On Pointe, Ballet Manila 24th season shows

Ballet Manila Dancers perform an excerpt from La Traviata (Photo by Erickson Dela Cruz)

Two Princess, one classic and two collaborative opera, are the show offering of Ballet Manila on its 24^th season with a theme “On Pointe” that represent the shoes of all ballerina which make them stand and dance daintily on her shoes.

Excerpt from Giselle by Ballet Manila (Erickson Dela Cruz)

The line-up of shows according to Ballet Manila CEO and Artistic Director Lisa Macuja-Elizalde is related to the company’s Russian Vaganova style of training and dancing, which is being able to dance on pointe. This season will also mark the 24 years of Ballet Manila.

Excerpt from Carmina Burana (Erickson Dela Cruz)

“No we're not expecting anybody from abroad this season,  we have 5 principles dancers in the company and so many capable soloists to dance the classic Giselle, the sleeping beauty, we are doing an original Filipino ballet on the 25^th season,” Macuja said during its media launch last July 15 at S Maison Hall of Conrad Hotel.

The season will start with Snow White on September 7 and 8, followed by the romantic ballet Giselle on October 19 and 20, and the yearend show Sleeping Beauty on December 7 and 8 all this 2019, and two opera ballet Carmina Burana and La Traviata are set on Feb 29 and March 1, 2020.

Carmina Burana (Erickson Dela Cruz)

“The most challenging ballet in On Pointe for me as a choreographer is not sleeping beauty, but La Traviata because for the first time I’m tackling tragedy, gone are the times I want to be funny now it’s like super serious, there she dies, there is betrayal, there is a passion, there’s lust, greed all the different human emotions,” Macuja explains.

BM Dancers with Osias Barroso and Lisa Macuja-Elizalde

This is the first time that Ballet Manila is doing the full length of Sleeping Beauty, the piece is a three hour and half-hour long, but Macuja did some adjustments, cut and update it to cater for the millennial crowd, and of course, she wants a Dragon on stage.

All of On Pointe performances are staged at the Aliw Theater, to buy tickets visit Ticketworld outlet or call 891-9999 or go to the Ballet Manila site or at the BM Facebook page.