How to be like Lisa Macuja

I think at some point in every little girl’s life, she dreams of becoming a ballerina. (Or at least, a mother dreams it for her daughter—I know my mother did.) So, small wonder that in Lisa Macuja-Elizalde’s blog, there are unabashed declarations from full-grown women saying that ever since their childhood, the country’s first-ever prima ballerina was their inspiration.

In my experience, the fascination usually starts with the very girly, fantasy-like costumes.

Eventually, the attraction stays because there’s something elegant, exact, and ethereal about a ballerina’s movements. Deep inside, we all want to have—or at least a semblance of—this grace and precision in our harried lives.

The first time I saw Macuja was during my gradeschool years. It was a performance held, if I’m not mistaken, at Colegio dela Inmaculada Concepcion, which little girls who were slowly introduced to this world of leaps, pirouettes, and curtsies were required to watch. I still remember the petite Macuja projecting all sparkle and light in her white tutu, interpreting Odette in “Swan Lake,” one of the principal roles she would essay in over 200 full-length and contemporary ballets in 80 cities spanning 5 continents.

How time flies, and while I’ve long forgotten the rest of my ballet vocabulary, and obviously, outgrown my mother’s ballerina dreams for me, the 44-year-old prima ballerina remains in top form as seen in a recent performance at SM Northwing—showing all and sundry why there’s only one Lisa Macuja.

Performing inside a mall is just one of the many efforts that tells us why Macuja deserves the tag “ballerina of the people.” Since returning from her elite training at the premier Academy of Russian Ballet as scholar of the USSR Ministry of Culture more than 2 decades ago, Macuja has made it her mission to bridge the contentious gap between high art and mass culture. Talk about a National Artist in the making!

“I came back in 1986, and in order for my art to thrive, and for me to keep on dancing here in the Philippines, I had to develop an audience that will watch me perform. That’s what I’ve been doing for the last 25 years, bringing this high art called classical ballet to the masses, so that they discover it as an art form and learn to appreciate it. That’s why I dance in malls and in a lot of uncomfortable places with no air-condition or gyms with frogs backstage among our costumes. There was a time when we would put newspapers on a concrete floor, so it would not be hard to dance on it. I’ve danced on sabongans, kalyes, coliseums, and really humid, small theaters. But it’s always nice to dance because no matter what your audience is, there’s always something new you would discover when you’re performing for them,” says Macuja, who is probably one of the very few classically-trained artists to penetrate even noontime variety shows. 

(Another notable project of hers is the Project Ballet Futures which has 40 girl scholars from different public schools in Manila. They are given free ballet class equipment and one meal after their ballet class, and vitamins and milk for nutrition.)

At the SM Northwing, a beautiful stage was set up for Lisa, and it was a full house as she tried to encapsulate her long years of dance artistry into a nearly 2-hour show that was also supported by male dancers from Ballet Manila, the dance company she founded in 1995. She received three standing ovations, and brought several members in the audience to tears. This reminds me of a quote by the American dancer Judith Jamison: “People come to see beauty, and I dance to give it to them.” Macuja definitely gave it that evening, as she has been giving it for the last 25 years.

I’ll be writing on her program, which interestingly included some pop numbers, in a separate article. Meantime, let me share the three pointers, which Macuja revealed during an interview after her performance, that she always gives to little girls (and for their parents to take note as well) who want to follow in her footsteps.

1) Decide as early in your life as possible that this dance career is what you really, really want for yourself. An active stage and performance career in dance doesn’t last very long. A ballerina or a danseur is considered lucky to be able to dance professionally for 10 to 15 years. Under even the most ideal of circumstances, the body – your instrument – gives out after the age of 30 to 35. This is why it is vitally important to decide to begin training as a child, choose to make it as a career as a teenager and go for it as a young adult!

2) Once the decision is made, go to the best dance teacher or coach for your training. A student of dance can be born with the most ideal body and mental facility for a ballet career, and yet, if not trained properly will not fully develop as a dancer. A dancer is made and trained – not born. You have to strengthen, practice and control your body’s movement according to the strictest rules of classical ballet. This you can only do when taught the proper methods and skills and watched by an eagle-eyed teacher who can also motivate you to overcome your limitations and master these skills.

3) Once you are under the best teacher – give it your 100% effort! No pain, no gain. Learning how to dance is a long, tedious and painful process. As all of you participating for the first or nth time in a dance recital know – a ballet dancer’s day begins with class, moves on to arduous rehearsals before culminating in a performance. And yet, this performance is an unfinished product as no live artistic performance can be absolutely perfect. Everyday, a dancer wakes up to learn of sore muscles and aching tendons. But this “nice” kind of pain is significant. It means that you are making progress as a dancer because you are investing effort in your dancing.