This Month in BM History: June 2012
The Le Corsaire pas de trois from Act 2 brings together Ballet Manila’s Nazer Salgado as Conrad, Kremlin Ballet’s Aleksandra Timofeeva as Medora and English National Ballet’s Dmitri Gruzdev as Ali. Photo by Ocs Alvarez
Seeking only to bring the best in dance to the Philippines, Ballet Manila and Manila Broadcasting Company presented World Stars of Ballet on June 8 and 9, 2012 at Aliw Theater.
World Stars of Ballet gathered nine outstanding artists from the finest companies in a showcase that also featured Filipino prima ballerina Lisa Macuja Elizalde and Ballet Manila. Poster from the Ballet Manila Archives
The two-night gala was a gathering of celebrated dancers from the finest ballet companies: American Ballet Theatre’s Paloma Herrera and Maxim Beloserkovsky, Mariinsky Theatre’s Daria Pavlenko and Yevgeny Ivanchenko, English National Ballet’s Dmitri Gruzdev, Kremlin Ballet’s Aleksandra Timofeeva, Norwegian National Ballet’s Yoel Carreno and Yolanda Correa Frias, and The Royal Ballet’s David Makhateli.
The show also featured the Philippines’ own prima ballerina, Ballet Manila principal dancer and artistic director Lisa Macuja Elizalde, and her own company. As she promised audiences, it would be “an exciting evening of great artistry, and very athletic and graceful dancing” of classical, neo-classical and modern choreographies.
The program highlighted two firsts — the Apollo pas de deux and the Diamonds pas de deux, both Balanchine masterpieces, never before performed in Manila. The first was performed by the American Ballet Theater pair while the second by the Mariinsky couple.
The Norwegian National Ballet principals breathed life to Diane and Acteon, from the ballet Esmeralda, while Makhateli of The Royal Ballet and Timofeeva of Kremlin Ballet were paired for the Romeo and Juliet Balcony pas de deux.
An announcement about the two-night gala in the Philippine Star. Clipping from the Ballet Manila Archives
Macuja Elizalde’s nod to the classics was the Don Quixote grande pas de deux which she performed with fellow Ballet Manila principal dancer Rudy De Dios.
In a rare opportunity, Ballet Manila junior principal Nazer Salgado was cast as Conrad in the Le Corsaire pas de trois from Act 2 together with Timofeeva as Medora and English National Ballet’s Dmitri Gruzdev as Ali.
Two pairs of Ballet Manila dancers also took to the stage to perform their respective entries to the 2012 Beijing International Ballet Invitational: Stephanie Eunice Cabral and Arnulfo Andrade Jr. in the Giselle pas de deux as classical entry; and Joan Emery Sia and Elpidio Magat Jr. in Arachnida as modern entry.
Ballet Manila principal dancers Lisa Macuja Elizalde and Rudy De Dios perform the grande pas de deux of Kitri and Basilio from Don Quixote. Photo by Ocs Alvarez
Also showcased were original works by local choreographers done especially for Ballet Manila: Sotto Voce, Reconfigured and Widmung (Dedication) by Augustus Damian III; Arachnida by now National Artist Agnes Locsin; Green by Hazel Sabas; Limang Dipang Tao (A Crowd Five Bodies Deep) by Gerardo Francisco Jr.
World Stars of Ballet was a fundraiser for Ballet Manila’s Project Ballet Futures scholarship program.
The Mariinsky Theatre’s Daria Pavlenko and Yevgeny Ivanchenko dance Diamonds, part of Balanchine’s Jewels, a piece never before seen in Manila. Photo by Ocs Alvarez
