The Ballet Manila Archives is the repository of documents, print, photographic, audio and video materials and memorabilia relating to the history of Ballet Manila and the life and career of its founder, prima ballerina Lisa Macuja-Elizalde. This site is powered by Ms. Elizalde and Project Art, Inc.
Take a look at these scenes from three productions where the various characters use a common focal element, proving the might of the sword.
Ten years later and now a company artist, Gelo is stepping into Don Juan’s shoes for a Ballet Manila performance in Laguna.
Thirteen years have passed since Ballet Manila last staged La Bayadere, a story of love, betrayal, murder, mystery, fate, vengeance and justice.
For Ballet Manila’s full-length productions of La Bayadere, the role of Gamzatti was performed by Marian Faustino, Mylene Aggabao, Sandra Lynn Huang, Jan Erika Basilio and Violet Hong.
Though these three artists have starred in classical ballets, La Bayadere – being a full-length that hasn’t been staged by Ballet Manila since 2013 – is a first for them.
A closer look, however, reveals that the hero may not have been as willing to sacrifice for his temple dancer.
For Ballet Manila’s 31st year, Geri – now Ballet Manila co-artistic associate – is entrusting the role to soloists Jos David Andes and Rafael “Paeng” Perez.
Very few would suspect that its choreographer Marius Petipa was fighting almost every step of the way with prima ballerina Ekaterina Vazem who took on the lead role of Nikiya.
Company artists Marinette Franco and Angelika Tagupa take a lot of pride in corps dancing and are very serious about upholding the tradition of “being a single organism” on stage.
Marius Petipa’s most popular exotic ballet premiered in 1877 at the Imperial Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre, Saint Petersburg to an appreciative audience that immediately hailed it as a masterpiece.
According to the prima ballerina, La Bayadere is considered the most difficult among all the white ballets.
No matter how dark the moment, love and hope are always possible.
Ballet Manila’s tour was a historic feat considering that the dancers were the first Filipino delegates to the International Music Festival of the Asia-Pacific Region in Krasnoyarsk.
As the company prepares to bring it back for a fourth time, we put the spotlight on the souvenir program covers of its previous productions.
“There was that breath in dancing, a quality that’s hardly seen in the younger generation. “
After 16 years, Ballet Manila is bringing back the spectacle in August and here are three good reasons to catch it.
“I wanted something more – something that I had always wanted to do, which was to move to Manila and dance with Ballet Manila,” she shares.
