Philippine-based for 40 years, Lisa Macuja Elizalde celebrates with ‘Prima’ season for Ballet Manila
Ballet Manila dancers Abigail Oliveiro and Mark Sumaylo, together with colleagues (from left) Samantha Garay, Rodney Catubay, Ana Graciela Andes, Ana Katharina Andes, Jos David Andes and Celine Astrologo, perform an excerpt of La Bayadere at the media conference for the company’s Prima Performance Season.
By Leah C. Salterio
When prima ballerina Lisa Macuja Elizalde was merely 15 years old, she wrote down her goals. One of them was by 35, she wanted to have her own ballet school, not a company.
“At that time, I didn’t even know I would go to Russia, get that education and I would be able to dance and become a ballerina,” Macuja Elizalde said.
But she has done all that – and more!
Believing it was destiny that she became a Philippine-based ballerina 40 years ago, Ballet Manila artistic director Lisa Macuja Elizalde is grateful for the blessings she has enjoyed since then in Dance. Photo by Eros Goze; make-up by Paolo San Juan; hair by Dianne Alcantara; outfit by King George Bueno.
After two years as a scholar of Russia at the Leningrad Choreographic Institute, she graduated at the top of her class in 1984. She was then offered a soloist spot with the Kirov Ballet – the first and then the only foreigner to be invited to join the centuries-old dance institution.
“That was where I did my first Don Quixote, my first Giselle and several other principal and soloist roles in the company,” she said.
Two years later, in 1986, she had planned to move to London after being invited to join Sadler’s Wells Royal Ballet by its artistic director, Sir Peter Wright. He was a special guest of the Kirov Ballet (now known as the Mariinsky Ballet) in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg). “Because I spoke English, the company manager assigned me to be the guide of Mr. Wright, as he observed rehearsals, classes and toured the theater,” Macuja related. “I was told to just bring Mr. Wright around.”
While they were seated in the cafeteria, Wright commended Macuja’s good command of the English language. “He said for a Russian, my English was impressive,” she said. “So I had to explain I’m not Russian and told him I’m Filipino, but I graduated from the school. When he learned I’m Filipino, he said, ‘Technically, I can hire you.’
“That was what happened. He offered me a contract. He also watched me perform and rehearse. When I finished the season in St. Peterburg, I flew to London. But unfortunately, he could not hire me because in order to do that, the Sadler’s Wells had to prove to the home office that no other dancer around the United Kingdom could take my place.
“That meant they had to hold auditions all around the UK to prove that no other dancer could take my place. Or he was willing to hire me if I graduate from the Royal Ballet School. At that time, I was already working for two years as a professional dancer at the Kirov and I was the only foreigner there. For me, going to the Royal Ballet School was a step back.
“I said that was out of the question. I can’t go back to school in order to get a job. The recourse was really to come home and wait for audition season to start in Europe, maybe audition and get a job somewhere else.”
“I came home and staged a homecoming concert at the Manila Metropolitan Theater. I was offered by then Cultural Center of the Philippines president, Maria Teresa ‘Bing’ Roxas, to become the first CCP artist-in-residence.”
The program was for outstanding Filipino artists who trained abroad to come home for a longer period of time. For two years, Macuja was CCP artist-in-residence, performing with the resident company Ballet Philippines. Then, she was hired by the Philippine Ballet Theater (PBT) to work with them as their principal dancer.
After PBT, Macuja Elizalde formed Ballet Manila in 1995 together with the late Osias Barroso Jr. and ten other dancers. This year, Ballet Manila is marking its 31st anniversary and is recognized as the country’s premiere classical ballet company.
Principal dancer Jessica Pearl Dames (left), soloist Rafael Perez and company artist Nanami Hasegawa in a pas de trois from Paquita, the full-length ballet of which is Ballet Manila’s second offering for the season in June.
“My specialty has always been classical ballet,” Macuja Elizalde underscored. “I think that is the reason I enjoyed a very long career. I retired at 51 from pointe shoes.”
But she acknowledged that having dancers with flexibility in their range is the mark of any classical ballet company in order to survive in the current global climate.
“One has to be versatile. One has to be able to perform the classics and modern choreography. I am so fortunate that I have dancers who have showed their versatility and are both strong in classical and contemporary ballet.”
This is the trait that characterizes Ballet Manila’s mix of shows for 2026. For starters, Ballet Manila will present The Dawn of Ballet with the pop-rock group, The Dawn, on February 21 and 22 at the Aliw Theater. In centerstage are The Dawn members Jett Pangan, Jun Boy Leonor, Francis Reyes, Sancho Sanchez and Bim Yance.
This special edition of Ballet & Ballads is a double celebration as it marks not just the 40th anniversary of Macuja Elizalde as a Philippine-based ballerina but also that of The Dawn.
After The Dawn of Ballet, Ballet Manila will bring Gerardo Francisco Jr.’s Ibong Adarna to Dumaguete, the third time in the post-pandemic period for the company to perform at Silliman University, after Cinderella in 2024 and Swan Lake in 2025. Ibong Adarna goes on stage on February 26, 27 and 28 at the university’s Luce Auditorium.
In March, Ballet Manila officially opens its Prima Performance Season (Curated Picks by the Prima Ballerina) at Aliw Theater, with Macuja Elizalde’s Sleeping Beauty on March 13, 14 and 15. It will have live orchestra music courtesy of the Manila Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Maestro Alexander Vikulov.
Company artist Shamira Drapete is partnered by principal dancer Joshua Enciso in a pas de deux from Sleeping Beauty which opens Ballet Manila’s Prima season in March.
The second offering is Paquita, a ballet rarely seen in its full-length version, will have its world premiere as staged by Macuja Elizalde on June 19, 20 and 21. Finally, La Bayadere goes on stage on August 22 and 23, featuring Mariinsky Ballet principal dancers Renata Shakirova and Kimin Kim as guest artists.
While the season may be ending in August, the work continues in Kuala Lumpur where the company is performing Snow White, another choreography of Macuja Elizalde. This will be their third collaboration with the KL-based DanceLink after last year’s Cinderella and Ballet Manila’s Greatest Hits in Malaysia in 2024.
“In December, we are doing Nutcracker, so it’s going to be a very busy time,” Macuja Elizalde said.
Looking back now, Macuja Elizalde believes everything that has happened in her career was destiny, particularly the detour in 1986 which brought her back to the land where was born and raised – and got her first taste of ballet.
She has far exceeded the goals she had set for herself back when she was 15. Ballet Manila came to be when she was 31, and the Lisa Macuja School of Ballet materialized soon after – all before her target age of 35.
As she steers both the company and her school to even greater heights, Macuja Elizalde can’t help but muse that as a dancer who would eventually be recognized as a prima ballerina: “I was meant to come home, stay in the Philippines and be based in the Philippines for the rest of my life.”
