Ballet Manila
“Rebels” is how Ballet Manila artistic director/principal dancer Lisa Macuja-Elizalde describes the founding members of her 10-year-old ballet company.
“We were dancers from the country’s two major ballet companies (Ballet Philippines and Philippine Ballet Theatre) coming together to form our own with an alternative mission to make ballet regular entertainment fair for the masses,” says Macuja-Elizalde. “Ballet in my country right now is an art form that is considered unaffordable and elitist. Our goal has been to change that by exploring new ways of presenting ballet.”
Macuja-Elizalde, a former dancer with Russia’s Kirov Ballet, has guided the company forward with that mission since its inception in 1995. Now the company performs most of its more than 300 annual performances in Star City, a sort of miniature Disneyland owed by Macuja-Elizalde’s husband, Fred J. Elizalde.
In the park’s two large theaters, Ballet Manila presents a mix of story ballets such as Swan Lake and Giselle, along with contemporary and folkloric works. One of the company’s most popular offerings is Circus de Ballet, a series of 30-minute mini-stories that mix ballet with circus elements. With themes from fairytales, legends and religion, the ballets created by Macuja-Elizalde and a full production team are designed to play to a wide ranging audience. And Macuja-Elizalde says that during the park’s peak season, the company performs these circus ballets up to eight times a day.
Ballet Manila also reaches the masses with its “Ballet and Ballads” concerts, in which the dancers perform with popular Filipino singers, and with tours internationally and throughout the country, occasionally performing at the state-run Cultural Center of the Philippines.
Unlike the country’s two more established ballet companies, Ballet Manila is not state funded and relies on performance revenue to pay its dancers. Its 48 dancers work without contracts and are paid per performance.
“Even though we don’t have contracts, we are like one big family,” says company member Jennifer Olayvar. “The company offers healthcare benefits and is accommodating in our work schedule.”
Celebrating her 20th year as one of the Philippines’ most lauded prima ballerinas, Macuja-Elizalde is carrying on a tradition of strong classical training for her dancers as well as an emphasis on classical repertoire. Her focus has produced a number of dancers who compete and place in international competitions and include former company member Christine Rocas (now with The Joffrey Ballet), who received a silver medal at the 2005 New York International Ballet Competition, as well as current company soloist Gerardo Francisco, a finalist in several competitions.
“It is very exciting to perform almost every day,” says Francisco, a modern dancer before he joined the company three years ago. “I love to dance, and I think the company’s approach to ballet has struck a chord with Filipino audiences.”
Perhaps not the rebels they once were, Ballet Manila has now taken its place among the Philippines’ elite dance companies, while still maintaining an ongoing drive to reach and educate at a grassroots level.
Steve Sucato is a dancer turned writer/critic based in Erie, PA. He writes regularly for several newspapers.
