By Jv Ramos

Of all the classics in Ballet Manila’s repertoire, it’s Le Corsaire that Romeo Peralta Jr. knows quite well – from the most minor of characters to the lead roles. “And that’s because, during my very first Le Corsaire with Ballet Manila, I almost lost my scholarship. Muntik nang hindi nagsimula ang ballet career ko,” the principal dancer recalls. (My ballet career almost didn’t start.)

A twelve-year-old scholar in 2000, Romeo says he didn’t know any better at the time that every role is essential for a whole ballet production to work. “Dahil guard lang ako, akala ko na okay lang i-skip ko ang isang matinee show dahil meron kaming activity sa school. Ang masama pa doon ay hindi ako nagpaalam. Hindi na lang ako nagpakita.” (Because I was cast just as a guard, I thought it would be okay to skip one matinee show because of a school activity. The worse part was, I didn’t inform anyone. I just didn’t show up.)

Romeo shares that principal dancers Lisa Macuja Elizalde and Osias “Shaz” Barroso – who were also in charge of training the scholars then – were furious and wanted to let him go, but artistic director Eric V. Cruz decided to give him a second chance. While he received a scolding and had to sit out the rest of the Le Corsaire shows, he was told he could still continue his scholarship.

He learned a vital lesson then, certainly one that he took to heart and became ingrained in his mind. “Sinabi ko sa sarili ko na gagawin ko ang lahat para hindi masayang ang second chance na ito. Inaral ko talaga ang Le Corsaire.” (I told myself that I would do everything to not waste this second chance. So I really studied Le Corsaire.)

Romeo claims that it’s very clear to him what every character, including the female ones, does and this knowledge would come in handy for every Ballet Manila restaging of the pirate ballet since then.

What’s interesting is, Romeo has been part of every Le Corsaire production of the company, except the first in 1998 when he wasn’t part of Ballet Manila yet. “Nu’ng tumino na ako, ginawa na akong pirate noong 2002. Siyempre, sobrang saya ko na ma-promote mula guard to pirate. Noong mga restaging naman ng 2004 at 2008, pirate pa rin at siguro isa sa mga bedouins. 2010 naman ang Le Corsaire na isa sa pinaka-memorable sa akin.” (When I became more disciplined, I was cast as a pirate in 2000. I definitely was so happy to be promoted from guard to pirate. Then, during the restaging in 2004 and 2008, I still played a pirate and maybe one of the bedouins. 2010 was one of the most memorable Le Corsaire productions I’ve been in.) 

It was when he took a bow in what he thought would be a final performance, as he had decided to take a break from dancing to finish his college education. “Lankadem ang role ko noon. Memorable siya kasi first time ako nilagay sa Cast A, at nakasayaw ko si Ma’am Lise bilang Medora. Tapos, ’yun din siguro ang start ng pagiging villain ko sa mga productions ng Ballet Manila.” (Lankadem was my role back then. It was memorable because it was the first time I was placed in Cast A, and I danced with Ma’am Lise as Medora. It was also probably the role that started my being cast as a villain in Ballet Manila productions.) 

When Romeo eventually decided to make ballet a full-time career, realizing that being in the arts was what he really wanted rather than a corporate job, he would reprise the role of the slave trader Lankadem in 2013. He would also eventually be cast as the bad guy in other ballets, such as Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet and Don Diego in Ibong Adarna, perhaps as a result of how he effectively portrayed the merciless Lankadem. “Noong last Le Corsaire, noong 2018, sinayaw ko naman ang role ni Birbanto, at sobrang nagustuhan ko ’yon!”  (During the last Le Corsaire, in 2018, I danced the role of Birbanto and I really enjoyed it!)

A friend to the protagonist Conrad, the pirate Birbanto would later on betray his crew out of greediness. “Kahit villain din siya, iba ang feel niya. Iba siya kay Lankadem.”  (Even if he’s also a villain, he is very different from Lankadem.) Here, Romeo adds it’s the responsibility of a dancer to create distinctions among the many characters he plays.

