Pearl Season

 Ballet Manila celebrates 30th year with well-loved classics

By Earl D.C. Bracamonte 

Now on its 30th year as a premiere dance company, Ballet Manila will be staging full-length classics in celebration of this milestone.

The Pearl Year season opens with the worldwide premiere of "Pearls, " as choreographed by Lisa Macuja-Elizalde together wwithartistic directors Martin Lawrance and Gérard Francisco Jr. The Pearl Gala repertoire opens with "Paquita," which was first performed by Ballet Manila during its first concert some three decades ago.

"This is a wonderful opportunity to emphasize our mission of bringing ballet to the people and people to the ballet; as well as highlight ballet as an art form. We keep moving forward by attracting more audiences to watch ballet performances.

"My mom was a ballet dancer, and I took after her. I started training in Grade 2 as part of extra-curricular activities. Seeing a live performance of the Swan Lake at the CCP made me make up my mind to become a ballerina. Though I had to stop briefly at age 13 when ballet was banned in the 1950s, with regulations seeing the dance form as indecent," shared Ballet Manila chief executive Lisa Macuja-Elizalde. 

The Gala will also present "Bloom," with a male-dominated corps de ballet, a unique feature in a ballet company. Ballet Manila started with the project "Ballet Futures" for male ballet dancers' scholarship. It was initially an all-male training program that has, since then, accepted female scholars. Dancer Romeo Peralta is a dad of three, who became a scholar to the program, after dabbling in contact sports and mixed martial arts.

The curtain closes with "Pearls," essaying the slow transition of sand to gem, just like how ballet performers are honed through time. This dance is created in collaboration with Jewelmer. We were told the gem company was very agreeable with the collaboration.

After the "Pearl" performances, Ballet Manila's calendar continues with 'Swan Lake' on May 30, 31, and June 1 with guest performers Katherine Barkman and Esteban Fernandez of the San Francisco Ballet.

The Pearl Season will close with "Don Quixote" on August 22, 23, and 24 with prima ballerina Renata Shakirova. All performances will unfold at the Aliw Theater for both matinee (3pm) and Gala (8pm) shows. 

"After the Pearl Season, audiences will be seeing the repeat performances of such classics as Ibong Adarna, Florante at Laura, Alamat, Tatlong Kuwento ni Lola Basyang, as well as other productions that are geared for families, to bring more people to the performances.

" Dancers make memories, that's our art; one memory to another. Our guest artists from abroad are good for our patronage. New audiences are surprised not only of our international guest performers, but also by the company backing them up," Lisa said in closing, during the Pearl Year launch held at the Shang Mall recently.

For ticket inquiries/reservation, simply visit ticketworld.com.ph. And for further details, check out the company's Web site, www.balletmanila.com.ph.