Ballet Manila joins the global dance community in celebrating World Ballet Day 2023. This year’s celebration carries a deeper meaning as dance companies in all continents begin anew. Reopen, restart, renew, and continue – dancers are now picking up the pieces of their old lives and have returned to the barre to plié their way to new performance seasons.

Ballet Manila’s own contribution to rebuilding the dance community this year included the world premiere of Martin Lawrance’s Romeo and Juliet, the restaging of the classic Don Quixote and the return of Gerardo Francisco’s full-length ballet Ibong Adarna. In addition, the company also mounted special productions: Dance For Shaz in honor of Ballet Manila co-founder Osias Barroso Jr., La Traviata at the Far Eastern University, and The Silver Gala in Baguio City.

But the company’s year is far from over. Special shows of Ibong Adarna are scheduled for November, and a Christmas special is slated for December.

As the company rejoices in the return of dance to the stage, we share this video highlighting Ballet Manila’s many memorable classical performances led by artistic director Lisa Macuja-Elizalde and principal dancers Gerardo Francisco Jr., Romeo Peralta Jr., Abigail Oliveiro, Mark Sumaylo, Jasmine Pia Dames, Jessica Pearl Dames, Joshua Enciso, and Shaira Comeros. It features the poetry of Marjorie Allen Seiffert entitled They Who Dance. Indeed, “They who dance/ Find infinite golden floors/ Beneath their feet.”