FEU Dance Company’s (FDC) senior member, Ronieth Dayao showcased her choreographic skills in her piece titled “What’s Stopping You?”—a tribute to the human experience of self-doubt and hesitation. She bagged the “Best Performer” award during the bi-annual competition of “WifiBody PH 2024: Platform” last Aug. 10.
All smiles, Dayao beams with joy as she bags the "Best Performer" at the WifiBody PH 2024.
The WifiBody PH, a prestigious contemporary dance competition dedicated to fostering the talents of Filipino choreographers, became Dayao’s platform to answer the questions in her mind and to use dance as a powerful tool for self-expression and exploration.
“'What's stopping you?' really came from a conversation I had with my friend. I was telling her about my life plans, sort of listing them down, 'This is what I want, this is what I want.' Then after I said that, she suddenly asked, 'Oh, so what's stopping you?' And I was taken aback, like, 'Oh, right.' It made me think, I want to do these things, but what's actually stopping me? And that's when I realized that it's me—I'm the one stopping myself,” Dayao answered in Filipino.
Her entry was a reflection on her personal fears and self-doubt. Realizing that her own limitations were often self-imposed, she sought to confront these questions and inspire others to overcome their own obstacles. So, in her performance, she included a resistance band as a prop to depict the internal forces that limit her from achieving her goals and being the best version of herself.
“The story of my piece is more about resistance, so I thought of using a prop, which is the resistance band. To me, the resistance band resembled a lot of my internal questions— how I stop myself from doing the things I love and how I realized that after figuring out what’s stopping me, the question doesn’t end there. There is another question, ‘What keeps me going?’ and throughout the process, I realized that what was stopping me before was the fear of what other people would say,” said Dayao.
Throughout the development of Dayao’s entry, she reflected on significant circumstances in her life that fueled her artistic vision. She expressed her fear of judgment, and how she has unconsciously let herself be confined by what others say or think about her, which ultimately influenced her decision to quit dancing with the company at some point. It was the FDC’s Matrix Katindig, Dayao’s co-senior member, who reminded her of her capability as a dancer— that she has all the resources and all that’s left is for her to act. She realized that she was too harsh on herself, constantly doubting and questioning if whatever she was doing was right, or if it was okay, or if she could do it, instead of actually trying.
“Kuya Matrix reminded me that I already have all the ‘bullets,’ all the ‘equipment,’ but what I need to do now is use them. Then after that, I realized that I’m too harsh on myself. I keep questioning, ‘Is this right? Is this okay? Can I do this?’ instead of just trying,” she said.
Dayao also revealed that she had just come from a heartbreak.
“Another thing, maybe something fresh, is the fact that—I don’t know if I need to say this. It was like I had my first instance of letting my guard down. It was like I let myself love someone. But in the end, it wasn’t okay. It turned out to be— it was so complicated that it wasn’t a relationship I should have gotten into. I was the one who chose to leave because it wasn’t right anymore,” she said.
She took these profound experiences and influences as her source of strength to keep on going as they played a pivotal role in her craft.
“As human as I am, so are the hurts that I feel, the brokenness. But what keeps me going are the people who also love me. As I’m speaking now, I realize that things are such a double-edged sword because earlier I said, ‘What stops me? Voices. What keeps me going? Voices.’ And now, as I’ve shared this, ‘What stops me? People. What keeps me going? People also.’ So, yeah, it’s a matter of experiencing both,” said Dayao.
For Dayao, while her peers encouraged and believed in her, her religious faith was the other element that further helped boost her art. Her performance in WifiBody PH just proves the importance of going beyond what one thinks one can achieve. Her win is a nod to her career as an artist, and an example of the effect of hard work and believing in oneself.
Before she started exploring contemporary dance, Dayao was a ballet dancer, experiences from which inspired her piece. She graduated with an Outstanding Student Award in Ballet from the Philippine High School for the Arts. Her background in ballet taught her to be very particular with her body.
The WifiBody PH allows artists to express their artistic visions and push the boundaries of dance. The event was held at the Cultural Center of the Philippines’ Tanghalang Ignacio Gimenez Black Box Theater.
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