Splendid Swan Lake reprise by a mammoth Ballet Manila

Ballet Manila’s summer workshop, marking the 16th year of the dance company was a reprise of ‘Swan Lake’ which featured all of its students. All 130 of them! With the participation of baby ballerinas, ages three or four years, the massive assemblage was unprecedently the largest ever seen on any local stage, huge as the Aliw Theater stage is.

Despite the expected mis-steps of the baby ballerinas, the over-all performance conveyed the rigid training and discipline Ballet Manila — headed by Lisa Macuja-Elizalde as artistic director and Osias Barroso as her associate — imposes on its students, which training appeared more obvious and persuasive in the older ballerinas’ near-perfect precision, grace and unity of style and the danseurs’ élan and elevation.

The leads and soloists conveyed a high degree of competence, among them, Elpidio Magat as Prince Siegfried and Arnulfo Andrade, Jr. as Rothbart, the evil sorcerer, asserting a very positive presence with their footwork, their leaps and turns manifesting elevation with élan.

It was a sparkling, engaging pas de trois Krystel Mangulabanan, Missy Elizalde and Erwin Guillermo performed. This reviewer gathered the incidental information that Missy, 13, who has studied ballet for only two years, was doing exactly the same number her mother Lisa did decades ago at Marinsky Theater as a Kirov ballerina. Will Missy eventually fill the pointe shoes of Lisa?

The four cygnets’ (little swans) vigorous, spirited dancing displayed “togetherness” to the last step and final pose, making them a dream foursome, indeed, that could vye for honors abroad.

Outstanding, likewise, was Jayrald Magat as the jester who was onstage for most of the time while exhibiting brilliant feats. In appearance, Ella Marie Manalo, was fittingly tall and statuesque as the Queen Mother, but not quite magisterial and imperious in manner.

Odette (the White Swan) and Odile (The Black Swan) provided the dramatic high point of the ballet, the gentle, naïve demeanor of the former contrasting with the cunning, dark nature of the latter. The contrast was eloquently suggested by Joan E. Sia as Odette, her movements lithe and fluid, her extensions incredible, and by Jan E. Basilio as Odile, her movements sharp, arresting. Both however, still have to achieve complete technical control.

The fact that the two roles were portrayed by two dancers instead of one meant that the older ballerinas in Ballet Manila have still to match the subtle artistry and skill of Lisa who, at 46, danced as Odette and Odile in the recent staging of ‘Swan Lake’, executing effortlessly Odile’s standard 32 fouettes. On the other hand, Basilio did 12, filling in the rest with rapid tours (turns).

Nevertheless, Sia and Basilio signified that with continued training, they will in time reach the pinnacle of their aspirations. It was in 1990 that Lisa danced as Odette and Odile for the first time, substituting for a Brazilian ballerina who had fallen ill. Lisa had only four days — less than 96 hours — to learn the daunting roles in ‘Swan Lake’, with her partner appearing likewise in the ballet for the first time! To this day, Lisa confesses the dual role is not even her favorite! Her recent performance, however, remains for Sia and Basilio to equal.

In Act III, at Prince Siegfried’s birthday celebration, the scene came alive as it did in Act II with the mammoth crowd appearing with the baby ballerinas again. In one particular moment, they almost upstaged their older peers with their “cute”, amusing antics distracting the viewers. Remarkable were the Spanish dance, with the junior ballerinas cleverly maneuvering their fans as they twirled about in their eye-catching, colorful costumes, and the Russian dance led by Krystal Mangulabanan and Mark Anthony Grantos who, with their animated group, generated a bristling, martial air.

The splendid stage sets and the fetching, elegant costumes, all in harmonious color combinations, were enhanced by papier maché swans gently gliding by.

The reprise ended with countless white swans creating a magical, mystical, fairytale atmosphere after Odette and Siegfried, having escaped from Rothbart, jump into the lake and fly heavenward.

As the dancers took their bows, Lisa thanked the various teachers for their challenging task of training and rehearsing the “kindergarteners”, from scratch!!

The lusty clamor and applause justified Ballet Manila’s claim of bringing ballet to the people.