All in This Month In BM History
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.
From ballet blanc (white ballet) to The Beatles – this was the powerhouse combination of Ballet Manila’s 23rd season-ender in March 2019 entitled Deux.
This Don Quixote run was special for another reason. It celebrated the 16th anniversary of the dance partnership of principal artists Lisa Macuja-Elizalde and Osias Barroso who, by 2004, had already performed some 120 full-length ballets in 40 cities around the world.
The venue may have changed and the dates postponed, but still, the curtains rose on Lisa Macuja-Elizalde’s Sleeping Beauty.
For its Christmas offering in 2009, Ballet Manila unwrapped a production that combined a colorful spectacle and a timely message.
Ballet Manila was among the featured guests at the 7th performance season of the Bankard Concert Series, running from November 4 to December 2 in 1999.
A year after their first foray to the United States, the 15-member Ballet Manila was back for another tour with stops this time in Washington DC, St. Louis, Memphis, New Orleans, Detroit and Cleveland.
Ballet Manila’s Swan Lake in September 2003 was one year in the making. It was an ambitious undertaking as it was presenting the ballet classic with an all-Filipino cast for the very first time.
Taking a cue from a local pop song, Ballet Manila whipped up a production that celebrated the remarkable quality of Filipino music to open its 19th performance season in 2014. Just like the well-known tune, the company just had to proclaim it in its title – Kay Ganda ng Ating Musika.
Ballet Manila was the only company in the Philippines to have been able to bring Le Corsaire in its full-length form to the Filipino audience.
In 2000, Ballet Manila staged a production it could really sink its teeth into.
The Ballet Manila School, now known as the Lisa Macuja School of Ballet, marked a decade of offering summer workshops in 2007
