Final farewells

Depicting death scenes on stage is a tricky balancing act. This is particularly true in ballet where dancers must remain physically strong to be able to move yet appear ostensibly weak as their characters near their end. It’s a challenge Ballet Manila has successfully hurdled in countless productions. We take a look at those moments of final farewells.

Although it is the betrayal of Albrecht (Aleksei Timofeyev) that causes her death, Giselle (Renata Shakirova) still passionately cares for him in the afterlife. When he is forced to dance to his death by the wilis – the spirits of brokenhearted women like her – she intercedes for him and pleads for mercy from Queen Myrtha. The husband-and-wife dancers from Mariinsky Ballet were guest artists in Ballet Manila’s Giselle staged in August 2024. Photo by Giselle P. Kasilag

A fortune teller reveals a forbidding future for Violetta (Abigail Oliveiro) in Lisa Macuja Elizalde’s La Traviata (2020), a grim picture the courtesan actually envisions. Torn between the Barone who gives her riches and Alfredo who offers her the love she craves for, she chooses the latter but circumstances eventually make her leave him. They ultimately reunite, but the ailing Violetta is already in the throes of death. Photo by MarBi Photography

Leading his troops, the Persian general Osmalik (John Balagot) tries to conquer Crotona, but is foiled in his attempt by Florante (Joshua Enciso, right) and his men. In this scene from Florante at Laura (2024), the valiant warrior has just slain Osmalik following a fast and furious battle that he and his good friend Menandro (Anselmo Dictado, left) has waged against the invader. Photo by Giselle P. Kasilag

In The Dying Swan, Lisa Macuja Elizalde portrays the last moments of the winged creature in the title. Taking on the three-minute choreographic masterpiece of Mikhail Fokine as part of The Legends of the Classics (2012), the prima ballerina gives a heartbreaking performance described afterwards by a critic as “gliding with ethereal grace towards inevitable death.” Photo by Ocs Alvarez

Waking up from a faux death, Juliet (Jessica Pearl Dames) comes upon an incomprehensible sight – her beloved Romeo (Joshua Enciso) has killed himself ostensibly because he thought she was dead. The anguished Juliet then decides to follow suit in Martin Lawrance’s Romeo and Juliet (2023). Photo by Giselle P. Kasilag

As his dying wish, King Solom (Mark Sumaylo) bids his trusted ally Spero (Joshua Enciso) to continue his work in freeing their people from the hold of the malevolent Atheos. The emotional scene comes from Carmina Burana (2020), the first full-length choreography of Rudy De Dios who narrates a good-versus-evil tale using the epic music of Carl Orff based on medieval chants. Photo by Giselle P. Kasilag

In a shocking turn of events in Lisa Macuja Elizalde’s Le Corsaire, Birbanto (Romeo Peralta Jr.) lies dead after Conrad (Mark Sumaylo, right) shoots him when the former fires at and wounds Conrad’s loyal servant Ali. In the beginning, Birbanto is friends with Conrad but later turns traitor and sides with the enemy in the pirate adventure. Photo by Giselle P. Kasilag