By Susan A. De Guzman

Ballet Manila scholar Juan Angelo De Leon – a teen danseur who dreams of dancing as Prince Siegfried in the full-length Swan Lake one day – scooped the Youth Grand Prix Award at the Asian Grand Prix International Ballet Competition (AGP) that concluded Saturday evening in Hong Kong, receiving a trophy, a certificate and a cash prize.

The award is one of the two top overall prizes handed out by the AGP and is offered to candidates aged 13 to 17 who demonstrate exceptional standard of artistry and technique in class and on stage during competition in the week-long event.

De Leon, 16, competed in the Junior B division, dancing the Colas variation from La Fille Mal Gardee for his classical piece and About-Face by Martin Lawrance for his contemporary piece.

Another Ballet Manila scholar, John Stanley Alamer, bagged the silver medal while company apprentice Shamira Veronnica Drapete landed in fourth place – both also in the Junior B division.

Alamer danced the Franz variation from Coppelia for his classical piece and Elektron by Martin Lawrance for his contemporary piece.

Drapete performed Paquita, 6th Variation, Act 2 from Paquita for her classical piece and Amazona by Gerardo Francisco Jr. for her contemporary piece.

Receiving the news in Manila, an elated Lisa Macuja-Elizalde – Ballet Manila artistic director and director of the Lisa Macuja School of Ballet (LMSB) which the three dancers represented – enthused: “What can I say? When three out of the top five prizes go to students of the LMSB, you know you’re doing a good job! For Juan Angelo to win the top prize of the Youth Asian Grand Prix is proof that when talent, hard work and skilled and methodical teachers come together – plus lots of stage experience – one can expect outstanding results like what just happened in Hong Kong!”

She continued, “With Stanley getting the silver and more importantly Shamira getting 4th place when candidates from all over the world compete in the same platform, I am grateful. I am proud. I am happy! I really can’t ask for anything more. What a way to cap our 2023 adventure in the school. Outstanding! Brilliant! Clearly, everyone is on fire!”

The three are part of the cast of Ballet Manila’s upcoming Christmas production, Cinderella, which will run from December 25 to 30 at Aliw Theater.

LMSB was also represented by students Julianne Keiko Bañez, Junior A; Bea Marie Elizabeth Panigbatan, Junior A; Louisa Micai De Guzman, Performance A; and Jacinda Myrtle Gonzaga, Senior. Along with De Leon, Alamer and Drapete, they had performed their competition pieces as part of LMSB’s year-end recital, The Nutcracker: Clara’s Journey, at Aliw Theater last December 9. Loraine Gaile Jarlega, who would have competed in the Senior division, was unable to participate following an injury but joined the group in Hong Kong to lend moral support.

The delegation was headed by LMSB faculty members Eileen Lopez and Sofia Sangco-Peralta who also coached the school’s AGP competitors.

Writing in a Facebook post the morning after the awarding ceremonies, Teacher Eileen – also Ballet Manila’s co-artistic associate – noted how the Junior B competitors leveled up from their standing at the AGP last year. “Shamira was 8th place. She made a grand jeté this year to 4th place. John Stanley was bronze medalist last year, this year he got silver. But the biggest jump of all time is Juan Angelo De Leon. From Bronze medalist in Junior A, he is the Youth Asian Grand Prix Awardee!”

In congratulating the three for their achievements, Lopez thanked them for their hard work, perseverance and patience and for their trust in her as a teacher and coach. “There’s still a lot of work to be done. We will continue to reach for your dreams!” she said.

Echoing this sentiment, Teacher Sofie – who is also LMSB’s assistant to the director – stressed that this is just the beginning. “All our students danced very well. They gave it their all. I saw a lot of growth from the start when we were training early this year through the AGP competition. And from here, we go forward, work harder, and continue improving in this beautiful art because learning never stops. Everyone is a winner. We learned a lot. I hope this experience helps them become (professional) artists and dancers in the future.”

Ballet Manila co-artistic associate Gerardo Francisco Jr., who continued the main training of the two boys and the other scholars from former co-artistic director Osias Barroso Jr., noted upon learning of their victory: “I’m super happy for them; nagbunga ang pinaghirapan (the hard work paid off).”

He remembered telling De Leon when he didn’t get the gold in last year’s AGP Finals that his time will come. “Sabi ko, I promise you, makukuha din natin ’yan. See, more than gold pa ang balik sa ’yo.” (I told him, I promise you, we will still get that. See, it’s more than gold that you got.)

Francisco Jr. added that both boys had improved dramatically in technique, particularly in the last few months, which he attributed to their consistency in putting in the work and the performance opportunities they have been getting with Ballet Manila. They were most recently included in the cast of the season production and two fundraising shows of Ibong Adarna, and were also part of the company’s The Silver Gala show in Baguio City. 

Hours after winning the Youth Grand Prix Award, De Leon managed to respond to congratulatory messages sent to him. “Sobrang saya po kasi matagal ko na rin po na pinapangarap na mapanalunan po ang ganitong award. At siyempre po, nagpapasalamat ako sa mga teachers ko kasi di po kami makakaabot dito sa finals at mananalo kung wala po ’yung tulong nila.” (I’m overjoyed because I’ve been dreaming of winning this kind of award for a long time. And of course, I want to thank my teachers because we wouldn’t have been able to reach the finals here and win if not for their help.)

De Leon has had a good track record with the AGP, winning the bronze in the Pre-Competitive B division in 2019, which was his first time to join an international ballet competition. With AGP shifting to video competition when the pandemic hit, the young danseur continued to participate – and win. He garnered back-to-back silver medals, in Junior B in 2020 and in Junior A in 2021.

When AGP returned to live competition in December 2022 in Bangkok, he won a bronze in Junior A, with Stanley Alamer winning a bronze in Junior B. Earlier in 2022, De Leon was finally able to avail of a prize he had won in AGP in 2020 – a two-week summer intensive program with The Royal Ballet School in London, a trip that was delayed because of the pandemic.

De Leon became a Project Ballet Futures scholar of Ballet Manila in 2016 when he was just nine years old following auditions held in his public school. Though having no previous knowledge of ballet, he took a keen interest in it and has been training in the Vaganova method since.  

Held from December 11 to 16 at the Y-Theater in Hong Kong, the AGP Finals gathered winning regional participants from Manila, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, China, Osaka, Singapore, Sydney and Taipei.

The AGP Final Jury was composed of: Garry Trinder, MNZM, director of the New Zealand School of Dance; Lin Zhou, ballet staff of Canada’s National Ballet School; and Miwako Kubota, former senior artist of The Australian Ballet.