It started with lambada
Being at the right place at the right time played a big role in the destiny of dance maven Becky Garcia. In 1989, Orangina (a popular soda drink in France) showed in their TV and movie commercial a sexy couple performing a steamy dance number called the lambada. It is a Brazilian dance for couples and it became internationally popular in the late ‘80s especially in Latin America and Caribbean countries. The woman wears short swirling skirts and for men long trousers.
Depending on the interpretation of the dance, it can be performed in a fun manner or in a really sexy, provocative way. The Orangina commercial was the talk of dance aficionados in Paris and caught like wildfire in all the discos and dance salons. Becky Garcia was in Paris at that time and just for fun she started to learn it. Coincidentally, I was in Paris, too, and I got her a tape of lambada music and challenged her to dance it in Manila.
During her birthday party in Kudos organized by Maribel Dario, Lulu Tan Gan and Geena Zablan, Becky surprised everyone with a hot lambada number with Ed Robles who became her constant dance partner. He was eventually replaced by Albert Dimarucut, who is now a ballroom dance competitor.
Since that night in Kudos her friends would constantly urge her to dance the lambada, earning her the title “Lambada Queen.” During one of the anniversary shows of Oh No, It’s Johnny, she was asked by Johnny Litton to perform her dance number and this appearance put her on the map with other dance TV specials.
Soon, offers of hosting TV shows followed. Her first TV stint was on RJ TV 29 where she hosted a dance show with Raymond Lauchengco as co-host. He was then replaced by Rene Puno and later John Gaddi.
With ballroom dancing being the craze in Manila, most hotels had ballroom dancing nights and Becky Garcia was asked to be their host. She hosted at the Zu, of Makati Shangri-La, Cats at the New World Hotel, and the Lobby Lounge of the Westin Philippine Plaza.
There was no stopping her passion for dance so she decided to open the Becky Garcia School of Dance in Makati and brought in foreign teachers. In 1996, she founded the DanceSport Council of the Philippines and is president up to this day.
She also founded the Professional Dance Teachers Association, which is the professional training body of DanceSport.
This time RPN 9 invited her to host a dance program, Let’s Ballroom with Becky, a one-hour show co-hosted by different celebrities per episode. She would open or close the show with a solo dance.
For two terms, she was a member of the executive committee of dance of the National Commission on Culture ant the Arts.
Another feather to her cap was when she underwent a training program to be a licensed adjudicator of the International DanceSport Federation and was invited to judge competitions in Asia and Europe.
The Dancesport Council has at present more than a thousand members and more than 200 competitors. It recently organized the professional body, a division of IDSF. (International DanceSport Federation).
She proudly told me that the DanceSport athletes have bagged gold and silver medals in the Seagames in Manila and Thailand. The latest was the two bronze medals in the last Asian Games in Guangzhou, China. This was a first in history considering that this is the first time that DanceSport was included in the Asian Games and the first sport that brought medals for the Philippines.
At present, Becky hosts two weekly ballroom dancing nighs: on Mondays at Encore, Fort Bonifacio; and Tuesday at the Genting Club, Resorts World Hotel at Newport City.
Her ambition is to build a DanceSport Institute in Asia and offer scholarships to deserving and medal-potential athletes.
