "I Love the 80's Strikes Back" coming in October! Stay tuned!