‘Sleeping Beauty’ reawakens as Ballet Manila shares season opening with Manila Symphony Orchestra
Of her Princess Trilogy, Ballet Manila artistic director Lisa Macuja Elizalde says Sleeping Beauty was the easiest and smoothest to happen. Photo by MarBi Photography
Sleeping Beauty – the tale of a princess cursed by a vengeful fairy, to be reawakened only by true love’s kiss – will be the shared offering of Ballet Manila and Manila Symphony Orchestra as they open their respective seasons.
Ballet Manila company artist Shamira Drapete and principal dancer Joshua Encisco perform the Sleeping Beauty Grand Pas in a media conference for the company’s The Prima Performance Season last February.
A choreography of Ballet Manila artistic director Lisa Macuja Elizalde that premiered in 2020, Sleeping Beauty goes on stage on March 13, 8 p.m.; March 14, 5 p.m.; and March 15, 5 p.m., all at Aliw Theater, CCP Complex, Pasay City. It marks the opening of Ballet Manila’s The Prima Performance Season as well as the company’s 31st anniversary.
The Manila Symphony Orchestra, celebrating its centennial season, will be led by Maestro Alexander Vikulov in performing Tchaikovsky’s The Sleeping Beauty, Op. 66 for the third fairy-tale ballet in Macuja Elizalde’s Princess Trilogy (after Cinderella and Snow White).
Macuja Elizalde is thrilled with the return of Sleeping Beauty, particularly with the live musical accompaniment. “For the Prima series, I want to highlight that classical ballet is still the best foundation for a dancer. Dancing classical ballet is still the most difficult form of dance, the strictest and the most transparent. You cannot hide anything. I think it’s the same when you’re playing classical music. You cannot disguise a mistake in anything.”
Maestro Alexander Vikulov leads the first rehearsal of the Manila Symphony Orchestra for Sleeping Beauty which will use the music of Tchaikovsky. Photo from MSO’s Facebook page
Maan Hontiveros, president of the Manila Symphony Orchestra, welcomed the latest collaboration with Ballet Manila especially since the two performing arts entities have previously worked together on such ballets as The Nutcracker, Romeo and Juliet, La Bayadere and Giselle. “Lisa has been a steadfast supporter of the orchestra, and her vision has helped bring this partnership to life in ways that honor both tradition and innovation.
“Always, the orchestra delivers a different kind of performance when they are doing ballets,” noted Hontiveros at a media conference last February for Ballet Manila’s The Prima Performance Season which was also attended by MSO music director Marlon Chen.
Macuja Elizalde tweaked the narrative of Sleeping Beauty. “I have created many sub-plots and changed the main plot by a hundred years. It is the amusing characters of the Keeper of the Golden Plates and Catalabutte that are responsible for Maleficent’s omission from the guest list; and Princess Aurora and Prince Philip are in love even before she falls under the spindle spell for the duration of the intermission.”
Sleeping Beauty premiered in 2020 with principal dancer Jasmine Pia Dames as Princess Aurora, a role she reprises in one of the shows of this restaging. Photo by Giselle P. Kasilag
Additionally, she made Prince Phillip friends with Prince Charming and Prince Ferdinand, so that by time of his wedding to Princess Aurora, they and their respective partners – Cinderella and Snow White – are also in attendance.
Choreographically, she kept the Rose Adagio, the Wedding Pas de Deux and most of the variations intact from the original choreography from the Konstantin Sergeyev version of the Mariinsky Theater. One of the things she changed is making Aurora’s parents dancing roles in her “prologue to the prologue.”
Macuja Elizalde’s previous experiences dancing the roles of the Diamond Fairy and Princess Aurora helped her immensely in the process of creating Sleeping Beauty six years ago, as did the generous inputs then of her late co-artistic director Osias Barroso Jr. “Sleeping Beauty is admittedly the easiest and the smoothest of the Princess ballets to happen,” she said.
This season’s Sleeping Beauty will feature three casts, with the following pairs taking on the lead roles of Princess Aurora and Prince Philip: principal dancer Jasmine Pia Dames and soloist Noah Esplana; principal dancer Shaira Comeros and soloist Jos David Andes; and company artist Shamira Drapete and principal dancer Joshua Enciso.
Alternating in the roles of the Lilac Fairy and Maleficent are principal dancers Abigail Oliveiro and Stephanie Santiago. Dancing as the Diamond Fairy is principal dancer Jessica Pearl Dames.
The Diamond Fairy in 2020, principal dancer Shaira Comeros returns to Sleeping Beauty as Princess Aurora. Photo by Giselle P. Kasilag
Princess Aurora’s parents, King Stephan and Queen Leah, will be portrayed by principal dancer Mark Sumaylo and soloist Rissa May Camaclang.
Soloist Anselmo Dictado dances as the Keeper of the Golden Plates, and soloist Rafael Perez as Catalabutte.
Five other fairies will be portrayed by soloist Jessa Balote and company artists Nanami Hasegawa, Sayaka Ishibashi, Idelle Bhia and Celine Astrologo. They will be partnered by principal dancer Romeo Peralta, soloists John Ralp Balagot, Sean Pelegrin and Rodney Catubay, and company artist Jamil Montibon.
Aside from Sleeping Beauty, Ballet Manila’s The Prima Performance Season will also feature the world premiere of the full-length Paquita on June 19, 20 and 21, and the return of La Bayadere featuring Mariinsky Ballet principal dancers Renata Shakirova and Kimin Kim on August 14, 15 and 16. All performances wil be held at Aliw Theater, CCP Complex, Pasay City.
