Being well, being happy
The year’s personal goals for healthy celebs
Lisa Macuja Elizalde, artistic director and prima ballerina, Ballet Manila
I intend to retire very soon. I just don’t really know when. It could have already happened in 2012 for all I know. But in my plans for 2013 is Swan Song Series Year 3—“La Bayadere,” “Le Corsaire,” and “The Nutcracker.” Whether or not this Swan Song Series will actually happen depends on how my ankles are healing right now.
If I need to really choose carefully what I will dance in 2013, it would be a repeat of “The Legends & The Classics” with Lea Salonga and Cecile Licad. And “The Nutcracker” with my daughter Missy as Little Masha.
For Ballet Manila, our 2013 plans include an upcoming “Ballet & Ballads with the West End Mamas” run on Feb. 15-17 and 23 in Aliw Theater that will be a heady mix of Broadway and ballet. I will be teaching rather extensively in the Lisa Macuja Pre-Professional Intensive Training Program this March. I will also be teaching in our BM School Summer Workshop April 10-May 26.
I am organizing a Stars of Philippine Ballet Gala on June 1 in Aliw Theater that will feature performances of Filipino dancers who are performing abroad, such as Christine Rocas of the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago and Marcelino Libao of Hamburg Ballet.
Our 19th season will open with a sequel to our ballet trilogy “Tatlong Kuwento Ni Lola Basyang” with “Tatlo Pang Kuwento Ni Lola Basyang” in August, “Swan Song Series” in October, “The Nutcracker” in December. All of these classical ballets will be performed to live orchestra by the MSO.
At the moment, we are very busy preparing for our “Duo” concert series with South Korea’s Yewon Dance Company on Jan. 26-27—our first big production of the year.
Maritoni Rufino Tordesillas, founder/director, Danspace Ballet School; instructor and partner, Yoga Manila
This year I want to be a better wife, a better mother, a better daughter, a better sister, a better teacher.
Now on our 17th year of marriage, I don’t want to have a good marriage; I want to have a great marriage. A recent trip together made me realize what fun it is to be married to the one you love, and though raising children and having a career can take up a lot of time and energy, it is treasuring the bond with your partner that will sustain the family. It is a work in progress that needs conscious effort and prayer because it can wither with the demands of daily life.
I aim to not only be a hands-on mother, but one who can inspire and mold my children into the persons they are truly meant to be. To accept them for what they are, to rejoice in their successes and to prod them along when they are astray. To be grateful for what they are and not wish for what they are not.
Over the holidays I realized the joy of Christmas through my family. I prayed that Jesus would come into our home and I truly felt the spirit by being with each and every one in my family. Each one of them is a blessing, and I only hope that I can be a blessing to them, too.
I would like to be a teacher that inspires. Hopefully my students see the value of the lessons learned in class long after the class is over; why it is so important to be early, not just on time, to be neat in their uniform and appearance, and to know that when you push yourself beyond what you think you can do, you not only get better; you get stronger.
Rio dela Cruz, running coach and head of RunRio
My top personal plans are: 1. Get married this year. 2. Live a healthy lifestyle and start training and running competitively agian. I’ll be getting ready for the NY marathon this year. 3. I want to start a Runrio running club in three locations. I’ve been planning it since last year, before my store, Riovana, opened. I want to encourage newbies and veteran runners to continue running and training.
For Runrio: 1. Since we are already an established company for running in the Philippines, we’d like to sustain the running community and introduce new concepts. 2. We are now looking to expand to staging running events in Singaporea and Australia. This plan has been in the making for two years now. 3. We have partnered with Safeguard and 2XU for a new race concept this year, the Safeguard 2XU Sole Racing International Marathon. It will have three legs and it’s a totally new concept. First leg will be April 21. We will also have our first ever Safeguard 2XU 50km ultramarathon this year. 4. To improve the company and encourage more runners to join our races.