Ballet Manila in Full Color: The lighter side of brown

Ballet Manila has showcased a rich palette of hues in its productions over the years. Now, the company’s true colors are revealed! Gathering photographs from the Ballet Manila Archives, we present the vibrant and the somber, the heavenly to the earthy, in a series of virtual exhibitions – one shade at a time.

In keeping with the hauntingly sentimental strains of Sana’y Wala Nang Wakas, the lovers portrayed by Lisa Macuja Elizalde and Rudy De Dios are in muted tones of ecru and beige. The number was performed in The Legends and the Classics (2013), the show that brought together the prima ballerina, classical piano whiz Cecile Licad and Broadway star Lea Salonga on one stage. Photo by Jojo Mamangun

In La Bayadere (2026), Gamzatti (Abigail Oliveiro) is every inch the regal lady that she is in her beige finery flecked with shimmery accents, with a dazzling crown on her head and her neck, ears and wrist decked in jewelry. She has had Nikiya summoned to the palace and is ready to face the woman whom she has learned has the affection of Solor whom the princess herself is set to marry. Photo by Giselle P. Kasilag

Having just met Romeo, Juliet (Katherine Barkman) embodies that floating feeling as she flits about in this dreamy dress in ecru. The scene is from Paul Vasterling’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet (2015). Photo by Ocs Alvarez

The village girls have a bit of fun with the clumsy Sancho Panza in this riotous scene from Don Quixote (2004). The trusty aide to Don Quixote – who has arrived in town searching for his beloved Dulcinea – is clad in a brown-to-tan palette, from his hat to his vest, from his satchel to his boots, all anchored on a long-sleeved white shirt. Photo by Ocs Alvarez

In the morning, the princesses in Ang Labingdalawang Masasayang Prinsesa wake up with their shoes mysteriously muddied. One of the twelve sisters wears this beige dress in an audience with their father, the king, who vows to find out where the siblings have gone wandering in the night. The tale comes from Tatlong Kuwento ni Lola Basyang (2013) based on the stories of Severino Reyes as retold by Christine Bellen. Photo by Jojo Mamangun

A range of brown hues are worn by Paris (Nazer Salgado) and Juliet (Mylene Aggabao) when they meet at a gathering hosted by her parents, Lord and Lady Capulet, in Romeo and Juliet (2007). While the elders are hoping to match the two, little do they know that on the same evening, their daughter will meet Romeo, son of the rival Montagues, whom she will instantly fall in love with. Photo by Ocs Alvarez

Count Albrecht, disguising himself as a local community dweller, is found out when a royal hunting party stops by. Finely dressed in a combination of beige and tan, he stops in his tracks when he realizes that the group includes his betrothed Bathilde who is unaware that he has sworn love to the village lass Giselle in the classic Giselle (2012). Photo by Jojo Mamangun