| My Guru, Tony Fabella | for everyone |
By Edna Vida Froilan
After receiving my high school diploma, I wondered how I would fare in the real world. There was nothing much I could do except read books and flirt with boys. What universal zone would adopt a seventeen year old loser like me?
At that time my eldest sister, Alice Reyes, returned from the United States and put up a riveting dance performance at the CCP titled, The Alice Reyes Modern Dance Concert. The show’s success prompted Alice to team up with danseur Eddie Elejar to launch the First CCP Summer Dance Workshop and later found the CCP Dance Company.
My mother believed that my sister Denisa and I could join our sister’s company simply because we were Reyeses. We did not know how to dance – that way – and we were to labor for it with blood, sweat and tears.
The rehearsal hall of the CCP teemed with alien characters. We were surrounded by people who lived, breathed and ate dance everyday. Denisa and I looked pathetic in ballet class. We could not remember the steps, all given in French. We could not coordinate our bodies.
We were with the best ballerinas who had been dancing since they were young. We were never going to catch up. I remember trudging to CCP from the university where I was taking a dance degree especially for dance ‘professionals’, donning itchy leotards and tights and hating every minute of it.
Fortunately, a ballet class for beginners was opened. The teacher was Tony Fabella. There were only three students: Denisa, another teenager, and myself. Tony Fabs, as everyone fondly calls him, went down on his knees patiently day in and day out to whittle our legs with proper ballet technique.
He molded us as if we were his cherished works of art. I wanted to tell him not to waste his time on me because I was never going to be a ballerina and that I had essentially set my life on the course to oblivion. But he was thorough, meticulous and relentless.
I thought that if this man could be so patient with me I must have hope.
Tony Fabs was born in Pagsanjan, Laguna in 1941 to Luz Limuaco and Ricardo Fabella, the former principal of the Pagsanjan Academy where he graduated high school. After earning a degree in BS Chemical Engineering at the Mapua Institute of Technology he passed the Government Board exams for Chemical Engineers. Fate mapped a different chart for Tony though. He was to be an engineer of dance instead. Heeding its call, he started off as a lead dancer of the Bayanihan Dance Company and later became a principal member of Dance Theater Philippines.
I first met Tony when I was a little girl. He was a familiar face at home because he danced with and assisted Alice in her stint as a television choreographer. His infectious laughter always filled the room and he was everyone’s darling. When Alice arrived from the US in 1969 he was one of the first dancers she invited to join her concert. He immediately became a principal member of the Alice Reyes Modern Dance Company which evolved into the CCP Dance Company and Workshop, the CCP Dance Company and later, Ballet Philippines.
As a young scholar at the CCP, I read his brand of dancing with obsession. He was the epitome of exuberance; a joy to watch on stage. Tony was cast in the leading role of Alice’s Tommy, a rock opera that became a smash hit. That was the first time I danced with the company and it was a glorious experience to be on stage with him. His energy rubbed off on me and I learned to enjoy dancing. He also danced the lead in Alice’s Tales of the Manuvu, another runaway success, and many other full length ballets. I observed Tony and Alice at work. He knew what Alice wanted before she even thought of it. What a jewel of a dancer he was because of his musicality and sensitivity.
As resident choreographer, Tony was assigned the major ballets. My first Tony Fabella ballet was Prince of the Pagodas where I was in the corps de ballet. It was my first time to wear pointe shoes and although my toes bled profusely it was well worth the pain. I learned a lot from his choreographic style – very yin and yang.
He can create a torrent of speedy sprints, the most passionate steps or the most lyrical poetry in movement. His ballets are so charismatic many dancers are inspired to dabble in choreography after watching them.
He revealed to me not long ago that he learned a lot from Alice in choreography. I laughed and said, “That’s funny, I learned a lot from you!” When she became too busy to teach us, there was Tony passing the knowledge.
Inspite of his place in the upper echelon of the company, he was one of the few senior members I could chat with. Tony is rather a timid soul inspite of his great talent. He had an injury and had to swathe his ankles with Leukoplast every day without which he would be unable to dance. He chuckled through the ritual as if it were God’s tender joke on him which he accepted with grace and humility.
