Today we’d like to introduce you to Judith Anne S. Melencio
Hi Judith Anne S. Melencio, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Jeff and Judith are both dancing in their younger years back in the Philippines. Jeff started 7yrs old and Judith started at 6yrs old. They are not dancing together and they have different partners back then dancing in a different category. They are both well known dancers in the Philippines. Judith is part of the Philippine National Team. Jeff moved to the USA in 2019 and works at Fred Astaire Dance Studios and continue competing with his partner. Judith on the other hand continue her dancing in the Philippines and have a family. In the year 2023 she moved in the USA and works at the Fred Astaire Dance Studios. Then their life crossed when Judith danced with Jeff’s husband at first. When Jeff and his previous partner decided not to dance anymore they decided to dance together. From then on they work their way up, with a 4 hours drive difference and working full time in different state they make it work. With the love, passion and fire in dancing distance did not get in their way. They work full time in the weekdays, then practice and competition on the weekends consistently. It keeps them pushing and to be more motivated in what they are doing right now. A lot of good things and achievements happen to them already for a year. Competitions, practices, dance shows, travels, late night dancing happened so fast in just a year. They are very happy and grateful where they are right now and they will keep pushing.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
We would say it’s a smooth road with a bump in the way. There’s always challenges and obstacles along the way that made us to be more motivated and to focus on our goal. Sometimes it’s not consistent 100% but that what keep us to strive more and become better than yesterday. Driving back and forth for 4 hrs is one of the obstacle. But we think if you have the same vision and goal and you are both in the same page whatever the struggles are, you both make it work and make it happen. Also with the people around us guiding and supporting us also help us to overcome those challenges. Practice session become challenging for us because we only see each other during weekends so we only practice during that 2 days and sometimes if we have competition that weekend we just practice in the event itself. We did tried to do virtual practice after work but it is different feeling because dancing is a partnered skill and you should do it together to practice the connection, the steps together, the body movement and etc. But we always make it work. We would say time is our great challenge here, we are both in different state and we only have so much time to do and accomplished things to make our dancing in a better position.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
We are both working in a great company Fred Astaire Dance Studios. We teach in all level of student from no experience in dancing at all to high level competitive dancer. We teach a lot of variety of student like wedding couple, junior student (kids), social dancers, husband and wife, single person and even people just wanna have fun. We are proud of what where doing right now with our work nurturing their lives physically, mentally, socially and emotionally through dancing. With our dancing career we are very proud sharing it to the floor with great dancers all over the world and to the people who we have touch their lives to become motivated to dance as well and appreciate our passion to dance. We love how they know and see our dedication and love for dancing.
Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
For those couples and individual who are just starting out keep pushing and always remember why you doing this. Enjoy the process dancing is about expression and connection not just technique. Have fun and appreciate the journey. There will be challenges and struggles along the way use that to become more motivated and better. Like the saying “Life is always a test, never say never”. Be patient progress takes time. It’s normal to feel frustrated at times, but consistency and practice lead to improvement. Always have fun. Life is better when you dance.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jeff.judith_official
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61559750077571
