Kris-Belle P. Mamangun
Contemporary Dance
Kris-Belle P. Mamangun is a versatile independent performing artist, dance teacher, coach, choreographer, fitness instructor, and director. Her dance journey began at the age of 9 in her hometown of Davao City under the guidance of Carmen D. Locsin at the Locsin Dance Workshop. She then moved to Manila to further her training and performed lead and principal roles with Ballet Philippines (BP), where she had the opportunity to work with renowned teachers and choreographers like National Artist for Dance Agnes Locsin, National Artist for Dance Alice Reyes, Denisa Reyes, Noordin Jumalon, Rami Levi, and Frank Ohman, to name a few.
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Kris-Belle holds a Bachelor's Degree in Performing Arts Major in Dance from DLS-College of Saint Benilde. In 2005, she became a part of the opening team for Hong Kong Disneyland's The Festival of the Lion King, and in 2008, she accepted a featured artist and lead alternate role in Cirque Du Soleil's ZAIA in Macau, China.
Since returning to Manila in 2012, Kris-Belle has been a guest artist in various dance productions both locally and internationally, including Agnes Locsin's LA REVOLUCION FILIPINA (Ballet Philippines), PUNO SERIES (Locsin Dance Workshop), and ELEMENTOS (Locsin Dance Workshop), as well as Alvin Tolentino's TRACING MALONG (Co. Erasga, Canada), FRANKLY SPEAKING (Steps Dance Project), and recently as the Babaylan in the very successful re-staging and run of Agnes Locsin’s ENCANTADA with Alice Reyes Dance Philippines.
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Apart from her performances, Kris-Belle continues to develop herself in choreography and teaching dance. She is an ABT® Certified Teacher and has completed the ABT® Teacher Training Intensive in Pre-Primary through Level 3 of the ABT® National Training Curriculum. She is also a certified Romana’s® Pilates Level 5 Instructor and a certified Progressing Ballet Technique® instructor. Additionally, she has attended workshops and seminars, such as Agnes Locsin's Choreography Intensive in Davao City, Cynthia Lochard's Continuing Professional Education in Romana's Pilates, and Maria Sison-Wright's Foot and Ankle Anatomy Series.
Paloma Laforteza
Jazz Dance
Paloma Laforteza started her dance training at the age of 5, taking lessons at Steps Dance Studio under the tutelage of Eurica Balagtas, her parents James and Liesl Laforteza, and Sofia Zobel Elizalde.She began with ballet, then later progressed onto jazz at age 6, and modern at age 12. Paloma performed in numerous shows and recitals with Steps and has had the privilege to work with guest teachers, choreographers, and dancers from all over the world. Some of the teachers she has been able to work with are Maribeth Roxas-Dobrish, Flavio Salazar, Lyn Wallis, and Sascha Radetsky. She also had the privilege to experience teaching classical ballet, jazz, and contemporary dance classes at Steps at the age of 17.
She was also able to compete under the guidance of her Steps teachers and coaches at the Philippine Dance Cup during 2016 and 2018, where she placed 7th in the classical solo division and the Joy Coronel Award for Contemporary Dance over the respective years.
In 2019, she was given a full scholarship to the Kaatsbaan Extreme Ballet summer dance intensive in New York, where she had the opportunity to train with Martine Van Hamel, Sascha Radetsky, Stella Abrera, Margo Sappington, Lorin Mathis, John Meehan, Jessica Lang, and Kevin McKenzie. Later that year, she joined Ballet Philippines as a BP II scholar and began training under Alice Reyes and Adam Sage. She performed as a corps member for the company's productions of Cinderella and Itim Asu. In 2020, she conducted improvisation and creative movement classes for kids at Galaw.Co Dance Theater and Studio Dance by Lina. In the same year, she was promoted to Ballet Philippines Core Dancer, under the tutelage of Artistic Director Mikhail Martynyuk. During her time as a Core Dancer, she performed numerous roles in the company's productions of "Fantasy on Christmas Eve", "Paquita", "Equus, Bolero, and other Dances", "The Nutcracker", and "Diyosa".
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Paloma is now a Ballet Philippines alumni and is currently preparing for the Royal Academy of Dance Professional Dancers' Teaching Diploma Program 2023, which will be held in the RAD London Headquarters. In this program, she will learn about current learning and teaching theories and strategies as applied to different dance teaching contexts. Upon graduation from the program, she will gain eligibility to register as an RAD certified teacher and begin teaching the RAD syllabus. Paloma has always found joy in teaching and sharing her experiences and knowledge to younger dancers, hoping to help shape young artists into full-fledged professional dancers. She finds great joy in being a part of young artists' journeys and seeing their growth, passion, and drive. It greatly inspires her to keep creating, keep learning, and keep dance alive.
Jeremiah Carcellar
Street Dance
Dance is Jeremiah's number one passion. He has been dancing for over 10+ years, with experience in concert production, team directing, international competitions, and teaching for various schools & commercial companies.
In 2012, he competed in the olympics of streetdance, the World Hip Hop Championships, and took home the Gold Medal as he represented the Philippines with his team, The Crew.
Since then, he has expanded his knowledge for his craft. He continues to pursue learning opportunities for himself, to better himself as a teacher for his students. Most of all, his most important belief is that dance is fun. This is something he hopes to pass to everyone who takes his classes.
Patricia Obial
Ballet
Patricia Obial is an alumna and graduated as a full scholar at De La Salle College of Saint Benilde under the Bachelor of Performing Arts Major in Dance program. She began her dance training at the age of five at Academy One Music and Dance Center under the tutelage of Cherish Garcia, Jeffrey Espejo, and Pamela Asprer-Espejo. She has taken the Royal Academy of Dance and the Australian Conservatoire of Ballet examinations from 2009 to 2013.
During her stay in Benilde, she performed in different dance productions and created numerous works. In 2018, she directed and choreographed "Gray Matter," a dance thesis production.
Currently, she teaches ballet at Academy One and plays a part in the creatives team of Dance by Lina Dancewear. Patricia is also a Level 2 certified teacher of Progressing Ballet Technique.
Din Casillan
K-Pop Dance
Din is a life-long student of dance. She started her formal training in 2002 at the Assumption Antipolo School of Classical Ballet, eventually landing lead roles in two school productions: Alice In Wonderland and Paquita. In 2012, she shifted her focus to street dance. She became a member of the UP Street Dance Club and The Crew, training under various mentors and exploring street styles such as house, waacking, and hip hop, among others. She represented the team in both local and international competitions, and served as the competition team captain from 2015-2016.
Since 2016, she has been pursuing a career in dance and dabbling in other genres, such as jazz, contemporary, and more recently, K-pop. Currently, she is a company member of AXIS PH, performing in corporate events as well as shows with local celebrities. She is also a faculty member at Kidlat Dance Studio, Greenhills. She is the newest addition to the roster of Academy One faculty.