Dancer/healer Ea Torrado came from the school of hard knocks. She never met her father; her mother worked as an overseas Filipino worker, while her grandfather raised her and supported her dream of becoming a performer. He would even carry her through the floods in Pasay to get to her class at Ballet Manila (BM).

When he died, Torrado, then 14 years old, was devastated. She found solace in dance in BM and later as a member of Ballet Philippines.

After working abroad, she formed her own contemporary dance company, Daloy (flow), which became popular with the millennial audience. But the success came with the pressure to deliver more shows and workshops.

Beachside therapy

On a full-moon evening on the beach, the burnt-out Torrado started to dance with abandon, completely forgetting technique.

“It was like play and an emotional release. I laughed and cried. It became a catalyst,” she recalls.

Torrado had since followed her instincts in getting a certification in yoga and reiki; being mentored in tarot card reading; taking courses with prominent healers such as Donna Eden and Jeffrey Allen; and teaching herself sound healing with crystal singing bowls.

Though the dance world shamed her for not being thin or perfect enough, she used her experiences in teaching dance movement therapy, which addressed physical or psychological issues of her clients.

During the pandemic, Torrado folded up Daloy, moved to the beach in La Union and has been offering energy healing modalities both on-site and online.

Healing could be an intervention such as reiki, the use of hands to deliver energy to address pain and depression, or sound healing for relaxation, and dance movement therapy for freedom from inhibitions. The healing could also be an outcome, such as a realization or a solution to the client’s problem after a series of tarot card readings.

As a healer, Torrado performs with deep concentration and clear intention while demonstrating compassion.

“The common aim is to clear stagnant, tense or blocked energies and to recharge that energy in the body so that it’s stronger and balanced,” she explains, adding that the healing modalities promote spiritual growth.

“In movement meditation, we talk about why they are here, and what they want to work on. Some want freedom to move while others are curious about it. To some, dance is an outlet for their emotions,” she says.

Torrado pulls from her resources—contemporary dance, physical theater, yoga and ascetic dance, which is a contemplative style. The Gaga movements and somatic dance are forms that enable them to tune in to their physical and emotional sensations, to let the feelings drive their movements and to free up tension.

Each session begins with opening the client’s spiritual portal, a mindset that looks into how the individual transcends the physical world and opens up to spiritual energies.

“Another common denominator is that I use psychic mediumship. I call the angels, the spirit guides and the ascended masters and become a channel. In sound baths, I become clairsentient (reading the emotions) and clairaudient (hearing messages). I hear their spirit guides who tell how these clients can become more receptive through sounds,” explains Torrado. She notes that she is merely a channel who facilitates the therapy.

Unrequited love

In tarot card readings, querents, a term for people seeking consultation, usually ask about their love life, or the prospects for the coming year or a new business.

One querent kept a cool façade during the reading. However, the tarot reading revealed that he was emotionally wrecked after a breakup. He tried to numb the pain but he ended up crying in the 90-minute session.

“I channeled, and the angels said he must feel it to heal it. Those emotions get stuck in the body. He had to do some processing,” she says.

“The tarot card doesn’t judge other people. The reading mirrors what you have not been acknowledging in the deep recesses of your psyche. It advises you to make a shift.”

During a three-week consultation, a client based in Japan filed for divorce so that she could be with her lover. Suddenly, her husband got into a freak accident and was nearly in a coma at the hospital. She realized that she couldn’t leave her husband with no one to take care of him.

After eight months, she decided stay with her husband for fear that if she got sick, no one would look after her. It turned out that her lover was abusive.

“She finally got her sh-t together after her husband’s accident,” says Torrado.

The client’s “portal” is closed with an incantation and a prayer, thanking the angels and the spirit guides. Torrado then “cleanses” herself by mentally letting go of whatever occurred during the consultation.

“The seaside and gardening have been soothing to me,” she adds.

With the reopening of the economy, Torrado has been receiving invitations to dance, particularly events that require some ritual.

“Performing can be egoistic. In one of my meditations, my download was that this is a new chapter in my life—being a channel of divine energy in a performance.” —CONTRIBUTED

Contact @eatorrado on Instagram; email [email protected]; visit eatorrado.net