Neil Jones and Ekaterina Sokolova Perform at the Dance Vision Arena

 

Ballroom dancers who are based in Manila will be delighted as the new Dance Vision Arena has finally opened in its new home in San Juan. After being on soft opening for several weeks, Dance Vision Arena celebrated its Grand Opening last November 25 -- a glamorous social event attended by dancesport athletes, coaches, ballroom enthusiasts and socialites eager to welcome a new home for dancers and to witness a spectacular dance show.

Me, Ekaterina Sokolova-Jones, Roque Marquez, Neil Jones, and Onang

The night began with some social dancing with dinner and drinks. After everyone has warmed up, the program began. As an introduction, models from Sanda Fashion graced the new Dance Vision Arena events hall with their striking struts and equally stupendous outfits. Afterwards, BMG and Tahanang Walang Hagdanan fired up the floor with a Wheelchair Dancesport Chacha number.

The real highlight of the event was the show dances given by the Modern Standard couple Victor Fung and Anastasia Muravyeva, as well as the Latin couple Neil Jones and Ekaterina Sokolova-Jones. Both couples wowed the audience with spectacular gimmicks from their five dances.

(Below: Neil and Ekaterina's Samba showdance number)



While I appreciate Modern Standard, it was certainly the Latin dances which made my heart leap more. Watching Neil and Ekaterina do the Chacha, Paso Doble, Rumba, Jive, and Samba in a progression that grew more and more exciting was one unforgettable moment—one which truly inspired me to practice harder and made me appreciate dancing even more. Both Neil and Ekaterina are talented dancers with such goofy personalities that made them so likeable and endearing.

the Judith pose to end all Judith poses. LOL
BMG and Tahanang Walang Hagdanan with Neil Jones and Ekaterina Sokolova-Jones
The after-party was just as amazing as the show itself. Neil and Ekaterina stayed on and danced with the guests. Imagine my envy when my fellow dancers were able to do impromptu performances with Neil and Ekaterina! I just didn’t have enough guts to do that! The one I hated most was Yenyen, a fellow BMG who did a three-minute Rumba with Neil. She practically shoved it into our faces that they looked well together and looked like a real couple. Damn, I despise her!

Me, my janitor outfit (LOL) and Neil Jones

With all the excitement, all pictures are blurred. Haha! With the lovely Ekaterina Sokolova-Jones!
I loved Neil and Ekaterina even more when we got to experience a group workshop with Neil Jones the following day. Neil covered a lot of interesting and helpful topics within a three-hour lesson that seemed to me like a whole day—actually, I wished it really was an entire day! Damn, I was so inspired after the workshop!

After the awesome group workshop.


The next day, my partner Onang and I underwent a private lesson from Neil himself. OMG! It was the best 45 minutes of my dancesport career so far. Hahaha! It was our first time to ever get a private lesson from a foreign coach, and man, it was awesome.



By Thursday night, Neil Jones already had to go back to UK—that broke our hearts. LOL!

It was his last day, so I had to take another pic. LOL
Dance Vision Arena is also home to BMG Formo, the re-branded dance apparel shop formerly known as BMG Fashion. It sits directly beside the private Latin room of the studio, so anyone who wants practice skirts, pants, and tops can go check out their fabulous designs. They also make customized dancesport costumes—so tell them the design you want!




I am extremely happy and proud that I’m a Dance Vision and BMG scholar—meaning, I can use the studio for free and practice there anytime I want. In return, we scholars should practice hard and bring pride to the name of Dance Vision and BMG. Who wouldn’t want to practice in such a luxurious and beautiful studio? If I can live there, I would!

Check out more pictures of the new Dance Vision Arena below:

the Latin room

the events hall (2nd floor)

the main studio


OHMYGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHD!


Thanks to Coach Genice "Bong" Marquez, Sir Benny, and Dance Vision for bringing the awesome couple, Neil Jones and Ekaterina Sokolova, to Manila!

~*~
Dance Vision Arena
Madison Square, N. Domingo Street, Little Baguio, San Juan

BMG Formo
2/F Dance Vision Arena, Madison Square, N. Domingo Street, Little Baguio, San Juan

pepe samson

About Pepe Samson

This is a short description in the author block about the author. You edit it by entering text in the "Biographical Info" field in the user admin panel.
    Disqus Comment
    Facebook Comment

2 comments :

  1. Cheap pathetic place, so noisy around residential area, too cheap to soundproof this so called dance place for matronas. This place is going down soon.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi fiery! I happen to think the Arena is a posh and pretty decent place, but thanks for your comment! Rest assured this will be escalated to the Dance Vision management so they can think of ways to further improve the place and their services. Thanks for dropping by!

    ReplyDelete

Let me know what you think!