Baguio beauty wins Miss Talent in Charlotte pageant

Elvie Bramich with her costume and 'banga' 

By Susan Palmes-Dennis

Charlotte, North Carolina--When it comes to achieving one's dreams, one has to believe in it enough to motivate oneself into making it a reality. 

This is the truism that Elvie Bramich lives by and she proved it by winning Miss Talent and landing in the top 5 of the Kalayaan at Kagandahan ng Pilipinas pageant held at the Tintin Restaurant in Charlotte, North Carolina last July 7.

The event spearheaded by the Filipino-American Community of the Carolinas, Inc,(FACC) is held to commemorate the annual Filipino-American Friendship Day.

For her winning performance, Elvie realized her dream of dancing the “banga”, a popular folk dance in Baguio City which she represented in the pageant.

Elvie, a bank employee who likes computer technology since she was young, got her inspiration on dancing the banga from seeing women in Benguet province where she was born.

Despite moving to Cebu later on, Elvie didn't stop dreaming about performing the “Sayaw sa Banga” or “Dance of the Jar.” In Benguet, banga is a round pot or jar made of clay used for fetching water.

The challenge lay in balancing the pot or jar on her head and she practiced for two weeks with her mentor and coach Maria Corazon Ducusin, who had been dancing the banga in many major Filipino-American events in Charlotte.

For two painful weeks, Elvie practiced the banga and she had a stiff neck and back pain though she didn't show it. She was thankful to Ducusin for training her and providing her the costume and equipment for her dance.

The event only showed her determination to do things well. She graduated with a Computer Science degree at the Divine Mercy Computer College in the Philippines  and later earned an Information Technology degree at ITT Tech North Carolina. 

She studied for two years and was the class salutatorian. Elvie wanted to be active in fund raisers and ministries. 

Elvie was also thankful to Marjorie Ray for “polishing her steps” and Muffy Therrien, whose birthday celebration theme of “Ms Around The World” that motivated her to join the July 7 pageant.

Lastly, she was thankful to friends, her church Grace Point International Church (GPI) and her family for cheering her on and to the FACC for sponsoring the event.

“The pageant taught me a lot of things....how to be patient and manage my time and be respectful to others by being punctual and maintaining a good attitude towards others at all times,” she said.

Elvie said all the candidates were gorgeous and supportive of each other. “There's no jealousy and cat fights. We just did our thing and had fun the entire time. We supported each other,” she said.

“I definitely gained lots of friends, good, lovely friends. I'll say that the whole experience made me a better person- inside and out,” Elvie said.

Other winners in the show were Bb. Pilipinas Carolinas Eillen de Guzman, Bb. Pilipinas Earth Ashley Faye Perez, Cecilia Tolbert who won Ms Congeniality and Lindsay Carter. 

Other candidates who joined the pageant were Diannah Rose Sumile, Karen Dalton,Marilou Connie Vitug,Nikki and Mellow Shindler.Those who served as judges were Dwayne Asay,Mae Armstead and Muffy Therrien.

The event was choregraphed and produced by Tonette Asay,a trained member of the Philippine Theater Association and a theater scripwriter. 

Amie Ervay and Rob Gorlach provided the entertainment. Gorlach sand two classics ”What a Wonderful World” and “Fly Me to the Moon” while Ervay performed the song “It’s Never Enough.”