Mothers do know best; and when a young artist’s mom saw her child’s talent, she immediately looked for a way to nurture it.
At two years old, Worth Lodriga’s motor skills were way advanced for his age that his art could be mistaken for a five-year-old’s. His mother noticed this innate gift when she was teaching him to read and write. She took a quick break and left him to play on his own, and when she returned, she saw her son doodling on the whiteboard.
“I was amazed because I hadn’t seen a two-year-old boy who could draw a human being in 3D,” she shared.
That was the moment she thought of enrolling her son in Promil Four’s i-Shine Talent Camp.
Lodriga joined Promil Four’s i-Shine Talent Camp 4, formerly known as Promil Pre-School’s i-Shine Talent Camp when he was four years old.
During his time at the camp, he explored drawing details, painting, and other arts and crafts activities.
“I enjoyed the experience a lot because I learned how to widen my imagination and make better art,” he said.
This exposure helped pave the way for his professional career as an artist. After joining the talent camp, Lodriga participated in and won several international competitions, including the Frogs Are Green International Art Contest 2016 in New Jersey, where he was pitted against 1,441 entries globally; the 2017 Airtime Watertime International Flotation Suit Design Contest in Santa Barbara, California; the 7-Star Artist Award at the Junior Picasso International Art Contest in India; and the 2017 Student Mars Art Contest in Colorado, USA., where his piece “Where No Man Has Gone Before” won first place.
His latest recognition was the 10th Ani ng Dangal Awards for the Visual Arts category in 2018 where he was honored for garnering international awards from the previous year.
In this year’s edition of the talent camp, six of the country’s best and most recognized mentors have been commissioned to guide and nurture kids’ gifts through meaningful and memorable talent camps across Metro Manila, Cebu, Davao, and Batangas.
Promil Four i-Shine Talent Camp 7 presents teachers Robert Alejandro and Kara Escay for the Art Camp, Maestro Ryan Cayabyab for the
Music Camp, Georcelle Dapat-Sy for the Dance Camp, Audie Gemora for the Theatre Camp, and Lisa Macuja-Elizalde for the Ballet Camp.
Dapat-Sy, the brains behind the country’s premier dance company G-Force, has mentored many young dancers, as well as countless artists. Teacher Georcelle, who believes that anyone can learn to dance, continues to share her knowledge and skills through mentoring kids in the i-Shine Talent Camp.
Warmly known as Mr. C, Cayabyab has proven to be a true musical genius as he received the highest national honor for Filipino artists, the National Artist Award for Music. His gift and passion for music earned him several accolades as a composer, musical director, conductor, and accompanist.
Born into a family of artists, Alejandro is an accomplished journalist, TV show host, and designer. Meanwhile, Escay is an art therapist and co-founder and head teaching artist at Masterpiece Movement, a creative, wholehearted and transformative multi-arts movement which aims to spark hearts, shift views, and stretch ways of being through creativity and the multi-arts.
This season, i-Shine introduces two new camps: Theater and Ballet.
To help bring out participants’ talent in acting is veteran theater actor Audie Gemora. With a three-decade-old career that has seen him playing all kinds of roles, Gemora has been lauded as the “King of Philippine Musical Theatre.”
Lisa Macuja-Elizalde handles the Ballet Camp. The prima ballerina started taking lessons at 8 years old. She was the first foreigner to join Russia’s Kirov Ballet and was the first artist-in-residence of the Cultural Center of the Philippines.
Go to www.promilnurturethegift.com.ph for more information.
Photos from Worth Lodriga/Facebook