TEAM Dance Studio

New choreography by Eli Jacinto, YUGTO is the second chapter following Liwanag (2018) Premiering here on our TEAM Virtual Showcase Series 2021 #TEAMDanceOnline.

A short dance suite featuring all the young senoritas of TEAM. #TEAMDanceOnline.

We launch our 2021 Virtual Showcase Series with Wings, to remind us that we can overcome anything. This is the first of our virtual showcase series for 2021, and things are just getting more exciting. #TEAMDanceOnline.

Premiered at Jom Tari! Traversing Spaces, the Virtual Online Dance Festival in celebration of International Dance Day, April 29, 2021, hosted by University of Malaya’s Dance Department. Benjamin Britten wrote The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra to promote musical education and appreciation. Eli Jacinto choreographed a ballet to the music in the 1980s, also to educate his dance students and develop their musicality. This excerpt is the finale to the full-length ballet, enjoyed by young persons of all ages. #TEAMDanceOnline.

A message of hope. #TEAMDanceOnline.

Our third installment of #TEAMDanceOnline 2020 Virtual Showcase is the virtual story ballet of The Sleeping Beauty. This is the Prologue, the Christening of the Princess Aurora, and the first part of 3.

A special short dance film about what happens when some young, naughty girls have been so bored during the quarantine. #TEAMDanceOnline

We launch our 2020 Virtual Showcase Series with Stepping Out, a fun jazz number that has our kids dancing with bowler hats, canes and a chair. This is the first of a series of performances to culminate our year of classes, so please watch for more.  #TEAMDanceOnline.

Established in 1981, TEAM Dance Studio is a ballet and jazz dance school with two studios in Las Piñas. Eli Jacinto designed and applied a training program for Filipino dancers, consolidating classical ballet, modern jazz and contemporary forms to produce dancers of unique dynamism, with remarkable strength and versatility. In April 2015, a second studio in Pilar Village opened its doors to accommodate more citizens of Las Piñas. Managed by Jacqui Jacinto, the Studio is also a workshop space for other art forms, and hopes to establish residencies in the future.

TEAM Dance Studio offers dance classes year round, with special Summer classes in April and May, and an annual recital for its students in a concert format in January or February the following year. TEAM Dance Studio has developed its own ballet syllabus, fine-tuned over 30 years of operations. The syllabus aims to train TEAM students in the basic rudiments of classical ballet while targeting strength, grace, agility and sense of performance.

The syllabus is authored by Eli Jacinto and Joelle Jacinto, from a long-standing dialogue on global progressions and trends; they both update their pedagogical knowledge through observation tours and workshops. In 2000, Jacqui Jacinto opened baby ballet classes, allowing younger toddlers to get their first introduction to dance. Currently, we offer baby ballet classes in the summer, for 3-4 year olds.

Aside from classical ballet, TEAM Dance Studio also offers Jazz classes, as developed by Eli Jacinto, from the Luigi School of New York. He choreographs contemporary works based on these complex styles, and is part of the training program of the TEAM student.

Through the years, TEAM Dance Studio has staged its annual school recital, presenting full length ballets of top quality despite the participation of its students of all ages. TEAM has also performed in various independently produced shows, such as TEAM’s summer dinner theatre performances at the Manila Polo Club in the early ‘80s, and the Dance and Arts Festival in 1985 and 1986, at the Gallery in Alabang. Jacinto invited the four major ballet companies of that time to perform with TEAM’s dancers and students, as well as artists of other disciplines, such as members of the famous Saturday Group, headed by National Artist Cesar Legaspi, to do sketches of the dancers. In these concerts and recitals, Jacinto’s creative energy thrived, producing important works that were hailed by critics Basilio Esteban Villaruz, TEAM's very first consultant, and National Artist Leonor Orosa Goquingco.

