DIAMONDS | CLASS OF 1964
by Gina M Ordonez
“Let’s dance,” Nena cajoled, pointing her fingers at the audience in the darkened auditorium; “let’s dance, let’s dance,” teased Anna and Kit, swiveling their hips right and left, as they pointed their fingers toward the cheering crowd. Then together with the rest of the Diamond dancers, they circled around singing “t-o-n-i-g-h-t,” leaving the Assumption alumnae, family and friends, standing up and clapping. 1-2-3 clap, 1-2-3 glide as their arms reached heavenward.
All were costumed in glittering silver, some with crowns, some with wings, some with hats, some with boa shawls. Starting with the grace-infused arms of Marivic, Sonjie, MeAnne and Isa, accompanied by the tall, dignified movements of Mariel, Lucille, Mariter and Tisa, they swayed to the tune of “You make me Feel like a Natural Woman”. Moving off stage to allow Susan, Isabel, Mechi and Jingjing to rock to “I’m Every Woman”’ another quick change on stage for the hats group of Jovie, Anna, Gina, Mariel and Nena to tip their hats to the tune of, “I Feel Like a Woman.” Out and in floated Sonjie, CB, MeAnne and Susan with their wide silver wings as they moved their wings to “You Keep me Hanging on”. And lastly Jovie, Kit, Nana, Sonie and Anna wearing mini crowns for the song “The Boss.” All together the dancing queens, tiaras on their heads, gathered for our finale, “Last Dance,” with the “candy caners” Vicky, Tina, Conchita and Jocie, miracle of miracles, taking center stage without their walkers, walking with the support of their classmates.
Under the tutelage of fairy godmother Anna G, the five groups took lessons on how to step and move, helping each other practice on the side when some steps were a bit difficult to manage. Chitchat was par for the course, as the girls started catching up with each other’s lives, or sat watching while the other group took turns in rehearsing. Questions and suggestions were added to the choreography setup, in the end bowing to the final decision of Anna G who called all 25 of us by our first name, with “Tita” in front of it. We became so fond of her that she had to be part of our gang, sooner or later.
The performance went way beyond our expectations when we first gathered at the Henry Sy holding room to see what could be done with our Diamond number. We had remembered that our last performance five years ago as emeralds had been a winner as well, with the music band of Jovie, Anna, Lulu and Connie, starting us off on a rock and roll number with their guitars and drums. And now we were smiling, grinning, happily exchanging greetings of congratulations, some willing to repeat this event all over again.
Another major fairy godmother for us were the Silver Jubilarians (HS’99) who made our lives so enjoyable and comfortable throughtout the many weeks working towards Old Girls Day. Our Velada performance is now immortalized on YouTube for the public but here are photos of behind the scenes.
The informal leaders of the class Sonjie, MeAnne, Nena, Marivic, and Jovie had prepared an itinerary of sorts that included an Icebreaker merienda at Sunshine Place, a visit to the newly renovated Natural History Museum, Ugu Bigyan’s pottery visit, a talk by classmate Dr Dido on an important aspect of our lives, that is, AGING, and a recollection with Fr. Francis Alvarez SJ. Of course, masses and novenas were plentiful, especially for other classmates who were sick or had gone ahead.
Diamonds are forever. The polish of these diamonds was the result of 60 years of smooth as well as rough living since our high school days ending in 1964. Some classmates stayed in touch with each other, others moved overseas or to a different part of the Philippines. We lived the cycle of life – married, working, with children, without children, with grandchildren and without, separated, widowed, etc.
Over 30 years, our class project focused on the Mass Cards spearheaded by Nena for the living and the bereaved. Funds were mainly for scholarships and school supplies for our Assumption missionary schools.
We had gone through four Gem Jubilees at Assumption’s Homecoming, the Velada – from Silver (1989) to Gold (2014), then to Emerald (2019), and finally Diamond (2024) And now we are at the top of our form or at least trying to be, despite being in our mid 70s. Truly, we can proudly say that we are WOMEN OF SUBSTANCE, WOMEN for OTHERS, shaped by an Assumption education that has seen us through thick and thin.
And so, we live with this memory now, the Diamond Jubilarians, who reached out to other batches and their own, as a tribute to our continuing love and kindness and support for each other. May it not fade but be a candle to light our way as we move on to more years of living and going ….