In 1998, principal dancer Osias Barroso Jr. became the first Conrad in Ballet Manila’s Le Corsaire, a collaboration with Krasnoyarsk Ballet that was also the first full-length staging of the classic pirate ballet in the Philippines and in Southeast Asia. 

Twenty years later, in 2018, shortly after presenting BM’s eighth Le Corsaire — this time as co-artistic director with Lisa Macuja Elizalde — Barroso sat down for an interview where he recalled moments from the 1998 production and shared notes about the just concluded show. 

Combining his words from that interview and images from BM’s Le Corsaire over the years, this clip pays tribute to the Ballerina’s Prince who set the bar high for all Conrads that came after him. This marks what would have been his 59th birthday (February 23), on the eve of BM’s premiere of Macuja Elizalde’s reimagined Le Corsaire (February 24 and 25, Aliw Theater).

See also:
‘Le Corsaire’ 20 years after: Osias Barroso on sustaining Ballet Manila’s pirate breakthrough

The first and latest Corsaire

Ballet Manila’s Le Corsaire through the years