Ballet Manila company artist Katrene San Miguel is back on stage – and loving it!

*In Ballet Manila’s just concluded* La Bayadere run, Katrene San Miguel danced multiple roles – including one of twenty-four mirror images of the temple dancer Nikiya in the ballet’s iconic Act 3. Photo by Giselle P. Kasilag

By Jv Ramos

Like many girls, Katrene San Miguel started ballet to have something to do after school hours. “It was my mom who enrolled me. I was only five back then and she made me attend a summer workshop in Camp Aguinaldo, where she and my dad used to work,” recalls this ballerina, who is now one of Ballet Manila’s newest company artists.

***For Ballet Manila company artist Katrene San Miguel, returning to the stage after a lull is so special. “It is more than a performance – it is a homecoming.” Photo by Giselle P. Kasilag***

“Lisa Macuja Elizalde and Teacher Eileen Lopez were actually my first ballet teachers,” Katrene reveals with so much excitement. “Looking back, I don’t really recall where in the camp the ballet workshop was held, but I do remember thinking, ‘Where is the ballet here?’ As it was only a beginner class, we were only posing or stretching. I guess, at a very young age, I was always into or wanted to learn more about ballet.”

Once she was exposed to the dance form, there was no turning back. Just a couple of months later, she started training with well-known teacher Effie Nañas, who took Katrene through the basics of ballet, her first pas de deux, and her being a guest artist in Philippine Ballet Theatre at just 14. “I remember feeling very excited about going to ballet at Shangri-La mall (where Effie was based) on weekends. What kept me excited about continuing ballet back then was being able to spend time with my friends. They were just the nicest in the world! I loved spending time with them.”

*Katrene in the Parrot Dance in Act 2 of* La Bayadere, where the female dancers perform synchronized leaps, turns and formations. Photo by Giselle P. Kasilag

Here, the ballerina adds that dancing was non-negotiable for her. She didn’t mind missing Christmas gatherings or school activities if she was needed in a performance. “I grew up in a regular school – I wasn’t homeschooled like others – but ballet was such a big part of my life. I would choose it over anything. Growing up, I think I also had that feeling that I wanted to be good in this.”

It was at age 14 in the presence of Philippine Ballet Theatre stars Loby Pimentel, Jacqui Jacinto, and Joelle Jacinto when she desired to be a professional ballet dancer, and her mom, the same person who brought her to her first ballet workshop, knew this well too. “Though I had already reserved a slot at UST for Industrial Engineering, my mom told me that if I could dance and do college at the same time, I should go and do it. So that’s how I ended up in Benilde. They had a dance scholarship program that partnered with Ballet Philippines. After classes, I’d be on an orange jeepney already, on my way to the BP studio at CCP.”

*On a high after* La Bayadere, Katrene is joined in this photo by her mentors in Ballet Manila: co-artistic associate Gerardo Francisco Jr., artistic director Lisa Macuja Elizalde, ballet master Alexander Kurkov and ballet mistress Natalia Radulgina.

It was through her college scholarship that Katrene’s professional journey started. “Name the company position and I did go through it in BP: company scholar, apprentice, junior company member, company member,” says the ballerina. “I really did climb the ladder all the way until 2020… Coming into BP, I really wanted to become a versatile dancer – to be good in classical and modern pieces – and my time there really exposed me to both!”

Among her memorable moments were starting out as a ribbon girl in Rama, Hari, being Titania in Carlo Pacis' reimagining of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, playing Snow White in Effie Nañas' version of the fairy tale, being a cygnet, big swan and little swan in different performances of Swan Lake, and dancing in Bam Damian's Minamahal, Sinasamba for which she got nominated for a 2018 Gawad Buhay.

As a five-year-old, Katrene got her first taste of ballet in a summer workshop conducted by Lisa Macuja Elizalde. She received her certificate then from teacher Eileen Lopez. The ballerina now works with both women at Ballet Manila.

