In memory of Suzie Moya Benitez who wrote this a few days before she passed away. She was associate vice president of the Philippine Women’s University (PWU) and executive director of the Bayanihan Folk Arts Foundation. In 2013, she received the 100 Most Influential Filipino Women in the World award (FWN Global 100).
A three-year old girl had a dream—dressed in white tutu dancing onstage.
Why is that?
Her mother loved to dance, kuratsa, tango, waltz, and grew up
listening to her playing Visayan folks songs beautifully on the piano.
Family and friends would say, “Was that’s all she wants to become?
A ballerina?
Disappointed but not discouraged, she gave priority to academics, as her
father would not hear any of her dancing dreams. Life was kind;
opportunities came one by one and she went with the flow. Until one day
an audition was called for a 13-month world tour of the Bayanihan.
Young and away from home for the first time, she visited places she never
dreamed of seeing, made friends from other cultures, even learned to
cook tasty adobo for midnight snacks after a performance. She opened herself to new experiences, learned to share and allowed herself to grow
to become a better person and a seasoned artist.
Maturity developed onstage, enjoying the applause from a global
audience, and learned to think out and not think in.
What better way to give back, but through music and dance showcasing the beauty of the Philippines and the story of the Filipinos on the world stage!
The art of dance allowed her to train, retrain, and help others with a
thrust for bigger responsibilities, not merely as a performer on a global
stage. More meaningfully, she became a cultural diplomat and a nation builder.
The little girl’s dream in white tutu has evolved to another dimension of taking the fulfilment of that dream to a limitless future.
By involving the youth in the pursuit of that dream offstage in life confident in pursuing initiatives for change and growth.
What better way to give back, but through music and dance showcasing the beauty of the Philippines and the story of the Filipinos on the world stage!
Go for it, the Grand Lady said, believe and you will attain your dreams!
Reach for the star so they say!
And yet humanity on the brink of despair is there to consider…
The effort to strive for the best can also bring one to neglect one’s physical needs.
One day after a family beach holiday my sister, Dr. Millie Agcaoili and son-in-law Dr. Bien Manlutac, noticed I was coughing and was short of breath. At the emergency, they found out I had pneumonia, negative of Covid yet must be admitted for complete test.
A dancer with positive outlook at all times but taking the role of patient is a different story.
Humanity inside the hospital chambers is number one. Doctors’ touch of comfort and compassion will definitely boost patient’s morale. Without realizing it, a doctor can give that hellish treatment and make one feel the curtains have been drawn.
A silver lining across a sky so gray, Dr. Monica Cabral stayed for a bit to listen. Knowing their busy schedule, the art of thinking out more than thinking in, may not be the usual lifestyle in a hospital and yet this provincial lass though immersed in the world’s sophisticated life needed that kind of humanity; I am human, not a piece of kidney.
Dr. Ronald Reodica, the pulmonary specialist, even spoke about dance as his own daughter was herself an enthusiast and Dr. Nick Cruz, cardiologist, spent time to be understood by one like me tough on the outside yet a human mallow melting on the inside. These three doctors were two unique species in the gurgling waters of despair. Humanity in the hospital as well as in life’s many travails renders one to think, rethink, and reverse life’s dreams.
Suzie Moya-Benitez died due to a heart attack while in the hospital undergoing treatment for pneumonia on March 28, 2022.