The country’s well-acclaimed ballet directors Tony Fabella, Eddie Elejar and Luther Perez have since 1994, successfully trained street children living in urban poor communities to be young dance professionals.

The children have performed in several countries and joined international competitions. They have learned the discipline and hard work in the arts. Dance has changed their lives. They have discovered believing in themselves, they say, and now dream towards a brighter future. They no longer roam the streets listlessly.

The Quezon City Performing Arts Foundation has supported over 400 dance scholars through regular school including their meals and other basic needs. The dancers’ impressive success has prompted the local government to support them with the renovation of their home, a plain multi-purpose center into a fully-developed dance theatre. In the summer of 2009, the directors staged for the first time, a grand production of the “Ibong Adarna,” a popular Philippine epic. It was to be Tony Fabella’s last choreography, his dream fulfilled, before he died of cancer in June.

For the APPC conference held in Manila in 2003, the children performed the opening number. As the spotlights trained on the young performers, they delivered a memorable dance about spiritual grace and inspiration as only true artists can.

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