Asked if she ever entertained the idea of pausing to try something else, Katrene points to the early months of lockdown in 2020. "There was no space to dance so I decided to take up something that I've always wanted to do, which is hairdressing. But even when I was dedicated to learning hairdressing, there was an understanding that I would return to dancing. I then went back to dancing again when they opened the CCP lobby for the Professional Dance Support Program."

***Katrene is fearless as Titania, the queen of the fairies, in Carlo Pacis’* A Midsummer Night’s Dream *(2019) for Ballet Philippines.***

After the long lockdown, this ballerina continued her dance journey with the Alice Reyes Dance Company, where she was able to dance the role of Sita in Rama, Hari, the very first ballet she danced as a professional. "With Alice Reyes, I was able to learn what's beyond dancing, such as the business side of running a company. I also learned how to speak up as a dancer and not be meek and be precise with what’s expected of me."

Katrene’s desire to continue dancing then took her to do projects in Hong Kong Ballet and with the Philippine-based Mari Dance, aside from considering companies in Romania and even as far as Argentina. “But just like in many things, in ballet, if it’s meant for you, it’s for you; if it’s not, then you just have to keep going,” she opens up. “While I wasn’t sure about where I’d like to end up, I knew that my body missed that routine of having company classes and working out every day.”

*In a scene from Ballet Philippines’* Swan Lake (2019), as part of the pas de trois

Realizing that she really wanted to continue dancing professionally and not just be a freelance dancer, she messaged Ballet Manila’s artistic director Lisa Macuja Elizalde, whom she only knew of before, and asked if there was a spot available in the company. “I told her that I’d like to audition for it – because I also wanted to earn it – and she replied with, ‘I know you and would love to work with you.’ So by June, I was already here… I am back with my very first teachers in ballet!”

***Ballet was such a big part of Katrene’s life growing up that she never minded missing out on some things just as long as she could dance. Photo by Justin Alonte***

Katrene continues, “When I first began dancing here, the first thing I noticed was it’s so big. Ballet Manila has so many dancers. It was also very hot, so I had to find my focus. It really is different here, but I really like it because I am learning.” Here, the ballerina is referring to the Vaganova method that the company does, which she was hardly exposed to growing up. “Patikim-tikim lang (I had very little exposure to the method) so to get used to it, I watch YouTube to learn and if I still don’t understand something, I ask the other dancers, ‘Is this how you do it?’ Because I want to learn, I am not shy to ask!”

Katrene’s first performance for Ballet Manila was actually an original work by Lisa who choreographed a piece for Philstage’s Gawad Buhay last July. Simultaneously, she studied two of the company’s forthcoming performances – La Bayadere which was slated at the Aliw Theater in August and the Ibong Adarna shows in Laguna. Interviewed at that time, Katrene enthused then, “I’m really learning a lot, making my own little journey as I try to get used to how the company does things. But I’m glad to be dancing a lot again, since that’s my main goal! Whatever role they give me, I’d be happy to dance. I just don’t want to stop dancing!”

***After finishing her first full-length with Ballet Manila, Katrene (left, as one of the temple dancers in* La Bayadere)*, is raring to keep on learning and taking on more roles.***

After the performances of La Bayadere, Katrene came out with a gratitude post where she mused: “The path I’ve danced has never been the easiest. It has been shaped by quiet resilience, endless hours of work, and moments when giving up felt easier than carrying on. But it was in showing up that I discovered my own strength. Every step forward was earned, every opportunity met with unwavering faith, and every setback became part of the choreography that led me here.

“Perhaps that's why returning to the stage feels so sacred. It is more than a performance—it is a homecoming. A reminder that every sacrifice, every doubt, and every unseen battle was never in vain.”

Asked recently about how she feels having completed her first full-length with Ballet Manila, the ballerina replies: “Being back on stage feels both familiar and new—a feeling I find difficult to put into words. There is something so special about finding my way back to the place where I feel most alive. And as I look ahead, I’m excited for the new chapters, new stages, and new stories that are waiting to unfold. Whatever comes next, I hope to meet it with the same courage, gratitude, and love for this art that brought me here.”