In 1991, Eli Jacinto was awarded a venue grant by the CCP and produced Dating Gawi, Bagong Anyo, which showcased several acclaimed works such as Manton at Abaniko, Manukan, and Sa Panimula ng Buhay, a lengthy work inspired by Filipino origin myths. In 1992, the Harid Conservatory of Florida awarded full dance scholarships to TEAM students, Quincy and Lucas Jacinto, and TEAM put up a benefit concert featuring the Stars of Philippine Ballet, including Nonoy Froilan and Lisa Macuja. In 1998, TEAM was a featured group in the Philippine International Dance Festival, presenting Jacinto’s Bathala. TEAM has regularly participated in Ballet and Dance festivals hosted by the Cultural Center of the Philippines since the festivals began in 1988, at their Pasinaya Open House festival, and the Contemporary Dance Network Manila's Wifi Body Festival.

In 2011, Eli Jacinto launched his Company of Dance Artists, the performing arm of TEAM Dance Studio and Hampton Court Ballet, with the intention of activating dance in his current city of Las Piñas, the home of TEAM for over thirty years. With CODA, TEAM continues to mount full length ballets such as Swan Lake, the Sleeping Beauty, Coppelia, Cinderella and the Nutcracker, as well as concerts featuring a wide range of styles in Jacinto’s contemporary works and excerpts from the world’s most beloved classical ballets.

TEAM Dance Studio has produced some of the best dancers, choreographies and artists in the Philippines and continues to do so for the years to come.

The Studio

7 Waling-waling road, Pilar Village, Las Piñas City

Mobile: (63)9476772016

Blog: http://visitthestudio.wordpress.com

We also constantly monitor inquiries from our Facebook page. Like us on https://www.facebook.com/teamdancestudio

CONGRATULATIONS, TEACHER ELI!

Eli Jacinto was named National Awardee for Mentorship by World Dance Alliance Philippines and Dance=Pull Project, at the 2019 CMAP International Choreographers Festival, held in Davao City, on July 27, 2019.

With Teacher Eli in above photo are (L-R): CMAP Festival Executive Director, Rean Tirol; CMAP and Dance=Pull Project Founder, Dwight Rodrigazo; CMAP Festival Artistic Director and Dance=Pull Project artistic director, Xiao Mitchao; World Dance Alliance Philippines president, Basilio Esteban Villaruz; and Dance Alliance Philippines officer and CMAP Festival Director Rhosam Prudenciado Jr.

ABOUT ELI JACINTO

Eli Jacinto’s career in dance, performance and fashion is remarkable, and not only because it spans decades. He started with experimental dance with Rosalia Merino-Santos at the Far Eastern University, folk dance under national artist Madam Lucretia Urtula, jazz and ballet under Ms. Julie Borromeo, Mr. Tony Llacer, Ms. Anita Kane, Ms. Totoy de Oteyza, and Mr. William Morgan, in the Philippines, including studies in the American School of Dance in Los Angeles, and the David Howard Dance center and Luigi Dance Center in New York. He was chosen as one of the dancers for Dularawan: Ang Salakot na Ginto, which launched the Cultural Center of the Philippines in 1969.

He was a soloist with Julie Borromeo’s Dance Arts, Luis Layag’s Dancers of Mercury and co-founded the Movement Men, Ms. Merino-Santos’ FEU experimental workshop, the Hong Kong TVB, and Ms. Conching Sunico’s Karilagan International. He was a dancer and a choreographer for Ms. Chito Madrigal’s Bighani International, was in-house choreographer for the Hyatt chain of hotels, and was a choreographer and a chosen soloist for Bagong Anyo, Imelda Marcos’ legendary dance and fashion event.

Soon, Eli was engaged as entertainment director for the Sulo Group of Companies, and director/choreographer for the Miss Asia Quest. He handled product launches and fashion shows of big name fashion houses in the 70s, as well as formidable corporations into the 1980s and 1990s.

In 1981, he established TEAM Dance Studio, his own school for ballet, modern/contemporary, and jazz, and more recently including coaching, technique and stretching classes for dance students training for competition in Dance, Dance Sports and other dance-related sports such as skating and gymnastics. Although he started with foreign syllabi, he eventually started to develop his own technique syllabus for Filipino bodies. He also served as ballet master and choreographer for Hariraya Ballet Company and Philippine Ballet Theatre.

