Teacher Dazha started dancing at a very young age and immediately fell in love with it. She was trained in classical and modern ballet and jazz dance at the Center for Movement and Music. Soon she joined UST Salinggawi Dance Troupe and trained in gymnastics, folk dance and cheer dance where she was part of the infamous 5-peat winning streak of the University of Santo Tomas.

In 2006, she joined a cast of Filipino and International dancers in Doha, Qatar and performed d in the opening ceremonies of the 2006 Asian Games. Teacher Dazha then joined Whiplash Dance Company after graduating from UST with a degree in Behavioral Science. She performed in different genres including Tap, Ballroom, and Commercial Dance. In 2011 she pursued her dance career and flew to Hong Kong to work in Hong Kong Disneyland as part of the parade team.

Her teaching career started in 2016, teaching kids from 2 years old to 15 years of age. She taught playgroup classes, Acrodance, and dance classes. In 2017 she partnered with a friend and took over Silver Pod Studio and hosted the first Sayaw PD dance in the Philippines together with the founder, Novy Bereber. She is now back in the Philippines, still teaching online classes in Hong Kong, and recently partnered with a friend to put up a Gymnastics School, Gym Lab.

The reason I joined Sayaw PD is . . . . . .

I was about 5 years old when I was waiting for my gymnastics class when a mom together with her child approached me and my mom and asked “Where is the gymnastics class for them?”, pointing to her child who had down syndrome. Apparently, the school organized a class for those with down syndrome. I this was the time I realized that nothing should stop anyone from doing things that they are passionate about.

I’ve always wanted to make dance available and accessible to everyone regardless of their abilities, and status in life and society. So in 2018, I hosted a dance workshop for a charitable organization as part of my advocacy which I named The Dance Movement.

Learning about the joy that Sayaw PD brings to its community, there was no doubt in mind that I would love to bring that same joy to them as one of the teachers. Especially during this time of the pandemic, I love being able to take the participants somewhere where all is right again, through good music and exciting movements. I love that for one full hour, we get to step out of reality and just flow joy.