AC talks about the importance of staying true to yourself.
“I want people to know me as me. Always just be yourself, be unique, and don't let other people judge the way you are.”
Every now and then, a fresh artist comes to the fore and proves to be a real world-class talent. They’re not just someone who can battle it out onstage with local peers and win four times out of five. We’re talking about an artist with enough energy, innate charisma, and obvious talent to make it among the big guns. Without a doubt, singer-dancer-actress AC Bonifacio fits this bill—and she’s only 18.
Of course, teenage years are supernovas of creativity. This is when a person spends a formative thousand hours holed up in her bedroom, scrawling poetry and confessionals in journals, mixing heart-crafted original music on Garageband, or, in AC’s case, perfecting her dancing, which is already pretty close to perfect. Click on any of her self-uploaded dance covers on her YouTube channel and you’ll quickly find that you don’t have to be a dancer by any stretch to be mesmerized by her skill. The bubbly teen shared that she started dancing when she was three years old, which means she’s technically had 15 years to get to her level now. But it would be unfair to use her tenure as an emulatable timeline for how long it should take to unlock her commanding sense of rhythm. It’s clear that she was born to dance, and one really can’t put an age on how good she is at what she does.
AC Bonifacio for Preview.ph October 2021
Watch AC dance and promptly forget that a body is made of bones. Remember that pencil trick we used to practice in grade school? The one where you lightly grip the pencil's end and shake it, tricking the eye into seeing the pencil unstiffen into a wiggle? That’s the image that came to mind upon watching her 2020 performance of Justin Bieber’s “Yummy” on Matt Steffanina’s YouTube channel. He taught her the choreography on the spot, and it only took her seven minutes and 43 seconds to get it down pat. Of course, she nailed the whole chorus sequence on her second try, breezing through silky-smooth shoulder movements, hyper-precise footwork and tight spins, all the while deploying the animated facial expressions that make each and every one of her performances so connective. Her dancing is perfectly legible, crispy, and neat. Yet she lets her movements flow into each other so seamlessly that it’s hard to tell when one piece of choreo ends and another begins. Her body can cradle and crack every tic and reverberation of the music, almost as if the track only plays because she’s dancing it. She never has to chase the tempo—it’s almost as if the flick of her wrist itself triggers a rimshot, while the whip of her hair strums a perfect major chord. Never out of breath and always in the pocket of the beat, she dances the music to life. AC is always so impossibly, eloquently in sync with the music, which makes her an absolute joy to watch.
Yellow Jacket, LA GLAMOUR QUEEN. Orange Co-ords, STYLIST'S OWN.
You could say she’s an articulate dancer, as she has as many movements in her body as a person has words in their vocabulary. AC herself introduced this comparison between writing and dancing during her interview.
“I use dance as my diary because I don’t write. I’m not good with my words. So that’s what I use dance as: my diary, to express how I'm feeling, how I am. If I'm angry, I'll dance. If I'm happy, I'll dance, whether that's on stage, or in my room in private,” she said. Interestingly, this comparison is built into the word “articulation” itself—besides being a synonym for “eloquent”, the word is also used to refer to how much movement is allowed in a joint. So it looks like AC isn’t too far off when she enthusiastically describes dance as a “universal language.” She recounted a time when she took a class under a Korean instructor. “He [couldn’t] speak English at all and didn’t understand [it], and I obviously don’t understand Korean either, but the moment I stepped into his class and he started teaching, we understood each other so well. We were hyping each other up,” she said.
“I’ve been able to connect with so many people around the world. Whether it’s in person or online, just through dance. And now that dance is evolving, I’m able to connect with even more people. ‘Cause before I used to be so shy! So dance really became my way to connect and conversate with so many people.”
While other teens keep their diaries tucked under pillows, AC insists on holding hers open for the world to read, never shying away from communicating who she is. Her dance career kicked off in a non-subtle way—that is, via The Ellen Show. She and her dance partner at the time, Lucky Ancheta, didn’t come into Ellen’s radar due to virality, she said; her mom simply sent an email, and the duo, named “Lucky Aces,” was invited. They were both 12 at the time, and delivered two powerhouse performances that could’ve cracked the ground of the Ellen Show stage. As is custom, Ellen gave them gifts, which turned out to be VIP passes to an Ariana Grande show in Vancouver, and the singer ended up asking them to dance on stage with her. A year later, Lucky Aces won the ABS-CBN show Dance Kids, where AC won a management contract with Star Magic, who still manages her to date. This win prompted her to move from Canada to Manila and jump-started her local showbiz career. In 2020, she was cast in the popular American show Riverdale, where she got to show off her dancing chops. Yet she still considers Ellen and Dance Kids the accomplishments she’s most proud of.