This danseur, however, says that how he prepares for all his roles is the same. “Inaaral ko ang mga videos ng dating dancers dito sa Ballet Manila, nagbabasa ako kung sino ang character ko, at inaaral ko ang pag-interact ng character ko sa ibang characters. Lalong-lalo na sa Le Corsaire! Ang daming characters kasi talaga sa ballet na ito!”  (I study the videos of former dancers here in Ballet Manila, I read about my character and I study my character’s interactions with other characters.)

Now that he’s been cast in the title role of Le Corsaire, Romeo notes that he pays even more attention to the relationships Conrad has with all the other characters. “Si Conrad ang nagdadala ng istorya sa version ni Ma’am Lise, so kailangan na alam ko talaga ang kilos ng bawat isa to tell the story well.” (It’s Conrad who carries the story in this version of Ma’am Lise, so I have to really know the movement of each person on stage to be able to tell the story well.)

The principal danseur adds, “Thankful ako na ang Conrad ko ay sa ibang version ng Le Corsaire. Dahil kahit alam na alam ko ang role ni Conrad sa dami ng Le Corsaire na pinagdaanan ko, hindi ako puwedeng maging kampante. Iba ang version ni Ma'am Lise, kaya maraming challenges ito sa akin.” (I’m thankful that I’m playing Conrad in a different version of Le Corsaire. Because even if I know the role, I cannot be complacent. This version of Ma’am Lise is different, so there’s a lot of challenges in it for me.)

Among these challenges is having to do a pas de deux right after a solo, which in the original, had a part with Birbanto in between. “Noong una, hindi namin alam ni Mark kung paano namin ma-su-sustain ito, pero pagkatapos ng ilang rehearsal, na-wo-work na namin.”  [At first, Mark (Sumaylo, principal dancer who is also cast as Conrad) didn’t know how we would be able to sustain this, but after a few rehearsals, we were able to do it.]

As one of the company’s senior dancers who’s inevitably visited by doubts if he could still dance this and that role, Romeo expresses that he’s made tweaks in his routine to prepare himself for the role of Conrad. He has, for instance, let go of the extra workouts he used to do because of his other duties with the company on the administrative side. It’s his way, he says, of reserving his energy for classes and rehearsals leading up to the show.)

It also helps that his Medora, principal ballerina Jasmine Pia Dames, is collaborative when it comes to learning this new version of Le Corsaire. Both able to articulate their thoughts and needs in dancing, the two say partnering each other has been a smooth process. “I’ve always enjoyed dancing with Pia, and I’m happy that we’re doing another full-length ballet together,” says Romeo, who was also Pia’s prince in the Sleeping Beauty choreographed by Lisa Macuja Elizalde which premiered in 2020. “We're very relaxed whenever we partner. It's great that we're doing Medora and Conrad for the first time, because it's like we're learning to figure out challenges together.”

And while Conrad and Mendora are the main characters in Le Corsaire, Romeo underlines that their performance would be nothing without the corps de ballet. “Kahit gaano pa kagaling ang mga principals mo, hindi magiging magandang Le Corsaire ’yan, kung wala ang galing ng corps.” (No matter how good your principals are, you can’t have a beautiful Le Corsaire production without a polished corps.) Romeo is thus generous with passing to other dancers the knowledge and experience he’s collected in the many restagings of Le Corsaire.

Familiar with how it feels to be performing with more skilled dancers as part of the corps de ballet, Romeo notes, “Hindi mo dapat isipin na mas experienced sila, kaya mas magaling sila sa iyo.  Dapat mag-step up ka to perform as well as them. Hindi magiging maganda ang kahit anong ballet kung hindi maayos ang corps. Lumaki ako sa corps, kaya alam ko kung gaano ka-importante ito sa whole production at pati na rin sa growth ko bilang isang danseur.” (One shouldn’t think that the others are more experienced that’s why they are better than you. You should step up to perform as well as them. No ballet production would be good without the work of the corps. I grew up dancing in the corps so I know how important it is to the whole production and to one’s personal growth as a danseur.) 

With just a few more days left till the premiere of Lisa Macuja-Elizalde’s choreography of Le Corsaire, Romeo finds himself very grateful to finally be the lead dancer and still be challenged by a ballet he grew up dancing.