He represented the Philippines in international dance conferences in Manila, Hong Kong, China, and Malaysia. He also updates his pedagogical knowledge regularly, visiting ballet schools in California on observation tours and also to give master classes. In 2011, Eli Jacinto launched his Company of Dance Artists (CODA), the performing arm of TEAM Dance Studio and sister school, Hampton Court Ballet, drawing on the rich repertoire of his choreographies.

Eli Jacinto is a celebrated choreographer, touted as “inventive,” and an “adept craftsman,” by dance critics. His most memorable and enduring work include Giri, Sa Panimula ng Buhay, Bathala, In The Sisterhood, Pangilin, Viaje Español, to name a few. In 2011, he collaborated with filmmaker Alvin Yapan to provide choreography for the Cinemalaya finalist and multi-awarded Ang Sayaw ng Dalawang Kaliwang Paa. He has also developed a standalone suite, Mga Sayaw Mula Sa Ang Sayaw ng Dalawang Kaliwang Paa, based on his choreography for the film.

Eli Jacinto’s school has produced dancers that are now dancing as principals in companies both locally and abroad. Those that have retired from dance also have put up their own schools, and regularly come to Mr. Jacinto for updates on their teaching syllabus, techniques, and style. From when he began TEAM in 1981 to today, Eli Jacinto still typifies the conscientious artist, always in search for avenues to widen his experience and fulfill his art.

In 2011, Eli Jacinto launched his Company of Dance Artists (CODA), the performing arm of TEAM Dance Studio and, sister school, Hampton Court Ballet, drawing on the rich repertoire of Eli Jacinto’s choreographies. Works that were touted as “Inventive to a marked degree” (late National Artist Leonor Orosa Goquingco on Morphemes in 1981) and “Different, but beautiful” (an unknown audience member on Mga Pangitain ng Tatlong Dalagang Nagsusulsi ng Lambat sa Dilim in 2009). Writing on Magdaragat in 1997, Basilio Esteban Villaruz called Jacinto's work as "most inspired," and "reveal(ing) his choreographic gifts, creating memorable stage pictures and counterpoints."

CODA is composed of Jacinto's home-grown dancers and were trained to perform his versatile repertoire, in ballet, jazz, modern and contemporary styles. Eli Jacinto takes pride in the fact that current members and graduates of CODA have established professional careers for themselves while still making time to dance, lawyers, schoolteachers, economists, business managers. The youngest CODA apprentices are still in school, but are being trained towards this goal as well.

CODA debuted in 2011 Pasinaya, the CCP’s Open House Festival, where they performed Metro, Tatlo, a suite with location as its theme, celebrating dance and celebrating place, what it means to be a Filipino and a Filipino dancer. Eli Jacinto’s vision for CODA is to establish an independent dance group that celebrates dance, that elevates it as an artform, and as a powerful medium.

CODA was featured in the Cinemalaya film, Ang Sayaw ng Dalawang Kaliwang Paa (The Dance of Two Left Feet), directed by Alvin Yapan and choreographed by Eli Jacinto. The film was premiered in July 2011 and was praised for its marriage of the art forms of film, literature and dance. Jacinto had also translated the dances from the film for the stage, creating the suite, Mga Sayaw Mula Sa Sayaw ng Daliwang Kaliwang Paa (Dances from The Dance of Two Left Feet). Excerpts from this suite were premiered in December 22, 2011. This suite was performed again in 2014 at the 6th Asian TranslationTraditions conference in University of the Philippines, Diliman.

In 2015, CODA performed at the International Dance Day Celebration organized by Ballet Manila and the National Commission on Culture and the Arts. In 2018, CODA performed in Dancing in Place, a site specific dance festival in Rimbun Dahan, an arts residency in Selangor, Malaysia. In 2019, CODA shone in Eli Jacinto's Liwanag at Saya Sayaw 2019, an International Dance Day performance in cooperation with Mano Amiga Philippines in April, and at the International Festival of Light in May, both at the Arete, Ateneo de Manila.

