The Ballet Manila Archives is the repository of documents, print, photographic, audio and video materials and memorabilia relating to the history of Ballet Manila and the life and career of its founder, prima ballerina Lisa Macuja-Elizalde. This site is powered by Ms. Elizalde and Project Art, Inc.
Ballet Manila has showcased a rich palette of hues in its productions over the years. Now, the company’s true colors are revealed! Gathering photographs from the Ballet Manila Archives, we present the vibrant and the somber, the heavenly to the earthy, in a series of virtual exhibitions – one shade at a time.
Birds soaring in the sky was the vision of the late Ballet Manila artistic director Eric V. Cruz when he first created Visions in Blue for Dance Concert Company. When Ballet Manila performed it in OPM at OPB (2003), his inspiration of birds in flight was realized with dancers clothed in blue, showing off the company’s clean lines and classical technique. Photo by Ocs Alvarez
There’s no other color to put on but blue when one is cast in the Bluebird pas de deux from Sleeping Beauty as Elpidio Magat does. The danseur wears a cool shade of blue when he leaps in this scene excerpted from the classic for the 50th birthday concert of Ballet Manila artistic director Lisa Macuja-Elizalde titled Gold (2014). Photo by Ocs Alvarez
Giving justice to her character Imelda, who craves attention and power, Abigail Oliveiro takes center stage in this scene from Martin Lawrance’s Rebel (2016) clad in an elegant navy blue dress that is paired off with glittering hair and neck ornaments. Photo by Ocs Alvarez
Aqua is the appropriate hue for Elline Damian as she performs as Medora, the female lead in Le Corsaire (2002), involving the improbable adventures of the pirate Conrad who rescues her twice from kidnappers. Photo by Ocs Alvarez
In Don Quixote (2023), the trio of Celine Astrologo, Angelika Tagupa and Marinette Franco form an ethereal tableau of dryads wearing blue in the dream sequence in Act 2. Photo by Giselle P. Kasilag
The blue-haired and blue-clad Sirenia (Joan Emery Sia) is one of the mystical beings summoned by Tita Nia, benefactor to Sinderela in Hazel Sabas’ fairy tale adaptation, Sinderela (2012). Sirenia joins forces with Aria, Flamia and Tiera to ensure that the young lass gets to attend an audition called by the actor Al Principe who is looking for a leading lady. Photo by Ocs Alvarez
Cinderella (Katherine Barkman) makes quite an entrance in her frilly blue frock at the grand ball, stirring everyone’s curiosity as to her identity. The scene is from Lisa Macuja-Elizalde’s Cinderella which premiered in 2016. Photo by Ocs Alvarez
