SUNDAY MAGAZINE

Gerry Gil -- Methinks

30 May 1993

FEAR OF FALLING

I am not the kind of person who goes in for “cultural stuff.” For instance, it was only last month that I watched a ballet presentation for the first time - and I would not have bothered to see “Swan Lake” if the sponsors of the trip I took to Germany had not placed it on the schedule.

After the ballet performance (this was at the Comic Opera House in Berlin), a number of us started “evaluating” the show.

Napoleon Rama of the Bulletin was proclaiming loudly that one could see better ballet performances in Manila. Nap referred to the Russian ballet dancers who came to perform during the 50th anniversary celebration of the Meralco.

I didn't want to say anything. After all, I had never seen a ballet performance before, and I had no basis for comparison.

But Volker Raatz, our interpreter, asked me whether I agreed with Nap.

I ventured, “Well, ballet in the Philippines really can be very good, but we've got a few problems that keep us from being world class.”

Volker wasn't satisfied with this vague answer. “What problems?” he demanded.

After hemming and hawing a bit, I said, “Our female dancers -- you call them danseuses? -- are very good. The trouble lies with the men.

“They aren't big and strong enough. When they carry the women, you can see them straining under the weight. They struggle so much under the weight of these women that they often miss a couple of steps.

“Imagine how this affects the danseuses. Every time each of those women must leap into the arms of her partner, she has this great fear that he will drop her or that both of them will crash to the floor. This fear of falling has a great effect on ballet performances in the Philippines.

“You're kidding,” Volker said. “Didn't you just say a few minutes ago that this is the first ballet performance you have watched?”

I didn't have to answer. Anne Brunnhuber, the seminar assistant was laughing. “Ermin will probably agree with Gerry,” she said, referring to Ermin Garcia, publisher of Dagupan's Sunday Punch, who writes a column for the Manila Times.

Ermin made this half-hearted admission: “When I was kid, my parents wanted to enroll my sister in ballet school, but the ballet instructor said he couldn't accommodate her because there weren't enough boys in the class. The only way my sister could enroll was for me to enroll also.

“So, we went through the lessons and had our first public performance -- and when the time came for me to carry my sister, I dropped her.

“That was the end of my ballet career.”