This Month in BM History: October 2002
The invitation to Dance with me, G-nie Arambulo’s exhibition featuring Ballet Manila. Invitation from the Ballet Manila Archives collection
Dance with me… That was ace photographer G-nie Arambulo’s invitation to Ballet Manila for her first non-advertising body of work. And that also became the title of the resulting digital exhibition which opened on October 11, 2002 at the Aliw Theater lobby.
Dance with me showcased nearly 30 photographs measuring 20” x 30”, each one focusing on movement rather than on poses just as Arambulo had wanted it. She captured images such as: male dancers led by Osias Barroso in mid-air, highlighting their well-toned bodies; Lisa Macuja-Elizalde in a ballerina’s trademark grand jeté; a pair of a man’s dancing feet amid a splash of water; and a female dancer’s feet on pointe, casting an ethereal glow.
The collaboration would not have happened had Arambulo not been assigned to shoot the ad for a baby milk brand featuring Macuja-Elizalde’s daughter, Missy. The ballerina subsequently invited Arambulo to photograph a production of Ballet Manila’s Dracula. Sufficiently impressed and fascinated by what she witnessed through her lens and her own eyes, the photographer decided to make dance the topic of her first exhibit.
