This Month in BM History: October 1996
A page from the Swan Lake souvenir program in Silay City lists the cast featuring dancers from Ballet Manila and Krasnoyarsk Ballet. Souvenir program from the Ballet Manila Archives collection
In 1996, Ballet Manila invited the Krasnoyarsk Ballet to the Philippines for a series of full-length productions. Coinciding with the 10th anniversary of BM principal dancer Lisa Macuja as a Philippine-based ballerina, the collaboration kicked off with 10! Celebrating a Decade in Dance with three shows of the four-act Swan Lake at the Cultural Center of the Philippines and a Gala Concert in the same venue featuring a program of classical pieces and Filipino choreographies.
Together with the Krasnoyarsk Ballet, Ballet Manila staged Don Quixote in Iloilo. Souvenir program from the Ballet Manila Archives collection
The partnership with Krasnoyarsk Ballet continued with a joint performance tour in Luzon and Visayas: Don Quixote on October 9 and 10 at the WVSU Cultural Center in Iloilo City, Iloilo, presented by the Gilopez Kabayao Foundation, Inc.; Swan Lake on October 12 at the Kansilayan Cultural Center in Silay, Negros Occidental, under the auspices of the Occidental Negros Host Lions Club and the Diacare Foundation, Inc.; Don Quixote on October 17 at the University of San Carlos, presented by the Arts Council of Cebu; Swan Lake at the Dinalupihan Civic Center in Bataan, through the efforts of the Dinalupihan Civic Center and the CCP Cultural Exchange Division; and finally, a Gala Concert on October 21 at the Rizal Park Open-Air Auditorium.
The shows earned praise from reviewers in national and regional newspapers. In The Sunday Chronicle, Edwin Cordevilla wrote: “To see Lisa Macuja and Vassily Polushin in Ballet Manila and Krasnoyarsk State Ballet's Swan Lake... is to marvel anew at the sublime symmetry of the dance-drama – so fresh, so precise, so buoyant...”
Meanwhile in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Rina Jimenez-David observed after watching Swan Lake: “At the performance's end, one felt sated by the experience, exhilarated by the thought of artists giving their all simply for one's delight and appreciation.”
Don Quixote was also performed in Cebu City. Souvenir program from the Ballet Manila Archives collection
