MANILA, Philippines--Ballroom dancing may be hazardous to your health.

There was a chiropractor in the ballroom, just in case a dancer missed a step and got a bone misaligned in the spine.

The presence of Dr. Marc Anton R. Cancio at the gala night of the 3rd Philippine StarBall, an open international ballroom championship held recently at Makati Shangri-La Hotel supported the belief that ballroom dancing was not for the fragile nor the fainthearted.

As Albert Einstein once said, ?Dancers are the athletes of God.?

For almost four hours, 40 pairs of God?s finest athletes mesmerized the audience with split-second head turns, dizzying spins, quick knee flexes and ultra-smooth glides that seemed like optical illusions.

?They danced like it?s the easiest thing to do. But it?s not; this was all a result of hard work,? said Michaela ?Pinky? Puno, chair of the 3rd Philippine StarBall organizing committee.

Top dancers Riccardo Cocchi and Yulia Zagorouitchenko, Arunas Bizokas and Katusha Demidova won the top prizes in Professional Latin and Professional Standard categories, respectively. Both couples represented the United States.

Filipino pair

The only Filipino pair who made it to the finals, Emmanuel Reyes and Maira Rosete, won sixth place in the Amateur Standard category.

Puno explained that many of the finalists were either Russian or they came from East European countries. Many of the winners had backgrounds in ballet and have been dancing for years.

?They have a passion for dance. This is what we want to share to the Filipinos by holding the Philippine StarBall,? she said.

Puno also said the Philippine StarBall had attracted ballroom dance enthusiasts from all over the world, as shown by the international crowd. Tickets to the gala night cost from P3,000 to P10,000.

Boost to tourism

?This is a boost to tourism. Ballroom dancing has a loyal following abroad. Fans make it a point to watch dance competitions anywhere in the world,? she said.

It also helped that Puno was able to gather the world who?s who of ballroom dancing to judge the competition. Even the master of ceremonies, Gary McDonald, was a former dance champion.

Herself a dancer, Puno dazzled the audience with a jazz number that featured perilous lifting. She danced with Slava Sergiev, Christian Lopez, Gemlani Cinco, Serge Machon Jr., Yugel Estrada, Deo de la Cruz and Marvin Ablao. The dance was choreographed by Taliat Tarsinov.

Like a racehorse

Watching from the VIP section was Puno?s husband, Interior Secretary Ronaldo ?Ronnie? Puno, who was speechless.

?Look at her?she was limping all day, now she?s dancing,? Ronnie Puno said of his wife. ?Pinky is like a racehorse. She limps before and after a race, but never during a race.?

Puno said ballroom dancing was one area where Filipinos could excel. ?It takes practice, practice, practice.?

But if the country intends to produce champions, she said they should start training them young. Filipino dancer Belinda Adora, for instance, has been teaching dance to the street children of Antipolo.

The desire to produce Filipino ballroom champions has also inspired Emily Silva of the Studio 116 dance school in Makati City to open its doors to qualified youths.

For over two years now, the Dance School has been training children as young as 8 years old, preparing them for dance sport competitions.

And it?s paying off, according to Silva.

At the Philippine StarBall?s daytime competition open to amateurs below 21 years old, eight scholars from the Studio 116 Dance School made the grade. They were Rex Edward Custorio and Alexandra Blay, Mark Jason Gayon and Anna Leonila Nualla, Mark Angelo Tolibas and Abigael Tinio, and Samuelson Tuburan and Jonadella Olaguera.

?We really have to start them young,? Silva said. ?We teach them the correct technique, discipline, posture and the movement of the hands. That?s how they study dance for competition abroad.?