Treading curiously and creatively: Katherine Barkman on her Ballet Manila homecoming and what’s next at San Francisco Ballet
Katherine Barkman – guesting in mentor Lisa Macuja Elizalde’s program, Art 2 Art – enthuses: “Ballet Manila really started my career, and my three years here had been a very special time.” Photo by Giselle P. Kasilag
By Jv Ramos
Ballet Manila’s recent Swan Lake production marked the much-awaited homecoming of the youngest principal that it has had in its 30-year history, Katherine Barkman. Back in 2015, this Pennsylvania-born ballerina – then just 18 – moved halfway across the globe to begin what she herself has described as her unconventional professional journey, with the company founded by former Kirov Ballet soloist, Lisa Macuja Elizalde.
San Francisco Ballet first soloist Katherine Barkman returns to the Aliw Theater stage, portraying the dual role of Odette (above) and Odile in Swan Lake, eight years after her debut. Photo by Giselle P. Kasilag
In just three years, Katherine made her debut in such classics as Don Quixote, Romeo and Juliet, Le Corsaire, Giselle and Swan Lake, as well as in full-length contemporary choreographies such as Rebel, Cinderella and Ibong Adarna. Moreover, with Lisa as her coach, she won the Grand Prix at the 2015 Asian Grand Prix, the Silver Medal in the Senior Women's Division at the 2018 USA International Ballet Competition and the Silver Medal in the 2018 Varna International Ballet Competition.
“Ballet Manila really started my career, and my three years here had been a very special time,” states our subject, who’s now a first soloist at the San Francisco Ballet. “It was special because of the care that Ballet Manila operates on. It’s the care that Lisa had instilled in the company! [Here] every role that I did was tailored to me, and taught to me, and ingrained in me rehearsal after rehearsal.”
Katherine, who also danced with the Washington Ballet after her stint with Ballet Manila, elaborates, “I remember the first time I did Swan Lake. I would work Odette and Odile after hours, on weekends, and days off, and Lisa would be there, spending a lot of her own time, coaching me. It was very formative to begin that way, and I’m very grateful for that. I’m also very thankful for and would never forget the camaraderie of the dancers. And the heat! I’d have to say that dancing through the heat helped in building my stamina.”
Katherine (rightmost) and colleagues Jasmine Pia Dames (leftmost) and Dawna Reign Mangahas are coached by Ballet Manila artistic director Lisa Macuja Elizalde (second from left) for Don Quixote in 2017. Photo by Jimmy Villanueva
Only 20 years of age when she first took on the duo-role in Swan Lake at the Aliw Theater in 2017, Katherine notes that the opportunity to dance the same role again on the same stage eight years after was very special. “It’s like being back at the beginning, and I feel stronger this time around, which is good. But I’d also have to admit that I also felt intimidated.” The dancer notes that since she has performed the roles of White Swan and Black Swan many times on different stages, with different companies, partners and even coaches, she has picked up and altered many things leading up to her 2025 shows with Ballet Manila.
“You never really know how the audience would react to the version that you would perform during the show. As an artist, you’re stringing what you’ve learned from different places and performances you have done, including your own experiences and it never ends. Until now, after all these years, I find that I’m still learning more and more about these characters,” shares Katherine with much enthusiasm. For her, the endless pursuit of bringing out her best version of Odette and Odile is a blessing.
Making her debut as the feisty Kitri in Ballet Manila’s Don Quixote. Photo by Ocs Alvarez
And what advice does this world-class ballerina have for young dancers? “I think my biggest piece of advice would be to stay curious, to be curious in general,” she expresses. “Be curious about how you can make something happen. Be curious about, okay, well, if I don't have this access, then what access do I have? What route can I take? Be curious about what people have to say to you, what they have to offer you, what knowledge they have to give to you. I think the second you close yourself to something new, you miss the opportunity of growth, and then you miss the opportunity of what you could be!”
Katherine also asserts, “I’d also like to remind them that there’s no one right path in this kind of career. By coming here to the Philippines, I took a very unconventional path, and it [Ballet Manila] started many things for me [because] I had that sense of openness and also of creativity.”
In the 2025 Swan Lake production, Katherine as the scheming Odile is partnered by fellow San Francisco Ballet artist Esteban Hernandez as Prince Siegfried, with Lisa Macuja Elizalde as the Queen Mother. Photo by Giselle P. Kasilag
She underlines that nothing’s ever straightforward in ballet. “You're going to have things that get in your way. So you’re going to have to choose how do I grow through this over how do I overcome this. It really is a daunting career. Being a ballerina can really feel imperfect and challenging and not always possible. Even now, I have those moments where I ask myself am I on the right track or am I doing enough, so it’s important to have that sense of openness and creativity – creativity so you see all your possibilities.”
Due to her openness in welcoming new things, this artist got to experience a very different career high in her most recent season with the San Francisco Ballet. “I had the chance to dance the lead woman in Akram Khan's Dust. This was unlike anything I had ever done – very modern, extreme, barefoot. Barefoot in dust basically. It's a 30-minute ballet, and you start this very intense dance sequence with 12 women, I believe, and you're on stage for 30 minutes, and you go from this very cardio, heavy dance with the women to a very slow, intimate pas de deux with the man. Dust just changed the way that I started to approach dance, even classical work.”
Katherine, seen here in her Swan Lake debut in 2017, recalls: “I would work Odette and Odile after hours, on weekends, and days off, and Lisa would be there, spending a lot of her own time, coaching me.” Photo by Giselle P. Kasilag
So, what does Katherine look forward to when she returns to her current company? The first soloist, who’s always looking for ways to grow as an artist, replies, “I'm really looking forward to working on the new ballet of [our choreographer-in-residence] Yuri Possokhov, which who knows what it will be, and that's the fun of creating something new! We all kind of go into it not knowing what's going to come out of it and I'm really looking forward to that process.”
But before all that, Katherine is lingering just a little bit more in the place she called home for three years. “Before that season begins, we're going to enjoy a little bit more of the Philippines. We’ll get some rest and some sun.”
Yet another debut with Ballet Manila: As Medora in the pirate caper Le Corsaire in 2018. Photo by Ian Santos
See also:
For Katherine Barkman, Ballet Manila is in the heart
Katherine Barkman’s brave new world
Katherine Barkman: Born a princess
Watch the Art 2 Art episode featuring San Francisco Ballet artists Esteban Hernandez, Katherine Barkman and Nathaniel Remez:
San Francisco Ballet artists: Art 2 Art with Lisa Macuja Elizalde
