Lisa Macuja-Elizalde: 25 years in ballet and still counting
MANILA, Philippines - There is a lot to marvel at and reflect on when Ballet Manila’s Lisa Macuja-Elizalde celebrates her 45th birthday next week, Oct. 3, even as she will also mark 25 years on the ballet stage.
That moment of reflection will take her back to the first time she took her ballet class under her mentor, Tita Radaic, to the time she got smitten with Yoko Morishita dancing Giselle and Swan Lake at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) in the ’80s, to the moment she decided she needed to have Russian training to get a firm footing in this art form.
For the record, she not only excelled in the Vaganova Choreographic Institute; she was also the first foreigner to be invited to be a soloist of the famed Kirov Ballet where legendary dancers like Vaslav Nijinsky, Natalia Makarova and Mikhail Baryshnikov came from.
As if running a ballet company and being mother to fast-growing kids Missy and Manuel and older daughter Sasha are not enough, Lisa still maintains a rigid regimen in the ballet class and remains in good shape for the technical demands of Paquita and her forthcoming Don Quixote.
Her diet isn’t anything complicated.
She explains: “I don’t diet as long as I am dancing regularly. I fast before a performance at least four hours before a show. I eat anything I want after a show. I don’t smoke, drink or stay out late at night. I don’t party. I basically take very good care of my body. I fix my schedule so that I am there for my kids and husband when they need me the most. I also make time for myself — like I indulge in massages or hot baths. My day is basically cut up into portions such as mornings are devoted to bringing my kids to school and taking care of my husband and I work a lot from home as far as office work is concerned. Then, afternoons are spent in the ballet studio rehearsing and maintaining my dancing shape. Evenings I spend again with my family as long as I’m not performing.”
This regimen will be in place as Lisa prepares for her upcoming show “Lisa@25” at the Aliw Theater from Oct. 2 to 4. The show opens with a look at the past, aptly set to the song I Have a Dream. The whimsical sequence features Macuja-Elizalde dancing as her sister Gia Macuja-Atchison sings and brother-in-law Robert Atchison plays the violin, while pictures of the ballerina as a baby and young girl are flashed onscreen.
That she is still dancing after 25 years on the ballet stage she considers a miracle.
Says she: “My afternoons are still reserved for dancing and rehearsing. But, every time I look at myself in the ballet mirror, I realize that I am very, very fortunate to still be able to do this at my age. A lot of younger dancers have retired before me. I am so happy that I am still dancing.”
Her staying power, she says, is proof of discipline and a genuine love for dancing. “I also like to think that having physical attributes that are malleable for ballet’s demands has helped me a lot. It also helped that I direct my own ballet company which enables me to control my schedule and choose the roles that I dance and thus get the best out of me,” she adds.
One of the major highlights of “Lisa @25” is a classical ballet medley where Lisa gets to display the artistry and dance technique that she has been recognized for. The medley features excerpts from an array of ballet favorites like The Nutcracker, Harlequinade, Don Quixote, Giselle, Romeo and Juliet, La Bayadere, Carmen and Swan Lake.
Her birthday wishes on her 25th year on the ballet stage?
They are simple and down-to-earth.
“I wish for more ballet audiences, more roles that will challenge me and more season openings for Ballet Manila.”
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“Lisa@25” goes onstage at Oct. 2 and 3, 7:30 p.m., and on Oct. 4, 3 p.m., at the Aliw Theater, CCP Complex, Pasay City. Lisa also holds her farewell performance of the full-length Don Quixote on Oct. 9 and 10, 7:30 pm, and on Oct. 11, 3 p.m., at the same venue. For tickets, call Ballet Manila at 525-5967, visit www.ticketworld.com.ph or call 891-9999.
