Senior Janine Bugayong showcases her extravagant snowflake costume for the Waltz of the Snowflakes.
By: Maira Ramos
Ballet is an art form that takes incredible strength, technique, and stamina, while also expressing grace and elegance. For Senior Janine Bugayong, the difficulty of the art is what made her fall in love with ballet. Bugayong is performing in a production of “The Nutcracker” at the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts, which is among one of the most classic ballet performances and is a Christmas staple.
This year, Bugayong was cast as a lead Chinese acrobat and a snowflake for the Waltz of the Snowflakes, Bugayong said. A challenging factor for both dances is making the difficult dance look effortless, she noted.
“[The Chinese dance] is a very fun, fast, upbeat, playful number,” Bugayong said. “The hardest part about this role is having the energy and stamina to do the dance. Being a lead acrobat involves a lot of cartwheels, tumbling, and big jumps. One thing about performing that not a lot of people think about is that you have to keep up your energy until the end of the dance when you’re exhausted.”
The Waltz of the Snowflakes is done with pointe shoes, so her legs and ankles must have the strength to keep her on her toes throughout the dance, Bugayong said. Additionally, it is a corps de ballet, which means that her and the other snowflakes must all dance in unison, she added.
“If something as simple as one person’s arm being slightly higher than everybody else’s, the whole appearance of the number is thrown off,” she said. “The steps are more technical, and I have to keep up with dancers who have more experience than I do.”
The main thing that Bugayong focuses on while performing is what her body is doing and making sure her spacing on the stage is correct, she said. Bugayong also really tries to become her character, she said.
“It’s kind of like acting, except only using facial expressions and body language,” Bugayong said. “When you’ve done the same dance over and over a million times, it could get tiresome. So getting in the mindset of my character instead of simply doing the moves makes it more fun for me to dance. That way, it’ll also be more enjoyable and believable for the audience to watch.”
“The Nutcracker” isn’t Bugayong’s first performance, but it is her first big production with the dance company, she said. For “The Nutcracker,” her dance company spent two weeks in the theater for rehearsals and shows, and have a total of nine performances, she said.
“This will be my first time performing to music played from a live orchestra,” Bugayong said. “Because the conductor watches the dancers on stage and makes sure that the tempo of the music goes well with the dancers, dancing with a symphony makes you feel more connected with the music. It has a more raw, real feeling when I dance, and I’ve never felt that before.”
Even though performing isn’t new to her, she still gets nervous once in a while before shows, especially on opening night, Bugayong said. The most rewarding part of performing is hearing reactions from the audience, she said.
“With more entertaining dances, I’ll hear laughter and whistles from the crowd,” Bugayong said. “With more serious dances, I hear long applause and acclaim. It’s nice to know that with the few minutes that I’m on stage, I left an impact on so many people, without even speaking a word.”