Rooted in movement
At Nude Floor, everyone is welcome to find and nurture the dancer within
By September Grace Mahino
April 24, 2025
In defiance of the stereotypical dance studios shown in plenty of movies—cramped and dim rehearsal spaces that are barely more than a converted storage area—Nude Floor, located at the third level of Ayala Malls Circuit in Makati, is bright and expansive, inviting not only movement but deep, steadying breaths. It’s both freeing and grounding, the openness balanced by the warm and earthy flesh tones that color its walls and floor. “Whenever people enter the place, we want them to feel that the floor is theirs,” says Nude Floor’s marketing director Ina Tirthdas. “It’s a space for them to transform themselves, and also to transform the place into whatever they want it to be.”
In fact, the team behind the establishment deliberately left out adding the word “studio” to its name to mitigate any immediate connotation with dance. Instead, they went with “nude,” not just to identify the literal color of the dance floor but also to expand the place’s possibilities. “It can signify different things: Nude, meaning empty and stripped down. Nude, meaning unclothed. Nude, as in blank.”
It’s all part of Shayna Cua’s all-encompassing vision for the Filipino dance community. As Nude Floor’s creative director and co-founder (with her husband, Byron Hontiveros), she dreams of seeing dance be welcomed and embraced in the Philippines as a legitimate art form alongside fine art: an avenue for creative expression and storytelling, not just of physical mastery and flexibility.
Originally a dancer from Melbourne, Cua left dancing behind when she moved to Manila. “I worked in the fashion industry for two years, and there, I got to meet so many Filipino creatives,” she shares. However, as an outsider, she also observed how dancers weren’t really seen as a part of Manila’s greater creative community. “And that was weird because the dance community here is huge. How come it was separate?” Dance seemed to be treated as something in service of either commercial entertainment or competitive spectacle. Rarely did it intersect with other art forms, unlike in Cua’s experience back in Australia. “I wanted to create things with people I’ve met here, like the DJs, musicians, designers…basically, anyone who wanted to come together and create projects,” she recalls, “‘Where can we do that?’ That’s how Nude Floor came to be.”
Artistic movement built on proper technique
Six years after it first opened its doors, Nude Floor has built a community where dance, in its many forms, is a vehicle for artistic movement and creative collaboration. Even with the wealth of dance studios in Metro Manila, its approach to teaching makes it unique. Students can book slots for popular genres such as hip-hop, jazz, contemporary, dancehall, and femme, and they also have the opportunity to delve into the likes of house, waacking, vogue, popping, and locking with the studio’s foundational classes.
According to Cua, building and strengthening proper technique is important, no matter a dancer’s skill level. “That’s where everything starts. It also makes dance accessible to those trying for the first time. When expressing yourself through movement, it’s good to know the basics first so you know what muscles to use and how.” Beginner-level classes also offer a deeper understanding of the culture that gave birth to each genre, providing context to every movement and the rhythm that spurs them.
The variety of genres offered also considers where each potential student is coming from. “The idea is for someone to find their style, their movement,” Tirthdas explains. “If someone tries popping, it might not feel natural to them, but they might fare better at femme class. There’s a way to find the kind of dance that fits your personality.” Indeed, with no singular dance crew attached to its name, Nude Floor welcomes individuality rather than uniformity. “We want to empower individuals to find their own artistry in movement instead of molding them to fit a specific style,” Cua says. “Nude Floor is a place where you can be who you are.”
Getting into a creative flow
Aside from dance classes, Nude Floor also offers Nude Floor Sessions that gather students and creatives from different disciplines. An example is Dynamic Dance, a workshop where illustrators of different levels explored gesture drawing using dancers as live models.
“Obviously, dance is about movement so everything we offer hinges on that,” says Tirthdas. “But we also want to expand beyond it.” The way the team behind Nude Floor sees it, for dance to be embraced by the wider creative community, it should not only coexist but also co-create with other art forms. “I, for example, am not a dancer. I knew how to appreciate dance but I didn’t really approach it the way a dancer like Shayna does. So how do we bring that point of view to the general public?” Cua adds, “We make sure that for these activities, we invite people from different industries: photography, graphic design, fashion, music, etc. to share their artistry.”
Nude Floor’s The Gallery is a bigger-scale project dedicated to integrating dance with other art forms. With each of its shows an immersive experience, The Gallery provides a platform for local creatives from various disciplines to perform or produce artworks. At the same time, it proposes newer ways to curate an integrative and perception-based event. Its first presentation was “A Night of Sensory Exploration,” held in 2023, followed by this year’s “Temporality: Contours of the Present.” Both events tapped dancers, musicians, and visual and multimedia artists to present the audience with a fully sensorial experience. “The Gallery is really representative of us, especially its collaborative spirit not just with the artists but the whole Nude Floor community,” Cua says. “It’s a lot of work to mount but the hope is to make it an annual event.“
In further support of its community of dancers, Nude Floor has also established a movement agency to help teachers and members book gigs and performances. “Since we don’t have a specific dance group performing as our crew, with the agency, I find the right people to come and create with, depending on what a project calls for,” Cua explains. “If some of the dancers want to choreograph, we can help them with that. As creatives, we want to show people what we can do. Hopefully, it can lead to dance being a full-time and sustainable profession for our members.”
By stripping dance of its popular connotations, Nude Floor has discovered a richer, more inclusive way of celebrating it. In the process, it is steadily becoming known as the go-to place for artists looking for a collaborative space. Cua concludes, “Ultimately, we want to give people a platform to simply create—not just dancers but different kinds of creatives.”
***
Nude Floor is located at the third level of the Ayala Malls Circuit, Makati City. Visit its website, follow Nude Floor on Instagram @nudefloor, and email [email protected] for inquiries on class schedules, fees, and creative collaborations. Photos are by Gab Villareal, courtesy of Nude Floor.
Get in touch with CREATEPhilippines by emailing us at [email protected]. Want to be part of our creative community and have the chance to be featured on CREATEPhilippines? Sign up and register for our Directory of Creatives here. Join our Viber community, too, and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, X, and LinkedIn to be updated on the creative events that we’re promoting.
