Shirley Halili Cruz protegee wins top awards in Australia

A ballet protégée of Shirley Halili-Cruz won first place in a number of dance categories and the perpetual trophy for classical ballet, solo category, in the Commonwealth Society of Teachers of Dancing Festival of Dance 2001, held in Perth, Australia last July 6 to 17.

Cookee Balahadia won in the overall open championship. She won in the following categories and sections: Modern – Bagtasan, choreographed by Tony Fabella and restaged by Anna Kathrina Cruz; Gamzatti variation and neo-classical number – Balanchine’s Emerald Variation, restaged and coached by Grace Garalde; character dance – Puss n’ Boots, choreographed by Grace Garalde and coached by Anna Lisa Tuazon; and national entry – Pinoy Ang Dating, choreographed by Shirley Halili Cruz.

The dance competition is sponsored by the Commonwealth Society of Teachers of Dancing (CSTD), headed by Asian regional director and examiner Betty Tilley.

The festival is an annual dance competition held in Perth, Australia. Balahadia was the only Philippine candidate. She represented the Halili Cruz School of Dance and the Philippines. She qualified as a competitor after winning the highest award and scholarship in the Singapore International Summer School in Singapore last June.

Cookee Balahadia started her ballet training with Shirley Halili Cruz at eight, a consistent scholar and an outstanding graduate of the school, trained and coached exclusively at the Halili Cruz School of Dance. Her work at the dance school gave her the opportunity to take on various dance roles in recitals, concerts and festivals. She also took classes with a number of foreign dance masters and guest dance choreographers invited by the school.

She attributes much of her success to the opportunities she received from Halili Cruz. She was encouraged to further her dance studies through participation in workshops, international summer schools and various dance festivals. She has also joined in a number of competitions abroad, winning several awards and scholarships.

Balahadia won a scholarship from the CSTD International Summer School held in Singapore. She received the highest grade of Honors Plus in the international examination conducted by a CSTD examiner, along with all her classmates from the Halili Cruz School of Dance. She also received the highest grade of "Distinction" from the Australian Conservatoire of Ballet.

She is also a recipient of a scholarship from the American Academy of Ballet in New York. She was awarded majority of the special awards from the Summer School of Excellence in Vassar College, New York, and she received the "Gold Medal with Distinction" from the Performance Awards Program in New York.

Cookee is currently a faculty member of the Halili Cruz School of Dance. She is also a soloist and principal dancer of the Quezon City Ballet, the school’s performing group. She handles classes in the school’s main studio and its branches. She is a cum laude psychology graduate of the University of the Philippines.

The Halili Cruz School of Dance is staffed by talented and committed ballet teachers, namely Balahadia, Grace Garalde, and Anna Lissa Tuazon, working together as a team to provide their students with the best in dance education.

The HCSD is known for giving quality dance education, personalized training, outstanding performances, and for bringing its students to international festivals, competitions and workshops. Its students have performed throughout the Philippines, as well as in New York, California, Japan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Melbourne and Perth, Australia.

Last Friday, 50 dance students left for Singapore to participate in the third Asia Pacific Dance Competition. The students are participating in the event upon the invitation of CSTD organizers, based on their outstanding performance last year, when they won majority of the dance trophies.

Students of the Halili Cruz School of Dance garnered 22 awards, including the coveted perpetual trophy and aggregate trophy, given to the group gaining the highest points in the entire competition.

In October, they will represent the Philippines in the fourth Asian Arts Festival in Beijing, China. The group is scheduled to go to the key cities of Europe in 2002.

Because of the achievements of the Halili Cruz School of Dance and the Quezon City Ballet and for bringing honor and pride to the Philippines, school director Shirley Halili Cruz and her 28 dancers were awarded recently by the Filipino World Class Achiever Award by the Mabuhay Filipino Achiever’s Council.