Ballet News

BALLET RETURNS TO NAGA CITY AFTER FOUR YEARS

by Pablo A. Tariman
Naga City
November 23, 2014



        After an absence of four years, ballet – both classical and contemporary – made a triumphant return in Naga City Saturday night (November 22)  with Lisa Macuja Elizalde doing an adagio from The Nutcracker with five cavaliers and with Ballet Manila  (BM) doing OPM medleys to the delight of the crowd.

        Both seasoned dance lovers and students from local ballet schools came en masse filling up The Tent at Avenue Hotel for a fundraising event of the Universidad de Sta.Isabel Alumni Association led by its president Ms. Raquel V. Ragrario.

        The concert opened with Macuja’s mini-lecture on dance and connected easily with local audience with a performance of “Musika at Pagibig, ” an OPM medley choreographed by Jonathan Janolo followed by “Handog” to the music of “Bato sa Buhangin” as choreographed by Michael Divinagracia.

        Easily the stand-out is Macuja’s Adagio from The Nutcracker with five cavaliers which she learned in Russia thirty years ago.

        Apart from “Lune” a choreography of Ernest Mandap, the Naga City audiences had a taste of the Black Swan adagio performed by Violet Hong and Elpidio Magat and the White Swan Adagio performed by Abigail Oliveiro and Alfren Salgado.

        The night ended with a standing ovation for the BM dancers and a long queue of autograph-seekers wanting photo op with Macuja.

        Said BM co-artistic director Osias Barroso: “ Lisa (Macuja-Elizalde) and I are both glad that BM went to Naga to perform. The ecstatic audience reception proved that we have an untapped audience for ballet in the provinces.”

        A day before the performance, the company rehearsed on the makeshift stage which sufficed for a ballet concert.

        Added Barroso: “You don’t expect perfect venues in the provinces because ballet events here are rare. Dancers usually make do with what the place has to offer and indeed it was a good thing we brought our linoleum. Performing in the provinces is quite similar when we do our outreach programs in Manila. But I personally feel that the audiences from the provinces are easier to please, simply because they are hungry for performances like this.”

        In the past provincial performances, the BM co-artistic director noticed audiences couldn’t help giggle when they see men in tights. “These are expected of course when you don’t see ballet that often. That is why we avoid having our male dancers wear white tights in the provinces.”

        He pointed out: “I feel that the ballet companies in Manila should have a ballet season tour of some sort in the provinces, perhaps once a year would be good for now to keep our provincial audience exposed to live theatre performances. It is always a luxury for any artist to be able to visit other places and perform at the same time.  Naga is a very historical and there are many things you learn when you travel.”

        The last dance concert is another touring milestone for the company which hasperformed in 47 cities in the country with more than 4,100 performances with 140 of them in Asia, Europe and North America.

        The truth is Naga City -- founded as a town in 1575 --is as old as the history of ballet which originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15^th and 15^thcenturies. It spread from Italy to France with the help of Catherine de' Medici, where ballet developed even further under her aristocratic influence.   

         Ballet  history showed the first formal 'court ballet' ever recognized was staged in 1573, two years before the founding of Naga town, and known as  'Ballet des Polonais' commissioned by Catherine de' Medici to honor the Polish Ambassadors who were visiting Paris upon the accession of Henry of Anjou to the throne of Poland.

        It led to the birth of The Royal Danish Ballet and the Imperial Ballet of the Russian Empire founded in the 1740s and later became famous with  the Ballets Russes of Sergei Diaghilev. 

       Ballet spread around the world with the formation of new companies, including London's The Royal Ballet (1931), the San Francisco Ballet (1933), American Ballet Theatre (1937), The Royal Winnipeg Ballet (1939), The Australian Ballet(1940), the New York City Ballet (1948), the National Ballet of Canada (1951), Ballet Philippines (1969) and Ballet Manila  (1995).