Principal dancer: Abigail Oliveiro
Abigail Oliveiro’s ballet career began in Singapore at the tender age of three. She was trained in the Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) syllabus under the tutelage of June Lee. At 11 years old, she moved with her family to Australia and continued her training under Jane Moore at The Jane Moore Academy of Ballet.
She pursued a degree in Pharmaceutical Science at Monash University for a year before deciding to turn her attention to dancing full time.
She underwent intensive training under Moore, Claire Campbell, Simone Smith and Alida Segal until she secured a position as an Artist (Out There: The Australian Ballet In Schools) with The Australian Ballet in 2012. She toured Australia with the company.
A year later, she successfully competed at the Asian Grand Prix International Ballet Competition in Hong Kong and won the silver medal in the Senior Division. But more importantly, she was spotted by Ballet Manila artistic directors Lisa Macuja-Elizalde and Osias Barroso and was invited to join the company in the same year.
Abigail was promoted to Soloist in 2016, and Principal dancer in 2018.
With Ballet Manila, she has performed many of the most sought after leading roles in the company's various productions including Odette/Odile in Swan Lake, Giselle in Giselle, Medora in Le Corsaire, Carmen in Eric V. Cruz’s Carmen, Juliet in Paul Vasterling’s Romeo & Juliet, Paquita Etoile in Paquita, Cinderella in Lisa Macuja-Elizalde’s Cinderella, Violetta in Lisa Macuja-Elizalde’s La Traviata, Mercedes in Don Quixote, The Evil Queen in Lisa Macuja-Elizalde’s Snow White, and Ibong Adarna in Gerardo Francisco Jr.’s Ibong Adarna.
She has also performed many leading roles created by renowned international choreographers including works by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, George Birkadze, Martin Lawrance and Jonathan Watkins.
She has toured both regionally and internationally with Ballet Manila including performances in Hong Kong, Malaysia, South Korea and Israel.
She has been invited for classical ballet guest teaching/coaching both locally and internationally including Australia, Singapore and Korea.
She has also traveled extensively all over the Philippines as part of Ballet Manila’s popular Ballet & Ballads outreach tours.
In 2017, Abigail won Outstanding Female Featured in a Classica Ballet in the Philstage Gawad Buhay Awards. And in 2019, she was recognized by Aliw Awards with the Best Classical Dancer award.
Discover the many roles of Abigail Oliveiro, principal dancer of Ballet Manila.
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