Ballet’s Leading Ladies: The vulnerable Odette and the cunning Odile

In a dancing career that spanned three decades, Ballet Manila artistic director Lisa Macuja-Elizalde had the good fortune to portray the most fascinating lead characters to have ever graced the stage. This Women’s Month, we feature a series recalling Lisa’s notes on these iconic female figures – from Don Quixote’s feisty heroine Kitri to Swan Lake’s challenging dual roles of Odette and Odile – paired with choice photos from the Ballet Manila Archives collection. 

As Odette in Philippine Ballet Theater’s production of Swan Lake, 1994: “Swan Lake is an unforgettable love story, perhaps the most romantic ballet of its period. It is the story of Odette, the White Swan Princess, who is enchanted by the virulent sorcerer Von Rothbart. Turned into a swan, she can only turn back into her human form at night… and only true love can break the spell. Prince Siegfried is ready to swear this eternal love to Odette but, instead, is fooled into doing so to Odile, the Black Swan.” 

Odile, backed by the evil Von Rothbart (Nazer Salgado), reveals her deception to Prince Siegfried (Jonathan Janolo) in Ballet Manila’s Swan Lake, 2005. “I think what makes Swan Lake so challenging is that this is really a ballet meant to be danced by two different ballerinas – one possessing the lyrical temperament and sincere vulnerability for Odette, and the other needing the sultry, cunning and seductive allure for Odile. Both roles call for spot-on technique, a steely left supporting leg, elevation, flexibility, and most importantly strength. Tchaikovsky’s score calls for impeccable musicality – the ability to sustain balances and peg those pirouettes. One has to have complete control over one’s body.” Photo by Ocs Alvarez

Unexpected full-length debut in Cuba, 1990. “I only got to dance my first full-length Swan Lake by accident – quite literally. I happened to be in Havana, Cuba in November 1990, dancing several classical and neo-classical pas de deux with my partner, Osias Barroso, at the 10th International Ballet Festival on the personal invitation of Laura Alonso, daughter of Cuba’s ballet legend Alicia Alonso. I was asked by the festival director, on behalf of Alicia Alonso herself, to fill in for the injured “swan.” Of course, it was flattering but there’s the catch: I had four days to learn and perform Swan Lake with the Ballet Nacional de Cuba, partnered by soloist Ernesto Quenedit who was also dancing it for the first time! The prospect got me thrilled and terrified at the same time. On the one hand, it was a huge risk to learn a full-length ballet from scratch and perform it in less than 96 hours… But then again, I really do love a challenge!”

As the evil Odile in Havana, 1990. “Looking back, it certainly wasn’t the best of my ‘swans.’ In fact, it was the worst Swan Lake I had ever performed in my life! But what happened to me in those four days in Cuba was that I had conquered my fears and doubts about ever becoming a Swan Queen. On the last day of the festival, a complete stranger came up to me and asked if he could kiss my hand. Startled, I asked him why. He said, ‘I saw your Swan Lake and I think you will become a great ballerina!’ At that time, I was still recovering from the awful performance I had done three nights before. That kind and gallant stranger made me feel better. And yes, I let him kiss my hand.” 

With Osias Barroso as my Prince Siegfried in Philippine Ballet Theater, 1994. “There is always a point when, while doing a quick change from my black tutu back to the white tutu, that I feel complete relief and – for the first time in the course of the entire ballet – singular pleasure at the prospect of performing with wild abandon in the arms of my prince. Every step before this point is, well, sheer terror.”

A chance to dance as Odile opposite Vassily Polushin in Krasnoyarsk, Russia, 1994. “Swan Lake has always been the ballet that has challenged me the most. The dual role of Odette/ Odile is the most difficult of the regal ballerina roles for my short, Asian body. In fact, this is the dual role that most of my coaches and teachers had warned me to avoid dancing!” 

Paired with Osias Barroso in Swan Lake, danced for the first time by an all-Ballet Manila cast, 2003. “All ballerinas know that the dual roles of Odette and Odile are the most difficult among the classical heroines. Dancing Odette/ Odile not only calls for a chameleon-like change of character and personality, but also a change in technical requirements. For Odette, one needs to be soft, pliant and lyrical, with an almost painful vulnerability. Odile, however, demands legs and arms of steel, a fiery technique, speed, and the ability to transform into evil personified.” Photo by Ocs Alvarez

“Flying off” to the afterlife with Rudy De Dios as Siegfried in Ballet Manila’s Swan Lake, 2007. “Few people realize that there are two versions of Swan Lake: one which ends with the tragic suicide of the lovelorn couple hoping to find redemption in the afterlife, and another where true love finds the Swan Queen transformed into a real princess and they live happily every after. I have performed both versions, but personally, I always prefer a happy ending.” Photo by Ocs Alvarez

Farewell to Odette and Odile, Swan Song Series 2011. “Dancing the twin Swans may never have been my personal favorite, but the fact that thousands of people all over the world have come to watch me perform these roles over the last two decades only goes to show that perhaps I was not entirely correct about ‘not looking right’ for the part. That maybe, just maybe, the spontaneous applause and standing ovations that echoed through the halls after every performance have woven a magic spell on this tiny ballerina, inspiring her to work even harder and dance her heart out with every show.” Photo by Ocs Alvarez