Premiered on December 16, 2019 at the Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Music: Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G Major: I. Allegro by Johann Sebastian Bach

Choreography: Eli Jacinto

An indigenous Philippine creation myth involves Bathala, the supreme being, repeatedly hurling
clay into the land and forming the first people from the eruptions in the mud. The people, realizing
their mortality, dance to celebrate their existence. They continue their dance as life goes on,
eventually returning to the land, and to the heart of their creator.

Ang Buhay, Bumubulwak was premiered at Dancebox, MyDance Alliance's twice yearly dance festival, at the Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on December 16, 2019. Photo by Mohd Nor Azmil.

Dancers: Joelle Jacinto, Jacqui Jacinto, Christianne Ysabel Santos, Vivienne Placido, Chloe Hernandez, Angela Lorraine Juan, and Bea Nuñez

Premiered in January 27, 2018 at the Cultural Centre of the Philippines' Little Theater

Music: "Liwanag sa Dilim" by Rivermaya

Choreography: Eli Jacinto

Liwanag (Bright Light/Brightness) is inspired by Eli Jacinto's half-American grandchildren, who were born and live in the US, but suddenly sang the Rivermaya song to him without any hint of an American accent. He choreographed the dance so that when Violet, Isabel and Jasmine grow up, they can someday dance this, too. At present, it is performed by the young dancers enrolled in Teacher Eli's Repertoire class.

Liwanag was performed at Art for Education: Every Child Can, a Mano Amiga Philippines fundraiser, on April 28, 2019 for International Dance Day Weekend, and at the International Day of Light Celebration of Ateneo de Manila at the Arete, on May 16, 2019.

Dancers: Joelle Jacinto, Jacqui Jacinto, Nina Sayoc, Christianne Ysabel Santos, Vivienne Placido, Grace Alipalo, Vivienne Monta, Erin Tamayo, Chloe Hernandez and Bea Nuñez

Premiered in 2004

Last performed on January 27, 2019 at the CCP Little Theater, Pasay City, for Mga Sayaw ni Eli Jacinto

Music "Aumoon" and "Kahimanawari" by Pinikpikan
Choreography by Eli Jacinto

"Ang babae sa lansangan
Kung gumiri'y parang tandang..."

(Literal translation:

"The lady on the street struts like a rooster...")

Giri (Strut) showcases Eli Jacinto's expertise in taking elements from indigenous Filipino dance and animal movements and combining these into an abstract modern dance. Inspired by the behavior of roosters and chickens in the farmyard, appearing to have similar qualities to humans, Jacinto was also praised for his acknowledgment of the difference between male and female movements when the work premiered at the 2004 National Folk Dance Conference at the Folk Arts Theater. The work has been restaged several times since, and a short version was performed at a Dance Development Conference in Nanning, China in 2005.

Dancers:
Lucas Jacinto
Jacqui Jacinto
Sol Ogatis
Joelle Jacinto
Erica Marquez-Jacinto
Nina Sayoc

Premiered in January 27, 2018 at the Cultural Centre of the Philippines' Little Theater

Music: "Dahil sa Isang Bulaklak" performed by Raul Sunico

Choreography: Eli Jacinto

Eli Jacinto has always loved classic Filipino love songs. With this work, he experiments with a piano rendition of "Dahil sa Isang Bulaklak," playing with themes of femininity and fragility, but also resilience and strength. Dr. Ricardo Abad, upon seeing the solo performed at the Arete during the International Day of Light celebration, remarked that it was like seeing the dance of Salome.

Dancer: Nina Sayoc

Music: "What Goes Around" by Justin Timberlake and "Chi Mai" by Ennio Morricone
Music Collage and Choreography by Eli Jacinto

Two dancers moving exactly the same, but not exactly. Two sisters, can't live with each other, can't live without each other.

In January 2014, this work, premiered in 2010, was dedicated to Basilio Esteban Villaruz, Professor Emeritus, University of the Philippines, and one-time consultant to TEAM Dance Studio, who provided valuable guidance to Eli Jacinto during his dancing career, and when he started to create serious dance theater choreography. It was Tito Steve's advice to create work with meaning, with a story, instead of the abstract moving pictures that Eli Jacinto already did very well, but adding depth to his later work. Without his unwavering faith in Teacher Eli Jacinto during the school's early years, TEAM Dance Studio would not be what it is today.

