Baguio City will witness a showcase of dance like no other as Ballet Manila stages The Silver Gala – spotlighting both the classics and contemporary originals – on October 29 at CAP John Hay Theater.

“It’s a welcome opportunity for us to continue performing for different audiences,” says artistic director Lisa Macuja-Elizalde, underscoring Ballet Manila’s mission of bringing ballet to the people. “It’s been so long since BM went on tour, and we hope this is the start of doing more of it again.”

It is the first time since theaters have opened up across the country, following the lifting of pandemic restrictions, that Ballet Manila will be going on a performance outside Metro Manila in full force. Smaller groups representing the company have done guestings or staged performances in Vigan, Roxas City and Baguio in the past year.

La Traviata, Macuja-Elizalde’s adaptation of Verdi’s famous opera, forms the first part of The Silver Gala. Premiered in March 2020, the ballet is about the courtesan Violetta who is torn between her love for Alfredo and the material security offered by the Baron, with the characters performed respectively by principal dancers Abigail Oliveiro, Mark Sumaylo and Joshua Enciso.

The second part is a divertissement of classical and contemporary pieces, featuring Ballet Manila and project partner Ballet Baguio.

A version of Osias Barroso Jr.’s Ecole, which he had previously restaged specially for Ballet Baguio, will be performed by dancers from Ballet Baguio and five danseurs from Ballet Manila. This number was one of the highlights of the Baguio dance school’s 20th anniversary show, Legendary, last July.

A Don Quixote excerpt features the pas de deux of Kitri and Basilio, to be performed by principal artists Shaira Comeros and Joshua Enciso, and the dances of the Bridesmaids and the Tutu Girls.

21 Guns, a military-inspired piece choreographed by Ballet Baguio artistic director Jacqueline Go-Ramon to commemorate the Marawi Siege, casts Ballet Baguio dancers along with Ballet Manila company artist Sean Pelegrin.

The Dying Swan, a classical solo on the fragility of life choreographed by Michael Fokine, will be interpeted by Abigail Oliveiro.

Principal dancers Jasmine Pia Dames and Romeo Peralta are the leads in El Adwa, a contemporary piece by Augustus “Bam” Damian III, supported by soloists John Ralp Balagot and Anselmo Dictado and the male corps de ballet composed of company artists and scholars.

An OPM Suite consists of selections from the repertoire of the two companies, with Ballet Baguio doing a number choreographed to the current pop hit Raining in Manila, and Ballet Manila performing Magandang Gabi, Dalagang Pilipina, and the Sana’y Wala Nang Wakas pas de deux from Martin Lawrance’s Romeo & Juliet (featuring principal dancer Jessica Pearl Dames and company artist Noah Esplana), capped by the rousing Sabihin Mo Ikaw ay Pilipino with the whole cast.

The forthcoming show in the City of Pines came about after Ballet Manila dancers guested in Legendary last July. Go-Ramon relates she and her team had planned on something grand to mark the school’s 20th year. Securing the city’s biggest theater for the special show, CAP John Hay Theater, she invited Ballet Manila to perform, with Macuja-Elizalde as guest of honor.

Initially, it was not sure if the prima ballerina could make it, but she eventually did. “Imagine us all panicking,” Go-Ramon laughingly recalls. “So for the last part of the show, I had envisioned it to be Dancing Queen. We hired a live band to play the song while all 200 students were dancing onstage. As a special treat, we asked Ma'am Lise to come onstage for a reprise of Dancing Queen and she danced with all of us! The original dancing queen onstage with us!”

Two days later, Macuja-Elizalde called Go-Ramon to congratulate her and expressed a wish that Ballet Manila could put up a similar show in the same venue in October. It was only La Traviata that was supposed to be brought to Baguio at first, but it was later expanded so that Ballet Baguio could participate too, resulting in The Silver Gala (a reference to Ballet Manila’s belated 25th anniversary celebration that was delayed by the pandemic).

Go-Ramon says since the collaboration was agreed upon, her team in Baguio has been going all out in promoting the show locally. Baguio being one of two cities in the Philippines to have been declared a UNESCO Creative City, an event like The Silver Gala seems to fit in quite perfectly with the city’s title. “Art is very much alive in Baguio City! I believe that this is a once-in-a-lifetime event as this kind of world-class production does not happen every day! We are thrilled to have the entire Ballet Manila company here in Baguio, celebrating dance and the arts with us. Productions like these really bring people to the ballet and ballet to the people!”

The Silver Gala is co-presented by Ballet Manila and the Manila Broadcasting Company, in cooperation with the City of Baguio and with the support of The Manor at Camp John Hay and Ballet Baguio. The show starts promptly at 5 p.m. on October 29, Sunday, at CAP John Hay Theater. Tickets may be purchased at Ballet Baguio, 4/F Porta Vaga Mall, Session Road. For inquiries, call (074) 6191946 or message Ballet Baguio through its Facebook page.