Top and pants, LA GLAMOUR QUEEN. Classic Slide in Lemon, CROCS.
“I think it's always been in my mind that I could perform,” AC said. “That's what I wanted to do—I could perform as a dancer around the world and teach classes ‘cause that's what my idols were doing. But I never realized that I could turn it into a career like this, to where I am now, performing on TV like every single week, doing shows and stuff like that. I never realized it could be like that until I got to the Philippines and they showed me that it was possible. And yes, this has been my dream since the beginning. Since I first started dancing, I [have] wanted to perform.”
But she didn’t expect to secure a spotlight as big as the one she has now. She recalls auditioning as early as the age of six and receiving more rejections than she could count. Initially, she thought she’d be a backup dancer, but now, with her fame and post-Riverdale success, she’s living it up. “There wasn’t a moment where I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I can turn this into my career!’ Because even when I’m working like this [doing the interview and cover shoot], I don’t feel like it’s work. I still have fun, I’m still learning something new, and it’s something I love to do at the same time. I’m just having fun here! I wake up early, have fun, go to sleep—I do the same thing every day!” she said.
AC’s image is the perfect vessel for her talent, too. She has a pretty face and silky straight hair, the latter of which serves as a valuable element of her body as a dance instrument. She has the singular gift of being able to wear stiff blazers in tricky colors like fuchsia and chartreuse, yet still appearing exuberantly youthful. It’s clear that she’s someone with a sense of self well beyond her years. She’s not one to chase the fads no more than she chases a beat—she’s comfortable with sticking to a pulse that she finds tried and true. Her style is molded by her love for dance, hip-hop, and the need for comfort since she’s constantly in and out of rehearsals. You’ll often spot her in sweatpants, oversized hoodies, and sneakers.
“My style has changed throughout the years. I used to be very boyish, growing up in hip-hop, and I still keep that in me now, but obviously, I've evolved also into being more girly and wearing crop tops and wearing tank tops. But it really varies from what I'm feeling and what I'm dancing and how my day is gonna be,“ she said.
While she’s no stranger to wearing high heels, (she once taught Boy Abunda to floss while wearing white pumps), she does love a comfy, creative shoe. In addition to her sneakers, one of her prized steppers is a pair of Crocs, adorned with Jibbitz letters that proudly declare, “I’m AC, I dance.”
“I walk around in them with my friends ‘cause they also have some. Some say, ‘I dance,’ or ‘I act,’ or some say ‘funny’. We like to use our Jibbitz in that way. It’s just really fun!” she said. Jibbitz famously come in different niche designs, too, making it the perfect accessory for expressive artists like AC and her friends.
Jacket and Tube Top, BLACK CODE MANILA. Pants, STYLIST'S OWN. Classic Hiker Clogs in Black Multi, CROCS.
According to her, she’d been wearing Crocs since she was a kid, as we all were. But the platypus bill-shaped pair from our childhoods is now very much an au courant must-have, given the burgeoning chunky shoe trend that’s equal parts exhilarating and odd. As of late, fashion girls from all shores have been rediscovering just how crucial statement-making pieces are to one’s wardrobe. In a world where real voices are so easily drowned out by white noise, it makes sense to let what you wear amplify what you have to say. Rock funky prints, monochromatic ensembles, heaps of beaded accessories, or a pair of brightly-hued Crocs festooned with Jibbitz that relay your interests. Wear anything that makes you feel like yourself.
“My style philosophy is that my style or my fashion should only enhance my character and how I am,” AC told Preview. “And I guess that's also a way for me to bring in my Crocs, ‘cause that's a way for me to express myself and to show my creativity, and just to be myself and match with my uniqueness and my personality.” The world’s your stage, and you’re welcome to dress the part.
Classic Platform Clogs in White, CROCS.
If you Google AC, you’ll read that she was born on December 13, 2002, (she shares a birthday with Taylor Swift, by the way), and that she was born in Canada, but is a full Filipina. You’ll also probably see multiple outlets enumerating all the international celebrities she’s met, because, well, there are so many. Most notably, she’s acquainted with the choreographer of BLACKPINK himself. Plus, she has even appeared on Selena Gomez’s Instagram Stories. Selena reposted AC’s dance cover of “Ice Cream,” and it was her supportive mom, lovingly called Tita Cherry by fans, who discovered this, and texted her daughter to check Selena’s profile.
