Ballet Manila showcases mettle as company in 30th anniversary celebration opening

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MANILA, Philippines — Ballet Manila formally opened its 30th anniversary celebration with the Pearl Gala and its worldwide premiere of "Pearls," as well as the restaging of full-length features "Paquita" and "Blooms."

The season opened with "Paquita," a ballet in its purest form, restaged by Tatiana Udalenkova as it pays homage to Ballet Manila's Russian Vaganova roots.

First performed by the company as the main feature of its maiden season in February 1995, the piece is a celebration of its female corps de ballet. The individual snippet solos show the technical abilities of each ballerina. Watching them perform in flawless execution one after the other was like hearing a well-written "revalida" given by a post-graduate student before a colloquium.

On the other hand, "Blooms," by internationally-acclaimed choreographer Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, is a cutting-edge neo-classical piece that is distinctly Asian in tradition. A showcase of the male corps de ballet, this piece celebrates the company's Ballet Futures Program, where male students are given dance scholarships. The program now accepts female dancers. Looking at all the male dancers perform was just a testament of how long the company and its outreach has gone.

Ochoa, who also choreographed the current "Frida" show for the Hong Kong Ballet, flew to Manila a few days before the Pearl Gala to fine tune her "Blossom" routine. And the result was hypnotic!

This writer particularly loved the quartet of ballerinas who spun around the stage, whirling as wind-blown petals and flowers — wafting and quivering, frenzied, amidst a colony of bees in an orgiastic pollination of a dance!

In her message halfway through the night's performance, Lisa Macuja-Elizalde celebrated the Gala, albeit with a tinge of sadness, mentioning the passing of former artistic directors Eric Cruz, Sandra Lynn Huang, and Osias Barroso.

In its closing act, this writer loved the use of the color red as it hinted of the dance's erotic undertones!

Somewhere in the "Blooms" choreography, once again an imprint of Barroso's iconic tour jeté was glimpsed. While the present company has amassed quite a mettle in their battements, it was the late Barroso who could do the tour jeté in mid-air effortlessly!

Catch Ballet Manila's season closer, "Don Quixote," on August 22, 23, and 24 at the Aliw Theater in Pasay City, featuring prima ballerina Renata Shakirova.