Seven deadly sins as seen at the ballet
Holy Week is a time for reflection, for pondering one’s misdeeds and hopefully atoning for them. Here are ballet characters who wear their wickedness like a badge of honor and who are sorely in need of redemption for their grave lapses. If only they would repent!
Pride
The Witch Queen (Abigail Oliveiro) in Lisa Macuja-Elizalde’s Snow White is so vain and full of self-importance that she can’t accept someone is more beautiful than her. Preening before her magic mirror, she plots to have the young princess killed by the Huntsman. Photo by Giselle P. Kasilag
Greed
Ahab (Marcus Tolentino) is the cruel employer in Ang Mahiwagang Biyulin, one of three stories comprising Tatlong Kuwento ni Lola Basyang. He exploits Rodrigo (Gerardo Francisco Jr.) by working him to the bone but only paying him a pittance. But the young man will have the last laugh, thanks to an enchanted violin. Photo by Ocs Alvarez
Lust
In Eric V. Cruz’s Carmen, the titular character played by Lisa Macuja-Elizalde uses her feminine wiles to attract men. Carmen seduces them and makes them fall in love with her, as she does with Don Jose, whom she rejects once she meets a new object of desire in the bullfighter. Photo by Ocs Alvarez
Envy
Jealous of Cinderella’s (Abigail Oliveiro, left) beauty and kind-heartedness, her stepmother (John Balagot) and stepsisters (Jessica Pearl Dames and Rissa May Camaclang) put her down at every turn. But just like in the fairy tale it is based on, in Lisa Macuja’s Cinderella, they can’t stop the heroine from having a happy ending. Photo by Ian Santos
Gluttony
In Walpurgis Nacht, a ballet performed in Act 3 of the opera Faust, Osias Barroso leads nymphs, devils and she-devils as they wine and dine in a bacchanalia set in hell. The drinking and dancing reach fever-pitch as they succumb to an evening of wild abandon. Photo by Ocs Alvarez
Wrath
Gunaw (Francis Cascaño) is bent on wreaking havoc on nature in Alamat: Si Sibol at Si Gunaw. While his sole purpose is to destroy, his sister Sibol is the opposite, dedicated to nurturing and protecting the environment. Who will win this fight between good and evil? Photo by Ocs Alvarez
Sloth
Princess Aurora (Jasmine Pia Dames) in Lisa Macuja-Elizalde’s Sleeping Beauty is not dozing off needlessly by choice. It’s just that the vengeful witch Maleficent has cursed her to sleep until true love’s kiss wakes her from her slumber. Photo by Giselle P. Kasilag
