The Dancer
As a ballet dancer, Osias “Shaz” Barroso Jr. was a late bloomer. But learning classical dance at age 18 proved to be a turning point.
“When I touched the barre, I knew that ballet was going to be my life,” he said in an interview. Urged by friends in UST’s Salinggawi Dance Troupe to try ballet, he started training with the Vella C. Damian School of Dance. While pursuing his communication arts degree on a dance scholarship, he continued lessons under Vella Damian and the late Eric V. Cruz of Dance Concert Company which he soon became a part of.
Despite not being gifted with the ideal dancer’s physique, height or flexibility, Shaz sought to improve his skills. Resources and opportunities were limited but he persisted. With roles, he may not always have been the first choice or even the second one, but because he was ready, he was eventually assigned the leads. Later, as an original member of the Philippine Ballet Theater, he would dance such parts as the Poet in Les Sylphides, Franz in Coppelia, Basilio in Don Quixote and Romeo in Romeo and Juliet.
His unrelenting efforts in mastering the art continued to pay off. In 1993, Shaz became the first Filipino classical danseur to reach the semi-final round of the First International Ballet and Modern Dance Competition in Nagoya, Japan.
In 1995, he co-founded Ballet Manila with perennial partner Lisa Macuja who had been teaching him the rudiments of the Russian Vaganova training method. This further strengthened Shaz, earning him more plum roles such as Siegfried in Swan Lake, Albrecht in Giselle, Solor in La Bayadere and Conrad in Le Corsaire. Together with Lisa, he went on successful performance tours in Russia and other countries and, as principal dancers of their own company, they traveled all over the Philippines as part of its mission to bring ballet to the people.
Shaz retired early from the stage due to a degenerative disease affecting his spinal cord. But never one to sit still, he channeled more of his time and energy into related pursuits. He was in dance to stay. For his priceless contributions to the performing arts, he received such honors as the Patnubay ng Sining at Kalinangan Award for Dance from the City of Manila in 2006 and The Outstanding Thomasian Alumnus Award (TOTAL) from the University of Santo Tomas in 2019.
Shaz was an original member of Philippine Ballet Theater in 1987 and was promoted to principal dancer in 1994.
Lisa Macuja writes a story about Shaz’s dance journey for the newspaper Malaya.
Ballet Manila presented Swan Lake with an all-Filipino cast for the very first time in September 2003, with Lisa and Shaz in the lead roles.
Equally adept in contemporary fare, Shaz played the noble head warrior in Jojo Lucila’s Sari’t Bahag for Ballet Manila.
Shaz was given The Outstanding Thomasian Alumnus Award (TOTAL) by the University of Santo Tomas in 2019 for his priceless contributions to the performing arts.
