Filipina bags bronze in Malaysian ballet tilt
The Malaysian International Ballet Grand Prix (MIBGP) in Kuala Lumpur recently awarded Bronze in the Senior Category to Olivia Bugayong, a Filipina junior dance student from De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde.
With her triumph, she has achieved the distinction of being the first Filipino dancer to enter the Top 3 of the said competition.
First held in 2016, the organizers initially envisioned the MIBGP as a way to encourage local talent and teachers in ballet around Malaysia to become world-class performers, develop further appreciation of the art of dance, and has since built alliances with other artists throughout the Asian region.
This year’s event was supported by HELP College of Arts and Technology, a leading Malaysian business school.
The Benilde dance scholar began her training in ballet at the age of three at the Vella C. Damian School of Ballet, Inc. in Manila, where she learned the Australian Conservatoire of Ballet Syllabus under the personal tutelage of Damian.
She has also won gold in the Classical Division at the Hong Kong Challenge Cup Dance Competition 2016, and was honored with an Ani ng Dangal Award from the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA).
After her victory, Bugayong has been invited to join Ballet Manila under its artistic director Lisa Macuja.
She shares that she is grateful to her coach and Benilde dance faculty Nina Anonas, contemporary mentor and Benilde dance chair Christine Crame and associate Dean Dr. Sunita Mukhi.