By Jv Ramos

Ticking off items from their personal lists of dance goals must be the theme of Stephanie Santiago and Noah Esplana's 2024. Other than getting to play roles they've eyed for years – Myrtha in Giselle for Steph and Lankadem in Le Corsaire for Noah – both got to share the stage with Mariinsky Ballet stars, originate the roles of Flerida and Aladin in Florante at Laura, perform for audiences outside Manila, and be promoted to Ballet Manila soloists in separate instances in front of a packed theater. 

Asked if she saw her promotion coming last August, Stephanie relates that artistic director Lisa Macuja Elizalde had told her early this year it was in the cards during a random one-on-one revolving on life and health updates. "I knew that Ma'am Lisa had the intention to promote me, but I never expected it to come right after Giselle and be effective on the very next day.

"Knowing that a promotion made me want to work harder to truly deserve it. I guess that moment served as an inspiration to push even more as a dancer. But really, even without knowing a promotion was on the line, I would have still worked as hard," shares Stephanie, who had signed with Ballet Manila in April 2023.

By working hard, what this ballerina really means is working smart. As a performer born with severe degenerative scoliosis, she continues to find the tricky balance between mastering roles and remaining healthy. “When I was preparing for my dream role, Myrtha, I was conscious of working hard to look good next to the Giselles, Renata [Shakirova] and our very own Abi [Abigail Oliveiro]. I practiced my jumps because I didn’t want to look cheap next to the principals and that led to spasms on my shoulder and back. To get through that hard period, I had to double my rest, go through physical therapy sessions, and learn to pace my jumps. It was physically and emotionally demanding for me to be Myrtha. I had to keep reminding myself that I could do it.”  

As for Noah, who was promoted after Ballet Manila’s Florante at Laura shows at Aliw Theater last October, he said he didn’t expect his “leveling up” to happen at all. "I just noticed that I was being assigned bigger roles, and that alone made me so grateful throughout the year," says the Australian-born dancer. "I was really shocked when my promotion was announced. I guess, as a dancer, I don't really focus on getting promoted. Since I got here, it had been all about working at being able to dance more and getting better at it."

More than anything, the promotion validated that he made the right decision to stay in 2020 amid the pandemic and continue training in the Philippines. "While others left and chose to do other things, I stayed here to catch up on my training, even if I didn't have a contract. At first, I was under the tutelage of Sir Shaz [the late co-artistic director Osias Barroso Jr.] then Sir Geri [co-artistic associate Gerardo Francisco Jr.]. That time was difficult for me, especially since I was away from family and had to learn ballet online, but it was all worth it, since I could continue to do what I love the most."

Having started their ballet training with other schools, it was only natural for Stephanie and Noah to spend time relearning their dance technique to align with the company’s Vaganova style. But as they progressed and spent more months performing with Ballet Manila, both were also challenged to learn roles from stories that Filipinos grew up with, including the tales of Lola Basyang for Tatlong Kuwento ni Lola Basyang and of course, Florante at Laura.

“Though I didn’t study Florante at Laura as I was homeschooled, I was lucky enough to catch the higher batches perform the stories when I was growing up in regular school. I’m familiar with [Philippine classic literature] until El Fili,” says Stephanie, noting that since her first exposure to the Francisco Balagtas piece, she has always been captivated by the character of Flerida. “I love her emotional journey and how strong and vulnerable she can be!”

“How I found the character of Flerida also had to do with my fellow dancers. Kuya Mark [Mark Sumaylo, principal dancer] is such a good actor that seeing him as the Sultan helped me bring out the emotions and the little reactions that made Flerida. We didn’t even need to talk about the intensity among our three characters [with Aladin]. It just came out naturally.”    

As for Noah, it sure helped to go through the many school-based adaptations on YouTube to grasp the storyline and character of Aladin. “But also, I studied what the character would do in a particular situation and would find the character for myself. I personally find this method helpful in any role that I do.”

Speaking of videos, Noah finds it “heartwarming” to know that future dancers of Ballet Manila would probably watch a video of his performance to learn the role of Aladin in Florante at Laura. “I think the experience of building a character for a first-time ballet is very special. I had a really good time working with Martin Lawrance again – I’m thankful for it – but I would love to experience being choreographed by Sir Geri too.” [Lawrance and Francisco took on specific tasks in putting together the Florante at Laura choreography, with the former focusing mainly on the pas de deux and pas de trois and the latter on battle scenes involving the leads and the corps.]

Noah underlines that he still has a lot of experience to gain as part of Ballet Manila, and that even if he may have created the standard for the role of Aladin, there is still so much improvement he can do for the role. “I think experience in characterizing is just as important as mastering steps in any role.”

What’s interesting about the respective promotions of Stephanie and Noah is that they immediately had to go on tours with Ballet Manila outside the country just days after. “I celebrated by going on tour in Malaysia, and Noah celebrated by going back to Taiwan to dance,” jokingly declares Stephanie, referring to Ballet Manila’s Greatest Hits in Petaling Jaya and Cinderella in Taoyuan. “It’s interesting how this year turned out – the company was busier during the off-season than the actual season. But that’s all right! We are really blessed to be touring and dancing more. Not many people can do what we [Ballet Manila artists] do.”

Asked what the promotion means to them, Stephanie replies it has given her a lot of hope. Having gone through some bad falls and injuries during the season has made her fear the worst; but getting through the rough periods and relearning what works best for her body has given her the strength to dance smarter and better. “I’m ready to take on any role that Ma’am Lisa throws at me, I’m ready to push myself to see what else I’m capable of. I’m ready to work smarter, especially for the company’s upcoming 30th anniversary,” states the ballerina.

“It [my promotion] just boils down to more dancing. For me, being a soloist means I’ll dance bigger things, and that I’ll continue being able to do what I’ve been doing,” says Noah.  

Regarding the future roles they’d like to take on, both dancers note that aside from those that match their personal dance styles, they also want to experience performing pieces that audiences wouldn’t normally associate with them.

Stephanie shares, “I’ve never experienced a classical pas de deux, for example, or anything adagio. I’m also interested in playing more characters that go through an emotional journey like Flerida. I’m thinking Juliet maybe, and I’m fine with any version that Ballet Manila has done of Romeo and Juliet!”

“For me, lately, I’ve really been obsessed with Diane and Acteon. I just love how powerful the music is in that piece,” Noah notes. “And while Ballet Manila doesn’t do it, I hope to experience dancing the full-length version of Flames of Paris. I like choreography that demands dancers to show what they can do.” 

For their willingness to learn more and to further challenge themselves, there’s no doubt that we’ll be seeing more from Ballet Manila’s Stephanie Santiago and Noah Esplana!