SHE meant to look sensational and she was. Candidly admitting she wore a “shocking two-piece apple green costume which highlighted my toned body,” Edna Ledesma Asana took command of the dance floor with favorite dance partner John Derick Co, and blasted 90 other couples out of the competition to grab gold in the Senior Latin Category of last year’s Blackpool Dance Festival in England.

“Most of the couples come from Europe such as England, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Russia, Italy, France, etc. as well as Australia and the U.S.,” Edna recounted in an email interview with ONE PHILIPPINES. “Generally, there are only 5% Asians and we were the only Filipino couple.”

The competition, held for the last 82 years, is said to be the biggest and most prestigious amateur dance competition in the world. Held at an arena in Blackpool, England, the contest features live orchestra music playing Latin music and standards to which thousands of the best dancers in the world compete under five categories, including amateur, senior, professional, formation teams, and one for under-21s. The competition runs for a week.

It was not Edna’s first try at Blackpool. She has been competing since 1997 and tasted her first win in 2003. The eliminations are rigorous. In 2005, five-round elimination reduced 90 competing couples to 48, then 24, then 12, until they were down to six. “In 2003-2004, we came to a very close second to Spain who was very good, and another strong rival which was the Czech Republic couple. When Spain retired last 2005, it didn’t automatically mean we were the winners. We really danced our way to grab to the finals.”

Vibrant and Effortless

Edna and John did more than land in the finals. They won. “Judges thought we were a bright, energetic, happy-looking couple who danced like a young amateur couple,” Edna recounted. “They said we moved fast and looked vibrant and effortless on the floor, plus we had good rhythm.”

At Blackpool, Edna and demonstrated their practiced and natural Pinoy abilities on the cha-cha, samba, rumba, paso doble and jive.

“Winning Blackpool gave us a lot of recognition by our own dancing community, on TV and print,” Edna said. “We have job offers to teach in different parts of the world and we do shows from time to time.”

Edna and John had been competing separately in Asia, the U.S. and the U.K. since 1997. Edna began joining international dance competitions since 1996. She was ready to quit the competition circuit when her Australian coach, Marita Withers suggested she moved to the Senior Amateur group, “which means that I compete against couples my age,” she explained. “She said most likely I can make it top 6. So that’s mainly the reason why I hooked up with my senior partner, John Co.”

Always the star dancer

Edna has danced all her life. From the age of eight up to the time she was 21, she was enrolled in ballet, jazz, Hawaiian and Tahitian dance classes. She was a natural standout. At St. Scholastica’s College, where she attended elementary and high school, and De La Salle University, where she was a Marketing Management major, she was a cheerleader, a performer, an actor, choreographer and belonged to dance and drama clubs. “Even when I started working, I was always the ‘star’ dancer.”

When ballroom dancing swept the Philippines in the Eighties, Edna embraced the opportunity to become the best she always had been. She flew to Atami, Japan where she danced every night for six months. There she met Tetsuo Asano, a “westernized Japanese” who lived in the U.S. for many years. They married in 1984 and Edna became a fulltime wife and mother, raising three children: eldest daughter Sabrina Mako, now 21 and a graduating student at the Ateneo University; David Yuzo, 19, a culinary student of the International School of Culinary and Hotel and Restaurant Management; and Jacob Akira, 14, a high school freshman at La Salle in Greenhills.

When her husband died of cancer in 1993, Edna returned to what she knew best. She opened her own dance studio at home, was a mainstay for nine months in the TV show Eezy Dancing, and began competing in earnest as an amateur. In September 2005, she finally decided to compete under the professional category.

Saw herself on top

And do her children like what she does for a living?

“My children during the last five years have fully understood my profession because this is my source of livelihood now. When I started, for the first three years, they resented my time away from home and my change of lifestyle. Now they are so proud and supportive of me.”

After all, her sacrifices were many. “Well, I almost don’t have a social life because my day-to-day life is based on practices.... I was always physically exhausted, yet hung on, focused on my goal to be a great dancer, (and) I could imagine reaching the top.”

The ageless stunner (“Should I really tell you my age...above 35 definitely, ha-ha!”), who has kept pork and beef off her diet but admits that her “downfall” are potato chips and cakes (“I just love them!”), wants to “inspire the youth to pursue their passion in life.” She added, “Live to the fullest, enjoy all the simple and the big things that God has given us. Make your country proud of you. Be grateful for every moment, because all that we have is temporary.”

Contact Edna Ledesma Asano at her home dance studio. 16 Molave Ave., Molave Park, Merville, Parañaque, Metro Manila, Philippines. Tels. (632) 8212438 , 822 0843. Mobile (63) 917 628 2477. Email. ednaledesmaasano@yahoo.com.ph.