Around the world on the Ballet Manila stage (Second 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 more of them:

Katherine Barkman soars, literally, in this scene from Martin Lawrance’s Rebel where she was cast as Corazon, with Lisa Macuja-Elizalde as Inang Bayan. Aside from the People Power Revolution and Spartacus mash-up, Katherine made her full-length debut in such classics as Romeo and Juliet, Swan Lake, Giselle and Don Quixote with Ballet Manila. She is now dancing with The Washington Ballet. Photo by Ian Santos

Being with Ballet Manila in 2019 was Hyuma Kiyosawa’s first company experience. Before starting work with the Chicago-based Joffrey Ballet in July of that year, he chose to go to the Philippines from his hometown of Nagano to take classes with the company for a few months. He ended up being cast in the end-of-season production, Deux, where he danced the Ali Variation from Le Corsaire (above) as well as Diane et Acteon and alternating in the lead of Bam Damian’s Aramica. Photo by Ian Santos 

Russian ballerina Elena Chernova alternates in the role of Medora in this 2010 staging of the pirate adventure, Le Corsaire (2010). One of the most famous scenes in the ballet, the Living Garden lives up to its name with the ballerinas akin to dainty pink roses blooming right in front of one’s eyes. Photo by Ocs Alvarez

Petite and pixie-like Tiffany Chiang-Janolo is the personification of love as Amour in Don Quixote (2012). It was a particularly memorable role for the Australian as it was the first one given to her right after she signed a contract with Ballet Manila. Amour may also have worked its magic in real life as Tiff eventually fell in love with and married rehearsal master Jonathan Janolo. The two now live in Melbourne and have a son. Photo by Ocs Alvarez

Deepika Ravindran (leftmost) of Mumbai, India came to the Philippines when students in a dance school she co-owned enrolled in Ballet Manila’s summer intensive program. The partnership between the two institutions soon grew, with Deepika later getting a chance to teach Bollywood in the BM school and to take Vaganova lessons herself. In 2017, she was able to perform in Gerardo Francisco’s Ibong Adarna. This photo was taken with the Adarna lead cast members including artistic director Lisa Macuja-Elizalde (fifth from left) as the queen. Photo from Deepika Ravindran’s Facebook page

In 1998, Russian Viktor Saveliev came to the Philippines as a guest ballet master of Ballet Manila. For the company’s The Nutcracker that year, he and then principal dancer Osias Barroso were tasked to make revisions to the choreography of Vassily Vainonen. Saveliev was also cast as Drosselmeyer in the Christmas ballet. The character gives a toy nutcracker to Masha which becomes a hit during the Christmas Eve festivities and becomes a human prince. Photo by Ocs Alvarez

For Akari Ida of Saitama, Japan, enrolling in Ballet Manila’s summer intensive program in 2018 led to a stint with Ballet Manila that included dancing in productions such as La Bayadere, Le Corsaire and Cinderella. In 2019, the sweet and shy ballerina transformed into the malevolent Myrtha, queen of the wilis, in Giselle which was staged at the Cultural Center of the Philippines. Photo by Erickson Dela Cruz

Hana Oh (right) of Korea was the Fairy Godmother to Jennifer Olayvar’s Sinderela, the heroine in Hazel Sabas-Gower’s Sinderela (2012). In the modern adaptation of the popular fairy tale Cinderella, the benevolent godmother calls on a variety of nature spirits to help the young lass so she can audition for a talent search. Photo by Ocs Alvarez

Resti Oktaviani of Indonesia performs as part of Can’t Take My Eyes Off You, a song performed by Christian Bautista in Ballet & Ballads (2018). Ballet & Ballads is a signature Ballet Manila series that combines ballet and pop music, featuring celebrity performers as guest artists. Photo by Giselle P. Kasilag

Shortly after starting her contract with Ballet Manila in 2018, Malaysian Kong Ke Xin was cast as the Fairy Godmother in Lisa Macuja-Elizalde’s Cinderella. She didn’t know that it was Lisa herself who had originated that role and when she did, it made her nervous. But she grew into the role and loved granting Cinderella’s wish – although in real life, it was Ke Xin’s own dream that had come true. Photo by Giselle P. Kasilag