By Susan A. De Guzman

Ballet Manila might not be able to stage the corps de ballet-reliant warhorses like Swan Lake and Giselle just yet. But still, the company – downsized in dancers and in resources as a result of the pandemic – is in high spirits because it can already bring back a classic that’s adaptable to its current situation: Don Quixote.

With just three weeks to go before opening night, rehearsals are intensifying in Ballet Manila’s Studio 1 with artistic director Lisa Macuja-Elizalde at the helm. The fans and castanets are out of storage and the matadors’ capes have been dusted off, all ready to be harnessed into action in the high-octane, Spanish-themed production zeroing in on the love story of feisty village girl Kitri and the happy-go-lucky barber Basilio.

Don Quixote is particularly special for Macuja-Elizalde as Kitri is the role that became most associated with her throughout her dancing career. After making her debut in it with the Kirov Ballet in 1984, she’s had innumerable opportunities to perform both the full-length production and the well-known grand pas de deux in international festivals and with various companies. With Ballet Manila, she continued to perform her signature role notably with long-time partner and friend Osias Barroso until she bid farewell to Don Quixote – and Kitri – in her Swan Song Series in 2012.

Don Quixote is the second offering in Ballet Manila’s ongoing 25th season that has the theme “Of Hope and Homecoming.” What is regarded as ballet’s version of a “rom-com” (romantic comedy) fittingly celebrates the end of a long performance drought and affirms the company’s status as the home of the classics.

“Don Quixote is actually technically difficult; you really need stamina with all the jumps. But it’s one of the easiest to perform artistically. It’s all very bravura. Sasakit ang pisngi mo (Your cheeks will hurt) from all the smiling. There’s only one way to dance Don Q and it’s the strong, bravura, happy way. It’s sharp, quick, very light, fast, fiery… happy!” enthuses Macuja-Elizalde.

The lighthearted fare also serves a practical purpose. “I think it’s not a coincidence that the ballets many companies all over the world have been doing after the pandemic have been Romeo and Juliet and Don Quixote,” notes Macuja-Elizalde. “Why? When you don’t have that many people in the corps de ballet, they’re easier than Swan Lake, Giselle, Sleeping Beauty and La Bayadere because these ballets need big casts – they rely on the corps and the strength of the entire company. Don Quixote relies mainly on the abilities of the principal dancers and soloists.”

When Ballet Manila first staged the full-length Don Quixote in 1999, it was lean in size and thus required dancers to take on multiple roles. “I remember in the beginning when there weren’t many of us yet, (now co-artistic associate) Eileen Lopez would quick-change from Lead Gypsy Girl in character shoes and all of that to one of the dryads in Act 2,” Macuja-Elizalde relates.

In succeeding years, the company grew enough that it could have separate casts for different shows during a Don Quixote performance run. Nobody was, as Macuja-Elizalde puts it, “double-bodying.” But for the first time in a long while, it has had to do that again. The two girls dancing as Kitri’s Friends now are going to be in Act 2 as well. Principal dancer Shaira Comeros will also be Amour, while principal dancer Jessica Pearl Dames is also one of the dryads.

To fortify the cast, Ballet Manila is assigning roles to its Project Ballet Futures scholars and recruiting interested students from the Lisa Macuja School of Ballet. “We are also awarding scholarships and apprenticeships in the company for (ballet competition) prize winners. We have paid apprenticeships but for short periods of time, for talented students from abroad who want to experience what it’s like working and dancing with the company.”

Originally, former Ballet Manila principal dancer Katherine Barkman had been tapped to play Kitri, with her San Francisco Ballet colleague, principal dancer Esteban Hernandez, as her Basilio. However, after Barkman was injured in recent months, the ballerina had to bow out from the Manila engagement to focus on her recovery. Hernandez will remain a guest artist, partnering principal dancer Jasmine Pia Dames for the Don Quixote shows on May 27 and 28.

Since the cast change was announced in mid-March, Pia – who was supposed to be one of Kitri’s friends – has been working double time to prepare herself adequately to dance the lead instead. Thankfully, she has already done the full-length Don Quixote, debuting as Kitri in 2017 opposite principal dancer Gerardo Francisco Jr. who is now her rehearsal partner while awaiting the arrival of Hernandez.

“Everybody was supportive. When Pia started rehearsing and made her entrance as Kitri (in the studio), everyone was clapping and cheering for her,” says Macuja-Elizalde. “Because she’s danced it before, it was definitely easier to restage everything.”

The brunt of the work for the artistic director is doing additional choreography and restaging Don Quixote given a smaller cast and a different theater configuration. Since there’s no longer a middle aisle in Aliw Theater, some parts of the ballet will now be danced in front of the black curtain instead of the dancers walking around the theater such as in the beginning of the production and in the musical interlude after the tavern scene going into the wedding pas de deux.

Working around the lack of male dancers, Macuja-Elizalde is giving Gamache a dancing portion, instead of just doing mime, in the seguidillas scene. “Geri [Gerardo Francisco Jr.] as Gamache will have his moments especially in the interlude into the wedding scene.”

“I’m also adding a Fandango portion before the wedding pas de deux. So from the entrada, Basilio and Kitri will have a little bit longer to rest before actually doing the pas de deux. This will feature Abigail Oliveiro and Mark Sumaylo as Mercedes and Espada, and Rissa May Camaclang and Romeo Peralta as Lead Gypsy Girl and Lead Gypsy Boy. I’m also putting in Dulcinea there as she’s being followed by Don Quixote just to make everything still relate to Don Quixote’s quest.”

This tweak, she says, is meant to help the audience follow along, especially those who might not even be aware that Don Quixote mistakes Kitri for his own ideal woman Dulcinea.

Macuja-Elizalde avers these changes have been necessary to improve the storytelling. “It's tweaking to make it more feasible to a company our size and in our current situation. There’s a lot of small changes but in essence, it’s still the same three-act version that Tatiana (Udalenkova) and Sergey (Vikulov) staged for us before (of the Marius Petipa/ Alexander Gorsky choreography). It’s connecting the scenes to make them flow better, including cutting down on the long mimes. I think it’s going to work!”

She agrees that being part of Don Quixote as an artistic director and coach – instead of a dancer – has been quite mind-blowing. “There are times when I’m watching rehearsals when I would remember rehearsing with Irek Mukhamedov in Tbilisi, or rehearsing and performing Don Quixote with Farouk Ruzimatov (with the Kirov Ballet), with sina Shaz (Osias Barroso), sina Jerome (Espejo), si Rudy (De Dios)! It brings you back, of course. It brings back happy memories. 

With the stage set for Don Quixote 2023, she knows many such memories will be made again.