The Ballet Manila Archives is the repository of documents, print, photographic, audio and video materials and memorabilia relating to the history of Ballet Manila and the life and career of its founder, prima ballerina Lisa Macuja-Elizalde. This site is powered by Ms. Elizalde and Project Art, Inc.
It’s International Fairy Day! We join the celebration of the mystical beings who have powered many a fairy tale towards happy endings. Let’s take a look at some of the fairies who have graced the Ballet Manila stage and made dreams come true with their particular brand of charm and magic.
The Sugar Plum Fairy (Lisa Macuja Elizalde), ruler of the Land of Sweets, entertains guests in a grand pas de deux with her Cavalier in the second act of The Nutcracker (2013). This staging was part of Macuja Elizalde’s Swan Song Series that year in which she said farewell to her most iconic roles in classical ballet. Photo by Jojo Mamangun
The Pink Fairy (Tippy Dos Santos, left) serves as storyteller and singer in the two-act adaptation of Pinocchio (2015) choreographed by Osias Barroso Jr. Unlike the Blue Fairy who is among the characters in the original C. Collodi novel and its animated versions, the Pink Fairy was a new character introduced in Ballet Manila’s production about the wooden puppet who transforms into a boy. Photo by Ocs Alvarez
Three fairy godmothers (from left, Nicole Barroso, Jessa Balote and Jasmine Pia Dames) heed the Lilac Fairy’s call to come to the aid of Princess Aurora who has been cursed into an eternal slumber. The scene is part of The Sleeping Beauty excerpt in the all-Tchaikovsky anthology, The Swan, The Fairy and the Princess (2016), also featuring the stories of Odette in Swan Lake and the Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker. Photo by Kurt Alvarez
The Fairy Doll (Missy Macuja Elizalde, center) is caught in a love triangle as the sad clown (Glenn Ragel, left) and the happy clown (Alvin Santos) clamor for her attention. The Fairy Doll pas de trois, with choreography by Nikolai and Sergey Legat set to music by Joseph Bayer, was performed in the Carmen International Friendship Gala (2013), a joint presentation of the Philippines’ Ballet Manila and South Korea’s Choi So Bin Ballet. Photo by Ocs Alvarez
A forlorn Cinderella (Shaira Comeros) cheers up when Fairy Godmother (Stephanie Santiago) appears and helps fulfill her wish to attend the grand ball. With a flick of her magic wand, the fairy makes an elegant gown for the young girl to wear and transforms a pumpkin into a carriage to whisk her off to the palace to meet the prince. Lisa Macuja Elizalde’s Cinderella (2024) was staged at the Claire Isabel McGill Luce Auditorium in Silliman University. Photo by Jose Miguel Angeles
