A dancer will dance

MANILA, Philippines - He is back on the ballet barre, working slowly, quietly by himself doing stretches, thoughtfully going through the motions of familiar exercises. After decades away from active dance, with his nary-a-stray bright white hair framing his kind and handsome face, he finds himself back where it all began. Every now and then he looks out and tunes in to what is happening on the rehearsal floor.

The greatest of men are often the simplest. Rafael â€œNonoy” Froilan, undoubtedly the country’s greatest première danseur, is a prime example. Despite his iconic status, he remains down to earth, unassuming and gentlemanly. He walks simply but with a gentle air of nobility – perhaps the uncanny result of practicing being a prince on stage for so many years.

Once upon a time when he was just a beginner, dancers sneered at him for not having the elegant lines of a ballet dancer. “But he just worked so hard,” fondly recalls Ballet Philippines’ founder Alice Reyes. “He deserved every bit of his success.” Soon after he was partnering all the great local and international ballerinas, including the iconic Dame Margot Fonteyn. Audiences will remember how Froilan would end his variations with such panache as though to say, “There is my best! And tonight it is yours” – conveying pride in his work and an exceedingly generous spirit.

He retired from the rigors of dance and moved on to master many other things. He choreographs and re-stages ballets, musicals and operas for multiple dance and theater companies. He coaches professional dancers and is a much sought after teacher for master classes as well as judge for dance competitions. He is an awarded film and video director, and he acts on stage and in films too!

This holiday season he and the prima ballerina of his life, Edna Vida, collaborate as she choreographs for Ballet Philippines a production of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. The inspiring couple, who fell in love and married as young dancers, last worked together with the company – officially – in 1996 for Vida’s Taming of the Shrew. Unofficially, they are quite inseparable. When Froilan restaged Giselle last August Vida was there to coach the dancers. And in the summer, when Vida taught a workshop to the faculty of the CCP Dance School, Froilan was present to “assist” her. Their son Rafael has been creating the brilliantly viral online videos for marketing the ballets. It has become a running joke that hiring one of them results in a package deal which involves the entire family.

But the spotlight falls on Froilan â€“ the premiere danseur’s return to the stage. He moves around the CCP Rehearsal Hall in character, possessing the magic to make everyone believe that he is in fact Ebenezer Scrooge, the old geezer who is the central character in the classic Christmas tale.

“Oh, he didn’t want to do [Scrooge] at first,” Edna says matter of factly. “I guess there’s no longer a hunger to perform. Of course I wanted him to do it, but I’m not the type to force anyone.”

Froilan says, “All the old injuries are coming back. If everything was fine, it would have been better.” Decades of dance had left his left knee bothersome. “Company class, forget it. I just do my own barre. It’s really slow to warm my knee up,” he says.

That said, his character in the studio reveals the old habits that mold greatness.  He stayed on way after the break was announced to continue his barre exercises: very slow stretches, really feeling the floor. At one point he took off one of his shoes so that a large hole could be repaired – a classic dancer setback, he continued to practice anyway with one shoe. He stayed to walk around and feel the space, to remember his counts, to coach a dancer into doing a rather difficult jump, and then to share his easy humor with the young dancers. It seems he is enjoying getting back on the proverbial saddle.

The audience will surely be experiencing a different Nonoy Froilan; he is in his 60’s for one. The energy of youth has been overridden by the wisdom of maturity. The profound artistry is there and the depth of his character is something to experience.

In one scene, my heart breaks for Scrooge when he, as a spirit, visits happy family gatherings only to realize that they are laughing and making fun of him. But it breaks even more when I see Froilan gently landing on his knee to prepare for a roll. It occurs to me that for him Scrooge is a sacrifice. He will do it without wincing, will not complain, nor will he have the steps choreographed by his wife altered to suit his comfort. I think to myself he must love her so much to be doing this. That very simple act of getting down on one knee is something he does with graciousness. It is not for show for that’s who he is, it simply reveals character of quiet integrity, true artistry and great honor.

The dancers are blessed to be working with such icons. They practice traditions which anchor the young ones into working hard, just as they have been taught to work by the ones who once guided them into excellence.

In the wake of Typhoon Yolanda, most everyone is trying to think what they can give, how they can help. Dancers will dance.  

Nonoy is from Calbiga in Western Samar, a town affected but not devastated by Yolanda, although he has many relatives in Tacloban whose lives have been totally upended.

“I find it so hard to market this ballet now in the aftermath of the storm,” says Edna. “How can we be celebrating Christmas with all this destruction? But you know, if anything, the story is one of redemption, where we learn from lessons of the past and no matter how bad things get, there is hope for the future. And this is always worth celebrating.

“It really affected me as a choreographer, as a person. But, you know, life has to go on. We have to work; we have to show the ballet. We have to continue and just offer what we can. Pray and give tribute. In fact I want to make this a tribute to the Visayas region.”

In a time of rapid change, traditions serve as anchors and present a calming stability that is greatly needed. When a family enters the hallowed grounds of the CCP, sit together and experience a live performance of an art that has survived the ages, it lifts the spirit. This tale brings a story fit for the times: the importance of family, love and kindness to one another, and a celebration of new life and new beginnings.

Returning to the artists’ dressing room Froilan walks with a slight limp, belying the effortless dancing he just showed in the studio. As he approaches Mang Ago (a Ballet Philippines icon himself, working over 30 years behind the scenes with the company, they had worked together for many years) to fetch his shoe, Mang Ago jokes, â€œTapon na ito, Noy, (This one’s for the trash)” handing him the repaired shoe with a smile. He replies, “Hindi, mataas ko pa maibebenta â€˜yan... Marami pang klase ang maituturo nyan (Don’t, I can still sell it for a high price... It will still see me teach many classes).”

By the west entrance of the CCP, facing many a sunset on the second floor is a sculpture of two dancers by National Artist Napoleon Abueva. The artwork, a man holding up a woman in the air, is modeled after Nonoy and Edna. Remember their story when you pass by, and how their legacies remain alive in the arts for years to come.

Ballet Philippines is donating the proceeds of two of its performances of A Christmas Carol to the victims of Typhoon Yolanda. For performance details please call the Ballet Philippines office at 832-6011 or log on to www.ballet.com.ph