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.
Staging the full-length Don Quixote in 1999 – just two years after its founding – was a major achievement for Ballet Manila given its still modest size then.
You dance how you live. Show me how you move on the dance floor and I'll show you an area of your life where you live the same way. So dance big and live loud because life is too short to do anything else.
While the core of the story may be similar, the libretto of the original ballet version of Swan Lake, however, had twists and turns that were quite different from the tale we know and love today.
In this clip are highlights of the three Swan Queens’ performances.
The company has launched its latest project, Ballet Minis: Passages On Pointe, a series of short dance films taking off from some of its most loved performance pieces – all reimagined for digital media.
Bayani reflects Bonifacio’s willingness to fight, so that the mode is like he is going to battle. In interpreting the piece, Geri advised Niño to internalize those qualities so that the hero’s character would shine through.
Eileen, who is a Ballet Manila pioneer, paints a picture of how face-to-face classes are different from online ones.
When an opportunity came for Rudy to choreograph a piece for the CCP Ballet Competition in 2018, the former Ballet Manila principal dancer had a eureka moment. Why not combine ballet and boxing, two things that interest him the most?
“Do I go home?” This was one of the big questions that Abigail “Abi” Oliveiro faced when things began to take a different turn in 2020.
In this clip, leading the charge is principal dancer Abigail Oliveiro as Ibong Adarna, principal dancers Mark Sumaylo, Romeo Peralta and Rudy De Dios as Don Pedro, Don Diego and Don Juan respectively, with BM co-artistic directors Lisa Macuja-Elizalde and Osias Barroso gracing the stage as Reyna Valeriana and Haring Fernando.
Despite their training being conducted mostly via Zoom, four students of the Lisa Macuja School of Ballet showed talent and hard work can yield rewarding results with their victory in the recently concluded Asian Ballet Competition.
Just like the popular Filipino shaved-ice dessert it was named after, Ballet Manila’s Halo-Halo Supreme in August 2008 proved to be a delectable treat.
All three characters figure prominently in the second act where, after attacking windmills that he mistakes for various monsters, a wounded Don Quixote falls asleep and dreams of his beloved Dulcinea.
