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.
All in This Month In BM History
As Lisa Macuja Elizalde wrote in her director’s notes, “Only the versatile and most productive choreographer Osias Barroso would do as our ballet’s creator. Who else can deliver a musical score in three days and an entire story ballet in three weeks?”
Among these musical jewels are three majestic ballet scores – Swan Lake, The Nutcracker and The Sleeping Beauty – which are counted among the works that set the gold standard for classical ballet.
People’s Artist of Russia Sergey Vikulov had choreographed his version of La Fille Mal Gardee (The Naughty Daughter) on Lisa Macuja Elizalde and Osias Barroso back in 1999.
Through the years, Ballet Manila has had a successful series of productions dubbed Halo-Halo.
In 2015, Ballet Manila decided to gather a slate of productions based on literary gems to make up its 20th performance season which was aptly dubbed “From Page to Stage.”
Seeking only to bring the best in dance to the Philippines, Ballet Manila and Manila Broadcasting Company presented World Stars of Ballet on June 8 and 9, 2012 at Aliw Theater.
With the company headed for the United States anew for a performance tour and some of its dancers participating in an international competition, Ballet Manila Goes International on May 14 and 15 in 2005 served as a fitting send-off and on-stage preparation.
On April 19, 2002, Ballet Manila was the featured guest in Intramuros Evenings, a performing arts series hosted by the Intramuros Administration at the Puerta Real Gardens located inside the famed Walled City of Manila.
In 2015, Ballet Manila celebrated its 20th anniversary with a repertoire that summarized five things that the company has stood for since its inception.
When Ballet Manila staged its first-ever Le Corsaire in 1998, it did so on a grand scale.
Aside from Lisa Macuja-Elizalde’s real-life story, also fascinating is his account of how her scholar Jessa Balote emerged from the slums to become a professional ballerina with BM.
Ballet Manila’s first full-length The Nutcracker, staged at the GSIS Theater in December 1998, was the completion of “another one of life’s full cycles” for then artistic associate and principal dancer – now artistic director – Lisa Macuja-Elizalde.
Magical. Entertaining. Funny. These were the items that Ballet Manila artistic director Lisa Macuja-Elizalde ticked off her list as she was making the choreography for Cinderella in 2016.
Though it is said to have a ridiculous plot and hopelessly flawed heroines, Le Corsaire is still considered a gem in the classical dance repertoire.
Ballet Manila’s winning showcase of ballet and pop music called Ballet & Ballads was taken on a Visayan tour in September 2000.
On its tenth year in 2005, Ballet Manila staged anew the warhorse Swan Lake that August.
In 1996, Ballet Manila embarked on its first tour to the United States, with its first stop being the Big Apple in June.
In 2016, the country's three professional ballet companies – Ballet Manila, Ballet Philippines and Philippine Ballet Theater – joined forces to stage the first of what was envisioned as a biennial event: Dance.MNL.
In 1997, the Department of Tourism and the Intramuros Administration commissioned Ballet Manila to create a Filipino-themed production for the Intramuros Evenings Performing Arts Series.
An ally to Ballet Manila since it debuted in 1995, the Friends for Cultural Concerns of the Philippines (FCCP) chose to feature the company in a cocktail musical called Artists & Friends on April 29, 2004 that celebrated the group’s 25th anniversary.
