After several firsts since her return to Ballet Manila, Nanami Hasegawa caps 2025 as Snow White

*Cast in the pas de trois (above) and as a swan in last May’s* Swan Lake, Nanami was given another assignment in the classic – the Mazurka – to substitute for a dancer who was injured. Photo by Giselle P. Kasilag

By Jv Ramos

Company artist Nanami Hasegawa has not marked a year since her return to Ballet Manila, yet her situation feels like she’s been back and dancing with everyone for far longer than that. “That’s because the schedule has been so tight,” quips the Japanese ballerina.

*Ballet Manila company artist Nanami Hasegawa says she is living* the dream. “Getting paid to dance, seeing different stages… I really am so happy to be back and to be going through all of it!” Photo by Giselle P. Kasilag

Since she rejoined the company early in 2025, her performance has been nonstop. She’s done the expected such as back-to-back difficult corps de ballet work like in The Pearl Gala and in Swan Lake, and challenging pas de deux and pas de trois work in Ballet Manila’s classical pieces. But she has also embraced the unexpected when she’s had to cover for injured dancers, such as learning one of the lead roles in Pearls and in Bloom in a short period of time, being assigned to do Mazurka in Swan Lake just three hours before the show, and being a last addition to an international tour.

“It’s been one surprise after the other since Paquita, but I love it,” she comments. “I mean, I am living the dream: getting paid to dance, seeing different stages and even getting to witness the rituals of others before they perform. I really am so happy to be back and to be going through all of it!”

*Nanami was the Wench to Romeo Peralta’s Birbanto in the pirate adventure* Le Corsaire *(2018). In the upcoming* Snow White, they will reunite as Snow White and her Prince. Photo by Giselle P. Kasilag

Never one to say no to roles, including those that she has very limited time to rehearse for, Nanami shares that like most dancers, she also gets very anxious to perform. “Since I can’t help but get nervous, I just go through it. Hugging other dancers, especially those I’m dancing with, before stepping on the stage helps me calm down. But really, I still prefer the feeling of having to learn something quickly or being scared before a performance than not being able to dance at all.”

“Well, there’s also the friendships that made those last-minute assignments easier,” quickly adds Nanami, refusing to bring up those dark moments during the pandemic wherein she really didn’t know if ballet performances could return. “I couldn’t have gone through the Mazurka dance if it were not for my partner, JC (Concepcion, company artist). He would whisper to me what’s next, so we could get through the dance together. And then for the AGP Gala in Manila, where I had to learn a new role in Bloom, I had Sir Gerardo (Francisco, artistic associate) and Elmo (Dictado, soloist), who assured me that they wouldn’t drop me, and they really guided me through that!”

Here, the ballerina notes that the danseurs who were directly trained by Ballet Manila’s former co-artistic director Osias “Sir Shaz” Barroso, have been particularly good at guiding the ballerinas in the company, especially in the pieces that require a lot of partnering. Additionally, she appreciates how serious they are in upholding the Vaganova tradition. During the Swan Lake run, for example, the artists who have been with the company even before the pandemic, were quick to identify which parts Sir Shaz “would not be too happy about” and the parts he would be very proud of.

*In her first full-length* Don Quixote last August, Nanami (second from left) dances in the iconic dream sequence in Act 2. Photo by Giselle P. Kasilag

Speaking of Swan Lake, Nanami shares that much of the roles that she had to step in for were things she hoped to do when she first became a professional dancer in Ballet Manila. “I remember wishing to be part of Bloom, then Mazurka in Swan Lake is one of the costumes that I hoped to wear one day back in 2017. It really does help to visualize. I mean, I also dreamt about dancing a classical version of Swan Lake – something that I never got to do when I was in Europe. Then, there’s the all-happy classic Don Quixote! I never thought that my first performance of Don Quixote would involve the idols I would always watch in YouTube, [Mariinsky Ballet principal dancers] Renata Shakirova and Kimin Kim. It’s truly been a year of many good firsts,” expresses a very enthusiastic Nanami.

And soon, this ballerina will be stepping into her first principal role in Lisa Macuja Elizalde’s Snow White. Ballet Manila’s holiday offering at Aliw Theater will have a five-show run on Christmas week; Nanami shares the role with principal dancer Abigail Oliveiro, with principal dancers Romeo Peralta and Mark Sumaylo as their respective princes. “It was around two months ago in one of our individual discussions with Ma’am Lisa, that I found out I would be Snow White. I expressed that I am very grateful that she trusts me, and I think it’s just interesting how I was around when she was first developing this ballet, and now I’ll be dancing Snow White with Romeo Peralta as my prince.” In the previous performances of this fairy tale ballet, Nanami had been one of the bunnies, the evil witch, and the wife of the Huntsman.

In Snow White *productions in 2019, Nanami was the Huntsman’s wife with principal dancer Mark Sumaylo as the Huntsman. Photo by Erickson Dela Cruz*

Asked which part of Snow White she looks forward to dancing, Nanami points out that part where the princess meets the seven dwarves for the first time and tries to figure out how many they really are. “I always found that part funny as part of the audience. And even as Snow White, I probably would have to stop myself from laughing. The fun part about this whole ballet is you never really know what the BM boys would do as the dwarves. They do different things in every show, and sometimes, they themselves don’t know what things they’ll do!”

Regarding her prince, the ballerina is pleased with her partnership with Romeo Peralta, whom she has danced with for a Romeo and Juliet excerpt and in Le Corsaire. “He’s a senior principal of a company, yet he always makes sure that I’m comfortable and is open to trying out new things. He’s also open to setting aside time just so we can work on learning our roles. Being his partner has always been a very collaborative process.”

*Learning a new role in Annabelle Lopez Ochoa’s* Bloom was made easier with the help of her partners, says Nanami (above, opposite soloist Anselmo Dictado and with the male corps). Photo by Giselle P. Kasilag

While the old videos of Ballet Manila’s Snow White have provided this dancer with a blueprint, Nanami wants to make sure that her take on the character would be her own. “I’d like my version to be very playful, very pure and generous. I keep thinking that Snow White must really have a pure, innocent heart. No one would go into a random house and cook, and not be surprised or even scared when mini humans suddenly appear!”

She reiterates, “Yes, I’m very grateful I have been entrusted with this role, and really, I’m very happy about dancing again with Ballet Manila. After all the hard work and tight schedule, the feeling that really sticks is the joy of dancing. I’m very happy to be back here!”