HISTORY and BACKGROUND

Origin

The Jojie Felix Velarde Ballet and Dance Workshop was founded in 1960. She is the first Filipina ever to be awarded a ballet scholarship abroad, Joji had trained under Alicia Markova and Totoy de Oyteza. She also the first Filipina to dance the lead role in Sylvia. In two decades of existence, the workshop, which was originally named after its founder, produced famous dancers and teachers such as Edgar Valdez, Tony Fabella, Pinky Puno, Cecille Santos, Joy Coronel, the Sabarre brothers and Tina Santos, who eventually became a member of San Francisco Ballet. 
         

In 1981, Joji turned over her studio to her only daughter Gigi. The Joji Felix Velarde Ballet and Dance Workshop was then re-named as Gigi Felix Velarde Ballet and Dance Fuzion, and has since been under the direction and guidance of Gigi for the past thirty- four years.

The Workshop Concept

The Gigi Felix Velarde Ballet and Dance Fuzion operates on the principle of training anyone and everyone who  professes a willingness and capability to appreciate and learn about dance for the reason, many of its students start out young and upon reaching a professional level of competence, are invited by established dance companies here and abroad to engage in full time careers in the art. While training in the workshop, the students perform primarily not to earn but rather to lean their crafts as well as the rigors of staging events both in the city and out of town; the knowledge and endurance they acquire provide them with the skill which could be applied in the pursuit of individuals careers whether in dance or in other professions. A further advantage of the workshop student is that, unlike in Dance Company workshop training is highly personalized. No matter how large the Gigi Felix Velarde Ballet and Dance Fuzion has grown, there was always been one person who oversees everything – Gigi herself. This with other approaches in dance – a virtue that proves invaluable when the students are ready to venture into higher levels of study and training.

Outreach Program

           In line with its aim of bringing dance to as many potential talents as possible, the Gigi Felix Velarde Ballet and Dance Fuzion has opened outreach classes outside of its traditional base in Metro Manila. Students from as far away as Angeles City, Pampanga, Lipa City in Batangas  and San Pablo City in Laguna have been exposed of heretofore unrealized wonders and beauties inherent in the medium of dance, all the personal supervision of Gigi Felix Velarde. 

      A wide audience for dance is also developed through the presentation of road show performances. The workshop has done cultural performances in major cities outside Metro Manila like Angeles, Baguio, Batangas, Nueva Ecija and Bicol.

          Scholarship

              
         In recognition of the fact not everyone interested in dance can afford to train in it, Gigi Felix Velarde offers scholarship to poor but deserving talents, as well as those who have exhibited great potential in the field.

The workshop believes in training the students to learn different genres of dance, after all the GFV uses the dance to teach values, to educate the person inside and out.