Clowning around

Jesters, harlequins and clowns are familiar figures in ballet. Often clad in colorful costumes, they draw the eye not only for their striking appearance but for their playful demeanor. They bring humor to a show, but sometimes also provide its heart. Here’s a look at how Ballet Manila has portrayed these fascinating characters in its productions over the years.

In Fairy Doll pas de trois, a sad clown (Glenn Ragel, left) and a happy clown (Alvin Santos) try to win the favor of a beautiful fairy doll princess (Missy Macuja Elizalde), outwitting and outmaneuvering each other at every turn. Premiered by Ballet Manila during its second Mindanao tour, this pas de trois was presented in Carmen International Friendship Gala in 2013. Photo by Ocs Alvarez

With his easy grin and mischievous ways, the harlequin (Anselmo Dictado) gets attention, specially from his partner, in the Harlequinade pas de deux. In the 2014 production Heart to Heart: Ballet & Ballads, three couples alternated in the number, comprising the fifth generation of Ballet Manila artists to have performed it since artistic director Lisa Macuja-Elizalde danced it as a graduation piece at the Russian Ballet Academy in 1984. Photo by Jojo Mamangun

It is Prince Siegfried’s twenty-first birthday, and the revelry is ongoing at the palace in Swan Lake (2005). A variety of entertainment fare is offered to guests including a lively number from the Jester (Gerardo Francisco Jr.) who leaps and jumps in abandon. Photo by Ocs Alvarez

The Jester (Gerardo Francisco Jr.) shows off his antics at the celebration of Prince Siegfried’s twenty-first birthday in the palace in this scene from Swan Lake, which Ballet Manila staged anew in 2017. Photo by Giselle P. Kasilag

Several pairs of Harlequins and Columbines, one of them shown here (Manny Febra and Sofia Sangco-Peralta), add to the merriment at Stromboli’s Puppet Theater. They join stringed puppets, princess dolls, black-theater mimes and a host of other colorful characters in the scene from Osias Barroso Jr.’s Pinocchio (2015). Photo by Ocs Alvarez

Petrushka (Osias Barroso Jr., right) is a clown like no other. He is the opposite of jolly as he finds his love for the Arabian Doll (Lisa Macuja-Elizalde) unrequited since she is smitten with the soldier (Eduardo Espejo). David Campos made this version of Michel Fokine’s choreography from 1911, Petrushka, for Ballet Manila in 1997. Photo by Ocs Alvarez