In May 2014, In The Sisterhood premiered at the 2014 UMa Dance Company Showcase in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia at the Experimental Theatre, University of Malaya, where Teacher Joelle Jacinto had been a lecturer, teaching choreography and ballet.

Dancers: Jacqui Jacinto and Joelle Jacinto

Premiered in February 2017 at the Insular Life Auditorium, Alabang, Muntinlupa

Last performed in January 2018 at Rimbun Dahan, Selangor, Malaysia for Dancing in Place

Music by Zoë Keating
Choreography by Eli Jacinto

Undertow explores Eli Jacinto's obsession with the sea and the inhabitants that live within, which are themes he also experimented with in his Magdaragat and Sa Kailaliman. The duet was mounted on Malaysian ballerinas for Balletbase, a Malaysian contemporary dance company, and featured in Balletbase Presents, at Damansara Performing Arts Centre in May 2017. In January 2018, Undertow was performed in and around the pond of Rimbun Dahan, an arts residency in Selangor, Malaysia as part of Dancing in Place, an annual site specific dance festival.

Dancers: Jacqui Jacinto and Nina Sayoc/Joelle Jacinto (CODA)

and

Regina Toyad and Janice Yong (Balletbase)

Premiered in 2006

Last performed at the Insular Life Auditorium, Alabang, Muntinlupa, on January 31, 2016

Music: Philip Glass and Christopher Franke

Choreography: Eli Jacinto

“Pangilin” is a Tagalog word which translates to “faith” in English, particularly one’s religious faith or spiritual conviction. Eli Jacinto first choreographed Pangilin in 2006, reworking it almost completely for 2009, and again for 2015. This new version was performed at International Dance Day celebration in April 2015. 

Dancers

Frances Canto, Irene Canto and Nina Sayoc

Premiered in 1980

Last performed in January 25, 2015 at Sylvia Lina Theatre, De La Salle Zobel, Alabang, Muntinlupa

Music by Niccolo Paganini, Nel Cor Piu Non Mi Sento Variations
Choreography by Eli Jacinto

Morphemes premiered in 1980. The abstract work was one of Eli Jacinto's first serious experimentations in contemporary dance, and was favourably reviewed by Basilio Estaban Villaruz and national artist Leonor Orosa-Goquingco, calling it, “inventive and fascinating to a marked degree,” and “unusual and startling.” When asked to revisit the work for the 2014 Wifi Body Festival, Teacher Eli engaged with the work by reshaping it according to the same material impulses - music-inspired movement based on the capability of his available dancers - but on aesthetics that have been developed and changed over the last thirty-four years. The concept is retained - a formalist interpretation of music that is not conventionally suitable for dance.

Dancers: Jacqui Jacinto, Sol Ogatis, Joelle Jacinto/Nina Sayoc

In 2011, Eli Jacinto was asked to choreograph the dance sequences of the indie film, Ang Sayaw ng Dalawang Kaliwang Paa (The Dance of Two Left Feet), directed by Alvin Yapan and produced by Alemberg Ang, as finalist of the Cinemalaya festival of that same year. The film opened on July 2011, and was met with rave reviews and appeared on several Best of 2011 year ender lists.

Jacinto and Yapan discussed the staging of the film choreography in a suite; initial excerpts were premiered in December 22, 2011, at the Insular Life Auditorium in Alabang, Muntinlupa. The full suite, Mga Sayaw Mula sa Ang Sayaw ng Dalawang Kaliwang Paa (Dances from the Dance of Two Left Feet)  was premiered at the Pasinaya Festival at the CCP in February 2012. 

Ang Sabi Ko Sa Iyo

Poem by Benilda Santos
Music by Christine Muyco

Kinukumutan Ka Ng Aking Titig

Poem by Ruth Elynia Mabanglo
Music by Jema Pamintuan

Paglisan

Poem by Joi Barrios
Music by Jema Pamintuan

Litanya

Poem by Merlinda Bobis
Music by Jema Pamintuan