Soundbites: 'Discipline pays dividends'
Ballet Manila was a newsmaker from the very beginning. Over the years, as it grew and reached milestones, it has been the subject of countless stories in media. With the company celebrating its Pearl Anniversary in 2025, we mine the Archives for published tidbits describing moments from its 30-year history, as spoken by its own leaders and dancers or as said by those writing about them.
Ballet Manila's corps de ballet displays amazing synchronicity in La Bayadere, staged in November 2013. Photo by Ocs Alvarez
“This discipline pays dividends. I saw the entire run of six performances of La Bayadere at the Aliw in November and I have rarely seen the Kingdom of the Shades delivered with such unity of movement and positioning. Having all the dancers trained together in the Vaganova way means that the corps de ballet's arms are identical in arabesque and their extended legs move automatically to the same height at the same time.”
–GRAHAM WATTS
British dance writer and critic
January 2014
Ballet in Manila
Dance Europe magazine
British dance critic Graham Watts reports on Ballet Manila for Dance Europe. Clipping from the Ballet Manila Archives collection
