'Ibong Adarna' presented in Germany

MANILA, Philippines - Former Philippine ballet dancer Mary Anne Santamaria-Strobel, who now lives in Neuburg, Germany, recently choreographed and produced the ballet “Adarna, der Zaubervogel” (Adarna, the Magical Bird), an adaptation of the Philippine legend “Ang Ibong Adarna” at the Stadttheater Neuburg.

Mary Anne choreographed the dances for her 70 ballet students ranging in age from six to 50 years. She sourced the music from various classical compositions by Weber, Mozart, Debussy, Gottschalk, Brahms, Khachaturian. She also designed and sewed most of the 280 costumes for this ballet, and also painted most of the pictures used for the power point presentation backdrop. ? ? 

Mary Anne was a student of Tita Radaic at the Royal Academy of Dance in St. Theresa’s College, Quezon City.  She later became a soloist of Dance Theater Philippines under Steve Villarruz. She also had Inday Gaston Mañosa and  William Morgan as ballet teachers in the late ’70s up to mid ’80s  when she, together with Liza Macuja-Elizalde, was awarded a two-year scholarship to the Vaganova Choreographic Institute in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), Russia.  Afterwards she was principal dancer in Staatstheater Kassel under Terrence Ho Sin Hang and Angelika Bornhauser.  She gave up dancing professionally to take care of her family until she began teaching ballet in a private school in Munich.

She has been a ballet teacher in Volkshochschule Neuburg in Germany for eight years now after watching her two children, Miguel and Isabelle, grow up.  Two years ago she produced and choreographed “Das Geschenk” (The Gift) in which she showcased dances from several parts of the world, including the Philippines’ Pandanggo sa Ilaw.

 The local newspapers Neuburger Rundschau and Donaukurier published half-page articles on Adarna, describing the ballet production as “impressive... The dancers and Mary Anne Strobel were rewarded by a very enthusiastic audience with almost non-stop applause, cheers and bravos. If the dancers did not get aching muscles from dancing, they would have after the numerous bows they had to take after the sold-out premiere performance. One could see and feel the joy and passion Strobel instilled upon her dancers whether it was the mammoth Dance of the Flowers with 43 children from five ballet levels or the 10 adult dancers or the Adarna soloist. The dancers were all very enthusiastic and expressive.  Strobel can be especially proud of her pointe shoe group who, after only a year of pointe classes, were able to dance en pointe.  Strobel’s enchanting production has to be seen.”