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.

Reimagined dream sequence. In the original Marius Petipa choreography, the scene known as The Dream showed Don Quixote in his shining armor fighting monsters, including a giant spider. Slaying the spider and cutting its web uncovered the garden of Dulcinea, Don Quixote’s romantic ideal, filled with dancing dryads and little amours.

In the 1902 revival of the ballet, Alexander Gorsky made changes, resulting in a scene that’s more familiar to audiences today. In Gorsky’s version, Don Quixote is rendered unconscious after attacking the windmills, leading him to dream of being in Dulcinea’s garden. The choreographer added three variations: the Variation of the Queen of the Dryads (a character he created), the Variation of Amour and the Variation of Dulcinea (performed by the dancer playing Kitri). The music of these variations was not composed by Ludwig Minkus who had created the score for Petipa’s ballet which premiered in 1869.

Top photo: In Ballet Manila’s 2004 staging of Don Quixote, The Dream scene features (from left) Marian Faustino as Amour, Lisa Macuja-Elizalde as Dulcinea and Christine Rocas as Queen of the Dryads, along with the corps de ballet. Photo by Ocs Alvarez