Lisa comes full circle with an incredible ‘debut’/ George Sison: Phl own guru

Within unusually short periods, Ballet Manila successively stages high quality — often, top quality — spectacles. This fact defies comprehension, credence and even logic, particularly because the company rehearses a huge cast of children and adults for each concert. Less than a month ago, balletomanes and mass audiences — to which Ballet Manila indefatigably introduces classic dance — watched La Bayadere. Just the other week, The Nutcracker Suite followed. It is to music by Tchaikovsky and choreography by Vassily Vainonen, as re-staged by Osias Barroso, Jr. and Natalia Raldugina. As to be expected, the Suite, in its fashion, was as remarkable as the previous production!

The Nutcracker ends Lisa Macuja-Elizalde’s Swan Song Series; she will no longer portray principal roles. Lisa has come full circle, having first danced as Masha — the Princess and The Sugar Plum Fairy – when she was only 19 in Russia’s Marinsky Theater. She and her Russian partner received several curtain calls, and a bedazzled audience could not get over its initial surprise at finding an Asian Masha onstage. The Kirov conductor, locking Lisa in a fatherly hug, whispered in her ear almost tearfully: “Tonight, I have witnessed the birth of a ballerina.” (Quoted from a book on Lisa.)

Thirty years later, Lisa was Masha – the Princess and the Sugar Plum Fairy — at The Aliw Theater. Yet,  incredibly, she seemed to be making her debut! She conveyed youthful graciousness and charm, nimble, fleet-footed skill and control. She and Rudy de Dios as the Prince effortlessly dominated the Nutcracker, their steps clean, clear and crisp, Lisa’s emoting dramatically expressive. Rudy’s leaps demonstrated more sweep, his multiple pirouettes, greater intensity. His presence, more virility.

In the final act, against a dazzling set of white Christmas trees in varying heights, lined in-between with sparklers, the duo created a spectacle to behold. Further, three danseurs performing with Lisa led to spell-binding lifts.

In the adagio before intermission, in the final pas de deux and solo variations, Lisa and Rudy created pure enchantment as they combined virtuosic ability and artistry. Few could have danced the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy, more exquisitely than Lisa, rendering her Swan Song Series premature.

Missy Macuja Elizalde as Little Masha in the fairytale-like plot was endearing, her style dainty and delicate, her technique more than competent. The soloists performed brilliantly: Alvin Santos (Fritz) and Mylene Aggabao-Salgado (Columbine) admirably simulated machine-like abruptness. Michael Divinagracia (the Moor) and Eduardo Ma (the Jester) delineated their roles with distinctive characterization.

The robust zest, energy and vitality of the Rats, led by Harold Salgado, made them totally absorbing to watch. The boy soldiers in colorful uniforms audaciously challenged them in a brisk battle, the Rats emerging victorious and reigning supreme. The similarly disciplined tiny girls trotted about joyously.

The ethereal vision evoked by the ballet blanc in La Bayadere again enthralled when 24 Snowflakes in white tutus swept in flowing grace and the closest unison, forming straight lines or circles, with Abigail Oliviero and Honyoung Yan leading them. Arresting likewise was the vision engendered by the Rose Waltz performers Sofia Sangco-Peralta, Tiffany Chiang, Hyo-Bi Lee and Jaing Won Shin.

The pas de trois was elegantly interpreted by Jessa Balote, Rissa May Camaclang and Anselmo Dictado. The national dances by Jan Erika Basilio and Francis Cascaño (Spanish), Mylene Aggabao-Salgado and Gerardo Francisco (Chinese), Dawna Mangahas and Francis Jaena (Russian), Joan Emery Sia and Harold Salgado (Arabian) – with the pliant Joan demonstrating high extensions – although very balletic, retained and distilled their basic essence and character.

No presentation is ever flawless. But the Nutcracker consistently directed audience attention to the lavishly descriptive sets and fetching costumes, to the exhilarating music played by the MSO under the baton of Russian Maestro Alexander Yikulov and particularly, to the overall magnetic dancing; thus, what chance was there to detect limitations?

In one of the many curtain calls, Lisa pulled Missy away from the line, kissed and held her  in a tight embrace, then taking a most deserved special bow, the two made a touching mother-and-daughter scene.

A final comment on the Swan Song Series. Decades ago, prima ballerina assoluta Margot Fonteyn of London’s Royal Ballet danced impeccably in the CCP main theater at age 53. Like her, Lisa should defy time. How ardently balletomanes wish she would!

Erratum: For the opera Carmen at the FEU auditorium, the UST Symphony Orchestra (not the MSO) played under Maestro William Barkhymer in his Philippine debut.

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The Oxford dictionary defines guru as a Hindu spiritual leader. We have our own Filipino spiritual leader in George Sison. Author of the best-sellers “A Miracle Awaits You” and “I Am a Winner”, he has come out with a third book, “Soul Spa”.

Its publisher points out: “Not a religious book, it is meant to inspire readers to consider alternative views on peace, prosperity and spirituality.” Having read it, I agree.

Former stage actor, painter-poet, composer, film producer, journalist, TV host and political detainee, George founded here the Temple of Prayer, Peace and Prosperity, a transformational and development center. An Ateneo U. alumnus with a philosophy degree from the UP, he is an ordained minister of the Community Church of New Thought in Mesa, Arizona, and district president of the International New Thought Alliance.

For all these lofty distinctions, George remains an engaging, delightfully amusing, down-to-earth friend.