By Susan A. De Guzman

For the ballet companies, dance schools and dance professionals that participated in Dance for Shaz last October 7 at Aliw Theater, it was an emotional and heart-tugging evening, but more so for the artists, past and present, of Ballet Manila – home to the show’s honoree, co-artistic director Osias “Shaz” Barroso Jr., for the past 27 years and where they had interacted with him as a colleague, teacher and mentor.

For Ballet Manila artistic director Lisa Macuja-Elizalde, putting together Dance for Shaz was particularly meaningful as it aimed to celebrate the life and career of her best friend and onstage partner of sixteen years. “I miss him. We all miss him,” said Lisa of Shaz who, following a stroke in 2021, has had to step away from the studio.

Out of a feeling akin to despair, Lisa said she decided to channel her energy into creating a living tribute to Shaz. “Sometimes, you feel like you’re not doing enough, that you can’t do anything more (for him). I wanted to do something that will honor him but also help everybody cope with this feeling of helplessness. Maybe we can’t get Shaz back the way he was, but we want to show him how we love, value and appreciate him.”

Dance for Shaz became a special gathering of the dance community with 25 groups – having, at one time or another, made a connection with Shaz – signifying their interest to join or to contribute to the event.  

In opening the show, Lisa announced that Shaz was in the theater, a surprise to the audience that instantly stood up and applauded as he was brought in. Although his oxygen level had to be monitored closely, Shaz was able to stay for the entire show.

One of the most moving moments was when Shaz’s niece, Nicole Barroso – former Ballet Manila soloist and now principal dancer of Ballet Philippines – performed a piece choreographed to Hanggang sa Dulo ng Walang Hanggan. Nicole would later say she had not expected her uncle to be there.

“Nu’ng nakita ko siya, gusto kong umiyak. Pero naalala ko rin na kung ginawa ko ‘yun, hindi niya magugustuhan,” Nicole smilingly related. “Kaya talagang tinapos ko kasi para sa kanya talaga ‘yun.” (When I saw him, I wanted to cry. But I also remembered if I did that, he wouldn’t like it. That’s why I finished it because it was really for him.)

After the number, instead of taking center stage again, Nicole went to the right side directly across where Shaz was seated and bowed repeatedly from there, a salute not just to her uncle but to her mentor.

The ballerina said one of the best lessons she learned from “Teacher Shaz” is to be committed to one’s passion and to be able to stand up for it. In a past interview, she recalled: “`You have to fight!’ ‘Yun ang sinasabi niya di lang sa akin pero sa lahat… Na lumaban ka rin ang advice niya na talagang tumanim sa akin. Na-apply ko ito outside ballet and inside the studio. (That’s what he would tell me and everyone else… That you have to fight is the advice that really hit and worked for me. I was able to apply this outside ballet and inside the studio.) That you have to fight for what you want!”

Former Ballet Manila soloist Alfren Salgado came all the way to Manila from Kuala Lumpur so that his school, Dancelink Performing Arts, could participate in Dance for Shaz. “Hindi puwedeng hindi kami sumali (It’s impossible that we wouldn’t be part of it),” said Alfren who had brought three of his students to perform a contemporary piece titled Plaisir D’amput in which they displayed clean lines and polish that Shaz would have approved of.

Asked in a past interview what the most important lesson Shaz had shared with him, Alfren summed it up this way: “Love the art. Don't give up your passion. Be a good person.” Through Dancelink now, which he and wife Violet Hong (also a former Ballet Manila soloist) run in Malaysia, they are able to impart what they learned from their years spent with Ballet Manila from Shaz and Lisa.

Dance for Shaz was also a must-not-miss event for Lemuel Capa, also a former Ballet Manila danseur who now heads the Capa Dance Academy in Capiz. About a dozen of his male and female students interpreted a specially conceptualized number called Relentless.

Words flashed on screen as it started: “The torch of passion held by both Lisa and Shaz ignites the flames of their dancers and thus from them, continues to light another generation in the spirit and magic of dance.” The performers were shown initially bound together, symbolizing the enduring connection of teacher and student, a particular nod to Shaz whom they referred to as an exceptional mentor and whose example continues to inspire.

When Shaz was brought up on stage amid a standing ovation, principal dancer Mark Sumaylo and soloist John Ralp Balagot – who had just performed excerpts of Shaz’s choreography, Ecole, with fellow Ballet Manila artists and students from Ballet Baguio – were among many who could not stop the tears from coming. For right before them, just a few feet away, was the person whose exacting ways had helped shape them into the artists they have become and whose commanding presence in the studio they sorely missed.

Mark was determined to be there despite nursing a 39-degree fever the night before due to pharyngitis. Thankfully, he got the doctor’s go-ahead to perform. In a mini version of Eric V. Cruz’s Carmen, Mark stepped into the shoes of the masterful Don Jose who falls for the sultry Carmen (played by his wife Abigail Oliveiro) as their relationship gets more complicated with the presence of the village girl Micaela (Shaira Comeros) who is in love with Don Jose and the matador Escamillo (Joshua Enciso) whom Carmen also seduces.

“I managed to dance because for me, performing the role that my mentor danced (and doing it for him) is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” said Mark, sharing that Shaz was actually pivotal in his eventual entry to Ballet Manila.  

The dancer recalls Shaz telling him back in his hometown of Cagayan de Oro where they had first met: “Ituro ko man lahat ng nalalaman ko sa iyo, at ibibigay ko lahat (Even if I teach you everything I know, and I will), there’s no magic in dance especially in ballet. You have to spend years and years in training.” Mark took that advice to heart, joining Ballet Manila in 2013 as a company member and through years of hard work and determination, being promoted to principal dancer in 2019.

Groups that Shaz had been previously a part of was also represented in Dance for Shaz. Philippine Ballet Theater, where Shaz had been a principal dancer, could not perform live as they were on tour but offered a special treat – a taped message and video clips of his and Lisa’s performances with the company. Seeing a young Shaz turning and leaping with abandon, the audience erupted in spontaneous applause. 

Apart from the numbers rendered by Ballet Manila, Ballet Philippines, Dancelink Performing Arts and CAPA Dance Academy, Dance for Shaz also included performances by ACTS Manila, Academy One, Alice Reyes Dance Philippines, Balay-Bugay Dance Studio, Ballet Baguio, Benilde Experimental Dance, Bereber Dance Theater Company, Elan Ballet and Pilates, Ernest Mandap in a video clip, Galaw Co. Dance Theater, Hampton Court Ballet, IDMM Ballet School, Kreativitat Dance Indonesia, LikhaPH Artist: ELLIPSIS, PCD School of Performing Arts, Ridgepointe Ballet, STEPS Dance Studio, The Dance Conservatory, VGU Dance Theater Arts and Vella C. Damian School of Ballet.

In gratitude, Lisa has said that it is through dancing that everyone in the community can honor Shaz. “The best way we in the performing arts can keep him close to our hearts is to do what we can do, the way he has always been training and giving of himself. It is his legacy.”

Photos by Erica Feliz Marquez-Jacinto