Olé! Don Quixote fun facts: #3 – From Quiteria to Kitri
As Ballet Manila prepares to bring back Don Quixote in May – the second offering in its 25th performance season – we share assorted trivia about the beloved classic, tidbits from the company’s past performances and artistic director Lisa Macuja-Elizalde’s long history with it, along with select photographs from the Ballet Manila Archives. The series is a celebration of this happy ballet, a showcase for the bravura Spanish-inspired style featuring show-stopping technical feats by the ballerina and her danseur in the lead roles of Kitri and Basilio.
Katherine Barkman makes her debut as the feisty heroine of Don Quixote with Ballet Manila in 2017. She is now with San Francisco Ballet. Photo by Ocs Alvarez
From Quiteria to Kitri. Don Quixote the novel is over a thousand pages long. Only two chapters from this voluminous work, however, are said to have served as basis for the story of the ballet. Kitri and Basilio are just minor characters in print, but become lead personalities in the ballet which focuses on their love story. The feisty and spirited Kitri – a prized role for ballerinas the world over – is known in the novel as Quiteria.
Top photo: A soloist with the Kirov Ballet in 1986, Lisa Macuja debuts as Kitri in the full-length Don Quixote. Photo from the Ballet Manila Archives collection