Tony was company manager when I became a member of the troupe. We were fined for being overweight and the fine doubled if the scales rose the following week. I was always overweight and one day, as Tony handed me my salary, he said, “Oh, (chuckle, chuckle) you have a fine.” I gave back every peso in tears and wanted to shout, “Give it back Tony, please!”
We broke into laughter and that was Tony Fabs turning misery into amusement.
I missed him when he left the company to venture on his own. My mentor was gone but I promised myself that I will make him proud of me someday. He teamed up with Elejar to be co-artistic director of the Manila Metropolitan Ballet, the Goldcrest Dance Workshop and the Fabella-Elejar Dance Studios.
He also became the director of the Folk Arts Theater of the Philippines Dance Company, the Centro Escolar University Dance Studio, the Holy Spirit Ballet Studio, the Dance Workshop at the YWCA and many other dance organizations.
He went intensively into choreography and worked with all the major dance companies and schools in the country. This prolific artist has churned out such a wide range of works in ballet, jazz, pop and contemporary dance that putting them together would make one wonder if they were all done by the same man. He has worked not only with the best dancers but also with children, students, Rotarians, bankers, P.E teachers, people from all walks of life. Regardless of his material, each piece comes out a wonderful crafting of movement. He has worked with countless Filipino composers too, whose music, translated into dance by his genius, are now better known and appreciated. No other choreographer in this country has created as many works on as many people in the span of a few decades as Tony Fabella.
One of many dancers he groomed in the 70’s is Luther Perez who became his closest friend and colleague. Together, they transform street kids of the Quezon City Performing Arts and the Hiyas ng Maynila Dance Company into works of art.
These underprivileged children start out surely baffled by French ballet steps and unable to coordinate their bodies. No doubt they feel wretched in class like Denisa and I did a long time ago. But, as Tony and Luther work on them relentlessly they are given hope. Their dancing has become a phenomenon that drives audiences to tears but more importantly, they now have a future.
Denisa and I continue to harvest the fruits of Tony’s labor. We did become dance artists. When we ring him up for advise he has nothing but positive words; a great comfort when we succumb to attacks of insecurity and self-doubt. I continue to read Tony with obsession and from him I learned what true mentoring is. It is about generosity – compelling the novice to outshine his master. It is difficult though, to outshine an all-embracing soul like him that has no ego, bias nor qualm.
Today he has an ongoing battle with cancer and it is our turn to comfort him. Tony never set money aside for the time costly medical bills might sap his pocket. Friends and admirers have come to his rescue and funds are continuously being raised to augment mounting expenses. Although he has received the topmost awards in dance, the highest honor for Tony is the love that gushes out from those who adore him.
When my sisters and I visited him recently his laughter filled the room. He was the one giving us comfort and, sure enough, anxiety turned into joy. That’s Tony Fabs accepting God’s trial with grace and humility. He, Luther and Eddie have lived in a quaint little apartment in Maytubig Street near the CCP for many years. We used to play mahjong there during breaks. Outside are beautiful orchids and plants that get whispers of affection from him daily.
He collects angels that are everywhere in their living room – smiling, peeking, pouting, mischievous, sitting cross-legged, dancing. They remind me of all the artists he has stirred, each miracle he was privy to in partnership with God.
I am honored to be one of those miracles. Tony Fabs was the universal zone that adopted the seventeen year old loser who had set her life on a course to oblivion.
The image of him bending down to transform me into a dancer was a vision I treasured throughout my career. There are still many miracles waiting to happen and seeds of hope waiting to be planted to begin it all for another young dancer. This is the legacy of Tony Fabella, the selfless tutor who makes complex dreams an effortless reality.
Nothing is impossible when he is your guru.
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Tony Fabs is presently confined at the Philippine General Hospital once again. He had a biopsy operation and is undergoing chemotheraphy and radiation treatments. His colon cancer has recurred.
Please watch "Dance Can Make Them Dream Again" on YouTube. It's a documentary on the Quezon City Performing Arts Development Foundation, Inc. See how Tony Fabs and Luther Perez have given underpreviledged children a new lease in life through dance.
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