New magical Christmas ballet zeroes in on the environment

MANILA, Philippines - Fresh from her landmark Don Quixote, in which she proved that 32 fouettes for three successive nights are no big deal for a ballerina who just turned 45, Lisa Macuja Elizalde has emerged from a short breather to tackle a new dance challenge.

Not that she has had enough of The Nutcracker and other traditional Christmas ballets that were staple fare of past holiday presentations of her ballet company. But then she cannot ignore the crying need of the times. Several opening nights were postponed due to floods and typhoons and she ended up donating proceeds of postponed dance concerts for flood victims.

The audiences that need to be involved are first of all the children and their parents. For this reason, Lisa has incorporated the theme of saving the environment in Ballet Manila’s new Christmas presentation: Alamat: Si Sibol at Si Gunaw.

She says: “I definitely relate to the need to preserve and conserve our environment and not abuse the dwindling available natural resources of our planet. I don’t think there is anyone left on our planet that has not been affected by global warming. From the floods and the typhoons, heat and drought, rising water levels, garbage disposal and rising cost of living — we simply cannot ignore all of the signs.”

Besides, she actually likes doing original Filipino ballets — especially those with inspiring and entertaining stories. “We were all so high from the success of Tatlong Kuwento ni Lola Basyang last Christmas that I definitely felt we should follow up with another one this year.”

Based on a children’s book by Palanca Award hall of famer Ed Maranan, Lisa likes to think that Alamat: Si Sibol at Si Gunaw has all the ingredients for a Christmas ballet for the whole family. “On the whole, the new ballet is about a romance between a goddess and a mortal, which gives birth to a twin brother and sister who grew up at odds with each other. There is a lavish Filipino folkdance-inspired wedding; a garden of dancing flowers, bees and other magical creatures; a war between good and evil. It’s really a very engaging story with so many touching scenes.”

Finally entering Lisa’s dance repertoire is her first mother role as the goddess Luningning who falls in love with a mortal named Kapuy (Nazer Salgado). Their marriage produces the twins Sibol (Bloom) and Gunaw (Doom) — danced by BM soloists Yanti Marduli and Francis Cascaño respectively — who have the power to nurture and destroy the Earth. Luningning goes off to tend to her responsibility of preserving the planet, unaware that, left to his own devices, Gunaw will sow the destruction of nature’s resources. How he will be stopped becomes the focus of the two-act original ballet.

She points out: “We always want to surprise our audiences. Alamat: Si Sibol at Si Gunaw is not only highly entertaining, but very timely in theme as well. Creating a ballet that teaches our children to preserve the environment was, simply put, a good thing to do.”

Now a mother of two beautiful pre-teens in real life, Lisa thinks it’s about time she does a mother role. “Yes, I am sure my being a real mother will help me interpret the role well. In fact, I asked the writer to change the ending of the story because in the original one, my character banishes her own son and I feel that a mother would never do that. On the other hand, Luningning is a vulnerable goddess. She deeply cares for Kapuy and her family, but at the same time feels obligated to fulfill her duty to the Earth. She has several key scenes in Acts 1 and 2 that call for a lot of dancing and acting. It’s a very strong pivotal role.”

But just like carrying a baby for nine months, giving life to a new dance creation has its birth pains. She normally allows her choreographers carte blanche. She usually doesn’t meddle and just dances. But she often shares ideas about the music, dance libretto and scenes and sometimes even steps. But once the rehearsals are going on, she focuses on her role as a dancer.

Lisa explains the usual birth pains of a new ballet: “Doing new roles is tough in the number of hours you put in the rehearsal studio. When the choreographer is experimenting on putting steps together for a new role in a new ballet, you literally have to stay in the studio and keep on repeating different combinations before a final choreography is set. This is very strenuous on the body and mind. But it is also very fulfilling. When you are also adapting the steps to new music, it can be very tough finding the musical cues. What is easy about new roles? It’s easier to find your own interpretation and phrasing and technique because you do not have to compare yourself with anybody else. You are the creator, the originator of all of the artistic and technical outputs. You can fashion your own interpretation without anyone in mind.”

Soloist Yanti Marduli who plays Sibol looks at the new ballet in another way: “The challenge for me in this ballet would be to try hard to involve  audiences to be part of the story, to make them understand the feel my character even without them knowing the plot beforehand.” Born in Indonesia, Marduli received her early ballet training in Australia before joining Ballet Manila in 2005. She has portrayed the role of Lise in La Fille Mal Gardee, Amore in Don Quixote, and one of the dazzling soloists in Paquita.

Meanwhile, Francis Cascano, who started as a BM scholar in 1998, was earlier seen as Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet and Rothbart in Swan Lake. He says the challenge for him playing Gunaw is how to sustain his stamina. “This new ballet requires a lot of stamina and I have to get used to it. The tough thing in doing a new ballet is there are many new steps you have to learn and memorize before getting used to the choreography. The easy thing is that you get to experiment with yourself and do new and challenging things.”

Ballet Manila’s resident choreographers, co-director Osias Barroso and senior soloist Gerardo Francisco, collaborated on the choreography. Arranger Mon Faustino who has worked on the one-act Ang Prinsipe ng mga Ibon in last year’s Lola Basyang trilogy now tackles the arrangements for the entire ballet.  Faustino, with co-arranger Noel Zarate, used the music of composers Willy Cruz, George Canseco, Edru Abraham and Kontra-Gapi as well as various Filipino folk songs for the ballet’s score.

When Lisa initially tried it out, she instantly fell in love with the music. “Some of the music is really, really good and very danceable. Other parts still need work and some changes. Alamat is still very much a work in progress. What I like about the music is that there are familiar melodies that the audience will recognize. For one, we have a really nice musical theme for Luningning and for Sibol which is very feminine and romantic.”

The year 2009 is really a banner year for the ballerina with several turning points in her life: she celebrated the 25th anniversary as a dancer, and she reaped unforgettable success of her ballet trilogy Tatlong Kuwento Ni Lola Basyang. On top of that, she hurdled the three technically demanding acts of Don Quixote with flying colors. On the side, her ballet school once again yielded several prizewinners in the NAMCYA junior national ballet competitions winning four out of six awards.

What does she look forward to in 2010? “I look forward to dancing some more, I look forward to hosting a possible concert of the Stars of the Russian Ballet, participate in more ballet festivals and of course celebrate the 15th anniversary of Ballet Manila.”

 Alamat: Si Sibol at Si Gunaw will run at Aliw Theater on Dec. 4, 5, 6, 12 and 13 and is  presented by Manila Broadcasting Company, Star City, and ING Private Bank. For ticket inquiries, please call Ballet Manila at 400-0292 or 525-5967. You may also visit www.balletmanila.ph or e-mail info@balletmanila.ph.