Ballet Manila in full color: Visions in white

Ballet Manila has showcased a rich palette of hues in its productions over the years. Now, the company’s true colors are revealed! Gathering photographs from the Ballet Manila Archives, we present the vibrant and the somber, the heavenly to the earthy, in a series of virtual exhibitions – one shade at a time. 

In a white tutu covered in feathers, Lisa Macuja-Elizalde poignantly captures the final moments in a swan’s life, as each flap of the wing goes increasingly weaker. The prima ballerina performed Michael Fokine’s The Dying Swan in The Legends and the Classics (2012), with pianist Cecile Licad and cellist Wilfredo Pasamba providing the haunting music by Camille Saint-Saens.

White is the only color to wear for a wedding as Sofia Sangco-Peralta and the female entourage do in Dulce, which premiered in Halo-Halo Supreme (2008). In the ballroom-to-ballet dance medley choreographed by Alberto Dimarucut and coached by Brian Babon, friendship and courtship ultimately lead to marriage. 

In the enchanted forest known as the Land of Snow, a flurry of dancing Snowflakes practically glistens in sequin-studded white tutus as they welcome Masha and the Nutcracker/ Prince as the pair goes on their magical Christmas Eve adventure in The Nutcracker (2003).

Boy meets girl and it is love at first sight. Wearing complementing white outfits, Osias Barroso and Lisa Macuja-Elizalde recreate that night of passion in the title roles of Romeo and Juliet. Sergey Vikulov’s interpretation of the Shakespearean tale was staged as part of An Evening of Tchaikovsky (2004) and that Ballet Manila performance with the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra was dubbed Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture.

Myrtha (Eileen Lopez) is at the grave of Giselle, ready to initiate her as a wili. In the ballet classic Giselle, Myrtha leads the spirits of jilted women – all dressed up in white just like her – in exacting revenge over the men who have wronged them and those who unwittingly wander into their ghostly lair. 

On a moonlit night, the Swan Queen Odette (Abigail Oliveiro) and Prince Siegfried (Mark Sumaylo) reunite with a bevy of swan maidens as their ethereal witnesses. The breathtaking sight is from the classic Swan Lake (2017) , where the couple – denied a happy ending on earth – must pursue it in the hereafter.

Sotto Voce is a challenge as it requires the group of six to dance the nearly six-minute choreography of Augustus “Bam” Damian III on pointe. In their flowy white dresses, the ballerinas show off their fine form in a seemingly effortless manner as they dance Sotto Voce in World Stars of Ballet (2012).

Pure and pristine in white, the Algerian Princess (Elena Chernova) and her ladies-in-waiting are in peril as the slave trader Lankadem prepares to sell them off to the highest bidder in Le Corsaire (2010).

It is in the Kingdom of the Shades where Nikiya (Mylene Aggabao), the temple dancer, resurrects after dying from a snake bite unleashed by her rival Gamzatti. In the spectral scene from La Bayadere (2004), Nikiya joins other spirits similarly wearing white, and soon will be reunited with her beloved Solor.

Enchanting in her exquisite white gown and matching headdress, the nature goddess Luningning (Lisa Macuja-Elizalde) comes back to earth to be the peacemaker between her feuding twins in Alamat: Si Sibol at si Gunaw (2009). In the environmental fable based on Ed Maranan’s story, Luningning successfully reconciles Sibol and Gunaw before flying back to her heavenly home.

Photos by Ocs Alvarez