Around the world on the Ballet Manila stage (First of two parts)

Throughout its 26-year history, Ballet Manila has been home to artists of various nationalities. As the world observes United Nations Day on October 24, we celebrate those who have come to the Philippines from foreign shores and graced the stage side by side with their Filipino counterparts. Together, they have formed an international community bound by a shared passion, proving that no barrier is insurmountable when the language used is dance. Here are just some of them:

As Medora in Le Corsaire (2018), Abigail Oliveiro gets the chance to perform a lead role that’s light in tone, in contrast to tragic ballet heroines such as the cursed Odette in Swan Lake and the jilted Giselle in Giselle, both of which she has also danced. Abi, who is from Melbourne, Australia, is now a principal dancer with Ballet Manila. Photo by Giselle P. Kasilag

Indonesian Yanti Marduli gets the plum role of Sibol in the environmental fable, Alamat: Si Sibol at si Gunaw in 2009. Based on the children’s book by Ed Maranan, Sibol is the good twin who revives the forest destroyed by her brother Gunaw by planting seeds that through her care soon grow and flourish. Photo by Ocs Alvarez

Andrei Katuntsev, former soloist of the Krasnoyarsk Ballet, has the distinction of being Ballet Manila’s first resident artist when he danced with the company for an entire season in 1996. In Osias Barroso’s Gabriela ng Vigan, he was cast as the Spanish Soldier, one of the anchor roles in the dance-drama where he confronts the rebellious Gabriela portrayed by Lisa Macuja. Photo by Ocs Alvarez 

Growing up in Hiroshima, Sayaka Ishibashi traveled to England and the United States in pursuit of her ballet dreams before finding a home in Ballet Manila. With the company, she danced in classics such as Le Corsaire, Giselle and Les Sylphides. In this photo, she dances as Cinderella in Sleeping Beauty (2020) where her character is a friend of Princess Aurora. Photo by Erickson Dela Cruz

Quiet and shy, Violet Hong bloomed on the Ballet Manila stage as she would assume a whole new persona in every production. Dancing in such ballets as Swan Lake (above, 2014), La Bayadere, Le Corsaire and Carmen, she found confidence and strength as a ballerina. She has returned to Malaysia where she now runs and teaches in a dance school with her husband, former Ballet Manila soloist Alfren Salgado while also raising their son together. Photo by Ocs Alvarez

A chip off the old block, Eva Chatal dreamt of becoming a professional ballet dancer like her parents. From Portugal, Eva came all the way to the Philippines and had the chance to do both classical and contemporary roles. In Lisa Macuja-Elizalde’s Sleeping Beauty (2020), she played one of the queens, the mother of Prince Philip who is paired with Princess Aurora. Photo by Giselle P. Kasilag

Kotomi Narai, who is from Japan, was happy and scared to come to the Philippines when she received a company artist contract in 2018 after finishing Ballet Manila’s summer intensive program. Kotomi adjusted quite well and was soon taking on different roles, including dancing the Odalisque Variation in Le Corsaire (2018). Photo by Giselle P. Kasilag

Precision and grace are exemplified in the famed Kingdom of the Shades and this Anindya Febrina got to do in the La Bayadere excerpt featured in BM 21 in 2016. Anindya is back in her native Indonesia, still very much into ballet which is her one true passion. Photo by Kurt Alvarez

Xiu Ling Tan of Malaysia had to adjust to the fast pace of Ballet Manila. In 2014, her first year with the company, she was part of the classics Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty and Martin Lawrance’s contemporary piece Misfit or Maverick (above). Despite an injury that sidelined her for quite some time, Ling was able to return onstage and counts being in the corps of her favorite ballet, Giselle, as a most memorable experience. Photo by Ocs Alvarez

Heewon Cho takes her turn as Odile, the Black Swan from Swan Lake, in this spot number in Ballet & Ballads (2018). The ballerina from Korea got to perform both classical and contemporary fare while with Ballet Manila. Photo by Giselle P. Kasilag

Ballet has always been part of Nanami Hasegawa’s life. Though not trained in the Vaganova method, the Japan-born ballerina soon caught up after signing up with Ballet Manila. Despite the struggles, Nanami enjoyed dancing particularly the classics, and in this scene from Les Sylphides (2019) shows sheer exuberance. Photo by Giselle P. Kasilag