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NEW YORK—When Jason Ignacio attended the 24th Annual Mayor’s Arts Awards, the highest distinction given by the District of Columbia to individual artists, organizations, and patrons of the arts, he did so without any expectations.
"There was no way I was going to win. I went to the awards night to have fun," Ignacio recalled. Not only did he have fun that night, Mayor Adrian Fenty of Washington, DC bestowed upon him the Outstanding Emerging Artist Award.
Now, Jason is known in the nation’s capital as the Filipino ballet dancer and choreographer, and yes, the outstanding emerging artist, too.
"I was shocked. To receive this award from the Mayor of Washington, DC was very special. I knew when it happened that this was going to change my life," Ignacio told the Asian Journal in an interview.
Ignacio, now a professional dancer with CityDance Ensemble, began his dance training at the age of 12.
In the Philippines, he trained at Ballet Philippines, Philippine Ballet Theater and Steps Dance Studio. As a member of the Earth Savers Dreams Ensemble for fi ve years, he traveled across Asia, the United Arab Emirates, Europe, and the United States. In 1997 he was sent by the International Theater Institute of the Philippines to study traditional Korean ritual dance at the University of the Theatre of Nations in Seoul, Korea.
At a very young age, Ignacio was conquering the world through dance.
"I don’t come from a well-to-do family so traveling was a luxury but because of ballet, I was able to see parts of the world I only dreamt about before," he said.
In January 2001 and at the age of 19, Ignacio moved to New York City where he continued his dance training with a scholarship at Ballet Hispanico, a fellowship from the Ailey School, and apprenticed for the Bill T. Jones/ Arnie Zane Dance Company. He lived in New York until he moved to Washington, DC in November 2007.
This decision to move halfway across the globe was particularly hard for the young Ignacio but one of his teachers, Sofi a Zobel-Elizalde prodded him to take the New York scholarship.
"She believed I had what it takes to survive in New York," Ignacio shared.
For almost six years, Ignacio battled it out in the Big Apple, until he came to a point when he asked himself if it was all worth it. He thought long and hard and came to a conclusion. He packed his bags and moved to the nation’s capital.
"When I moved here, it felt as if I fi nally found a home here in the States," he said.
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