Rigodon at Malacanang Palace

Last June 12, 2009, was a memorable on for me. It was an honor to be invited and to perform at the 111th Independence Day celebration at the Malacanang Palace. President GMA has revived the performance of the Rigodon De Honour, twenty pairs were invited and personally chosen by the President. I was paired with none other than the Economic/NEDA Secretary, youngest senator and husband to Star for All Seasons (Vilma Santos), Secretary Ralph Recto. My imperial yellow modern terno was made by designer friend Jun Escario.

The Rigodon is actually a courtship square dance that was brought in from Europe by Filipinos during the Spanish times. We were given four nights to rehearse, two hours each rehearsal. The Rigodon march, after having gotten used to the steps was fun to learn -- that is, if we can memorize the sequences which all in all lasted for 12 minutes! The sumptous dinner buffet at the end of each rehearsal was a good incentive to want to learn the dance. Well, at least it worked for me! Haha!

The participants were actually all worried because on the last rehearsal, two nights before the Independence Day celebration, we were still messing up the last chain sequence of the dance! Fortunately, we did it right on performance night and as soon as we have all exited the ballroom to take pictures on the adjacent room, we all broke into applause, patting our backs for a wonderful performance! The audience hardly knew that we were all shaking underneath our gowns, hoping we wouldn't trip our heels on the carpeted floor! In the end, the audience liked our performance, and we were all proud of ourselves that we didn't mess up the dance! It was indeed an amazing experience!

To read more about the Rigodon De Honour at the Malacanang Palace, click here.
Look for President GMA in this group picture below. Hint: She's standing right next to me!