AFTER gaining an almost perfect score at a nationwide talent search, former Salinggawi member Kristel de Catalina has found her way to the top, and that is through dancing on a spinning, aerial and spiral pole.
The 32-year-old single mother earned a score of 99.67 percent from the public and judges’ votes which made her the grand champion of “Pilipinas Got Talent: Season 6” on ABS-CBN.
Her winning performance, a routine to Canadian singer Celine Dion’s “All By Myself,” was dedicated to her 6-year-old son, Troy, and to all single mothers.
“Ngayon, nakikita ko na lahat ng ginawa ko para sa anak ko talaga. It was an amazing experience na after [k]ongma-stress at [mahirapan], [I knew that] the reward, will be for my son and his [future],” she told the Varsitarian.
De Catalina initially caught much attention during the auditions with her routine of Lea Salonga’s version of “I Dreamed A Dream” from the musical “Les Miserables,” receiving the “Golden Buzzer” that sent her directly to the semi-final round.
“The pressure of competing is really high, it will not only train yourself but it will develop you as an artist and pushyou to level up,” she said.
De Catalina’s passion for dancing began at a young age. She was influenced by her father who was also a dancer and choreographer.
An avid fan of the University’s official dance troupe, De Catalina took up interior design in UST and immediately auditioned to Salinggawi Dance Troupe.
“Pangarap ko maging Salinggawi [kaya] ang saya-saya ko[noong] nakapasok ako pero hindi ako ‘yung sobrangmagaling na kasi wala akong background, pero doon akonatuto,” she said.
De Catalina was part of the 2006 Salinggawi team thatcapped the group’s five-peat championship at the UAAP Cheerdance Competition with a record-high average of 94.96 points.
After two years of working as an interior design consultant, she joined a local contemporary dance company called “Airdance.”
“I realized that I still wanted to be a dancer. Naramdamanko ‘yung calling ni Lord na I have the skills and the passion to go back to dancing,” she said.
She now teaches pole dancing at Beast House Pole and Aerial Dance Studio, a pole and aerial dance studio located at Kapitolyo, Pasig. She established the dance center with fellow aerial artists and dancers.
The pole athlete specializes in pole dancing but she can also do routines using cube apparatuses and aerial ropes, which she used in her semi-final round performance in the talent show.
The Antipolo native began pole dancing in 2012. She bagged her first win in the field the same year at the Vie and Vault Amateur Pole Dance Competition in Manila.
Since then, de Catalina has been joining local and international pole dancing competitions.
She recently won the Solo Professional Pole Women’s Category Award and Best in Choreography Award at the 2017 AIRSTARS Asian Aerial Dance Art Competition in Taipei, Taiwan last October.