Search her on TikTok and you’ll find that she has 6.3 million followers. Look her up on YouTube and you’ll likely find her channel, which, as of writing, has 2.04 million subscribers. There, she uploaded an hour-long livestream, posted back in April 2021, where she took song requests from fans and sang for over thirty minutes. As it turns out, she also has a twinkling singing voice—she’s a melismatic soprano with a talent for R&B, and she sings almost as confidently as she dances. Aside from the mini-concert, she did several other things during the stream: She answered questions sent in via Twitter, asked fans to help her select a cover image for a TikTok reel she was posting, and also used her phone to film an Instagram Story of her computer screen, meant to show her IG followers that she was livestreaming on YouTube and that they could join in if they were free. In short, she’s a Gen Z girl through and through, a total expert of the manifold systems in which she and her peers live so easily.
Classic Hiker Clogs in Black Multi, CROCS.
Finally, if you type “AC” in the Instagram search bar you’ll be greeted with a barrage of fan accounts—ACnatics, as they like to be called. These fan communities are grouped by city or province. We reached out to a page called the ACNatics Rizal Chapter, which is run by a young person named Norman. The Rizal Chapter is only one of many, many Chapters—in fact there are enough Chapters to constitute a pageant roll call. There is a chapter for Leyte, Bukidnon, Gensan, Iloilo, Pampanga, Bulacan, and so on; there are even some based in Singapore and the U.S.A.. Imagine being 18 years old and having such an organized network of young people across an entire nation rooting for you.
“I am a fan of AC Bonifacio because I truly admire her and the incredible talents she has shown around the world,” said Cristher, a young supporter from the Rizal Chapter. “She has [shown] her dance expertise on a massive level, as well as her acting, singing, hosting, and other abilities. Because of these talents she possesses and because of her kindness, she inspires me to improve myself and not be afraid to show off my talents to others.”
Another supporter, Bianca, said that AC inspires her to be a “confident and independent person.”
"I'm a big fan po ni Ate AC simula pa lang po nung nasa Dance Kids siya,” said Viverly, yet another young fan. She went on to explain that AC always involves her family and her fanbase in her journey, which makes the community so proud of her. “And AC inspire[s] me to be limitless. In-inspire niya ko na i-try lahat ng mga opportunities na makikita ko. At tsaka pinakita niya sakin na dapat try and try lang, hanggang maging successful ‘yung mga plano ko sa buhay.”
Watch any of her vlogs and you’ll see that AC isn’t a particularly intense extrovert. She comes off as a happy, down-to-earth teen who loves skincare and ramen and fries and squeals loudly when she’s excited. She’s vocal about wanting to inspire other kids, but she doesn’t take pains to parade as some Gen Z icon. She just shows up as herself.
Classic Platform Clogs in White, CROCS.
“Being in an industry with so many other artists and so many other people—or even in the whole world, even if you're not in the industry, it is very common to become like someone else. But I try my best to be inspired by other people but at the same time find my own twist to it so that people still know me as AC Bonifacio,” she said.
“I want people to know me as me. Always just be yourself, be unique, and don't let other people judge the way you are.”
We scrolled through plenty of AC’s YouTube and Instagram posts, and never saw a single hate comment. She strikes us as one of those healthy, wholesome celebs who bring out the best in their fans. And it also helps that it’s impossible to hate on her. She has enough big-ticket accomplishments to last a lifetime, yet she still remains meek and humble. Given her age and the upward trajectory of her career, she’s made it clear that she’s just getting started. “Being successful in one project, you shouldn't be satisfied with that success,” she said. “You should always better yourself and one up yourself and succeed in your next project.” Blame it on the sunshine that is her personality, but AC makes staying true to yourself look so easy. And maybe that’s because it is. In case it isn’t, the literal thousands of young people who look up to AC are proof that it’ll always be worth it.
When asked what advice she’d give people who are still scared to express who they really are, AC brought up the value of that fearful feeling. “The scaredness, the nervousness is good. Because it gives you the adrenaline to push even more. And someone will appreciate you,” she said.
“I think, just go for it. Just Y.O.L.O. it! I always say Y.O.L.O. because you really have only one life, and you gotta do what you can without regrets. If people judge you then they judge you! But you're always gonna have people who support you and appreciate you, so do it for them and be yourself for them.”
“And just be happy in your life,” she added. “There you go!”
Styled by Ica Villanueva
Footwear by Crocs (Crocs™ Philippines Official Website | Shoes, Sandals, & Clogs)
Photographed by Koji Arboleda
Hair by MJ Rone
Makeup by Carrell Garcia
Set Design by Alanis Manantan
Art by Cyrille Calderon
Words by Sofia Dearos
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This article was created by Summit X in partnership with CROCS.
