About Us
We have come together to share our love for dancing with our loyal fans
and invite a new generation of followers to join us...
Thank You!
Still Together, Dancing!
Way back in the 60s, when GMA-7 had only 2 studios (and probably only 2 cameras), and Cable TV was just a far-fetched dream, a dance show that literally brought its home audience to their feet was born -- Dancetime With Chito, hosted by the late Chito Feliciano, became every household’s favorite Sunday evening show. It was the first show of its kind, a dance show featuring Latin Dances and audience participation portions through Instructional dancing and guess the Celebrity Shadow. Archie Lacson was a member of this show which helped inspire the next phase which was to be the Penthouse 7 Show.
Archie Lacson dancing in "Dancetime with Chito" which started as a 1 - time TV event and quickly turned into a hot show that lasted almost 10 years.
After Chito Feliciano’s tragic passing, Bibit Duavit, Archie Lacson, and Freddie Garcia conceptualized a dance party show to fill in Dancetime With Chito’s timeslot over a game of golf. Not long after, Penthouse 7 was launched and quickly became The Dance Show to watch every week. Hosted by Archie Lacson, different female co-hosts, and with dancers from the Latin and Modern Groups, Penthouse 7 became the Philippines’ dance party on air from 1974 till 1981.
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Chito Feliciano hosting "Dancetime with Chito".
Penthouse 7 started off as a 1-hour show on GMA-7 (Where You Belong) every Sunday evening. Hosted by Archie Lacson and different female co-hosts, the show was made up of the “Modern Group”: Helen Garchitorena, Anna Garcia, and Joannie Feliciano, Ronnie Henares, Raul Monasterio, Jojo Abella, Mike Monserrat, complemented by the Latin Group: Angie Pineda, Eva Abesamis, Nini Morato, Susan Payawal, Rosie Garchitorena Tito Garcia, Rudi de Leon, and several other notable guests and celebrities. Popular dance steps of the day like the Swing, the Robot, "Locking", the Bump,and many more were popularized and taught during the Instructional portion.
With the entry of the “Disco Fever” in 1975, came a new batch of Modern Group dancers; Ida Ramos, Sandy Hontiveros, and Marlyn Feliciano, who were asked to guest for several shows due to the absence of some of the regular Modern Group dancers, introduced the LA Walk and the New York Hustle. Eventually, they became part of the Penthouse 7 family.
A great article describing Penthouse 7 as a "Dance school & a salve..."
The Penthouse 7 Modern Group at their height, featured in a top magazine for a dance instructional
Penthouse 7 was hot, it introduced the first MTVs, inspired the Recording Companies to create their own dance groups to get their latest albums airplay … it rated so high, the station had to increase the time slot to 1 ½ hours, which meant more numbers were needed to fill the time. New dancers were added to the family; Poncy Quirino, Gina Valenciano, RayAn Fuentes and Pipo Liboro were recruited. The Swing, Pop-Locking, Locking, The Rock, Errol Flynn, and hundreds of Dance Steps were introduced in what can probably be considered the Golden Era of Dance.
Archie and Mike featured in yet another article
We have pulled all our resources together, after much demand online and social media posts of snippets of our show, we were encouraged to come together and be that reminder that dancing is one of the best experiences one can have....bringing us together, forcing us to get into shape and just having fun again after all these years....
RayAn not only conquers dancing but becomes a recording artist
Mike's ability to "lift" Ida and Marlyn at the same time in a dance is featured in a magazine article
Penthouse 7 will be remembered for setting trends, new fashion, introducing the latest dances and music, launching new artists and personalities, and keeping everybody up late on Sunday evenings (We have been told that ours was the only show most parents allowed their kids to stay up for before a school day). School breaks found students dancing
to the latest steps ... all of them from the last episode of Penthouse 7...
The PAME group together with Penthouse 7 conducts dance classes
We reconnected with each other again, during the year of Covid. We met regularly through Zoom, reminisced and laughed a lot. Back in Manila, Philippines... Sandy is still active in the Philippine entertainment scene. Ronnie and Ida Henares continue to manage artists and produce through their Primeline Management and Production, Inc. Marlyn has a family herself and is a consultant for Scholaris School in Palawan, Philippines. Gina is involved with Genesis Management Company, specifically projects of her brother, Gary Valenciano. Anna is an accomplished and in demand choreographer. Poncy is an entrepreneur/marketer. Back in the other side of the world, Mike continued dancing and choreographing for the San Francisco Jazz Dance Company and is an Account Executive in the Medical Field. Pipo is in California, refusing to retire. RayAn continues his ministry internationally from out of Canada, then we found Joannie after several decades....after her stints with CNN, Atlanta and as Director of the ABS-CBN Foundation International, she now lives in Southern California as a businesswoman and... that's when the idea of re-introducing ourselves began.
1978...when Penthouse 7 was still new: L to R ...Joannie, Pipo, Ida, Anna, Mike, Sandy, Poncy, and Marlyn
With Joannie at the helm, we all contributed ideas in her construction of our website and You Tube channel. We are happy with what we've achieved because, together, after all these decades, it's still a fun ride. Whether on a Zoom call or Viber chat, we choreographed and designed a website where we can continue to communicate with our loyal fans and still keep each other close.