A few days ago I met an energetic group of college guys whose passion is dancing. Their main interests lie in hip hop and breakdancing, but I was surprised to find out that their training is in ballet.
They’re all from General Santos City and their group is a school-based troupe. They’d just come in from Cebu where they participated in a dance show. And they were in town to join a ballet recital by the Royeca School of Ballet.
My friend Ian, who runs the first and currently the only Pilates studio in Davao, gave me a quick rundown on the world of dance. He said that serious dancers of whatever persuasion ultimately go back to ballet as a foundation for training. He himself is an avid aficionado of “modern dance”, but constantly trains in ballet under Davao’s venerable Locsin Dance Studio.
The reason why I’m writing about this is my continuing quest for my long lost washboard abs. Just look at these photos! Don’t you wish those were your abs??
These are the dancers I met, introduced to me by Ian. They were practicing some routines when I got there, and they gamely posed for me.
Ian explained further that because of the dynamics of dance, muscle toning is invariably the effect you achieve, as evidenced by these boys’ spectacular six-packs. Ian, a master’s degree holder in Physical Therapy, says that the abdominal muscles lend center-of-gravity support and so is vital to dancing. When I asked one of the guys if they ever did any abs workouts, he said “not in particular.” It’s all the powerful movements in dance that have toned their tight stomach muscles.
Not that I’m gonna take up dancing myself. I’ve never been interested. But I just thought it might be a good idea to share what I’ve learned.
An interesting note. GenSan has produced two of the world’s best boxers: Manny Pacquiao and Navarete. And seeing how enthusiastic and passionate these dancerous dudes apparently are, the tuna capital of the Philippines might just produce excellent professional dancers as well.
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