Russian ballet stars and Ballet Manila in gala show
MANILA, Philippines - The Society for Cultural Enrichment Inc. (SCEI), together with Ballet Manila and the Manila Broadcasting Company, will be treating ballet enthusiasts to a one-night-only concert featuring 10 of the finest Russian dancers from the Bolshoi, Kirov and Dutch National Ballet companies, together with the Philippines’ very own prima ballerina Lisa Macuja-Elizalde and Ballet Manila. Billed as “Today’s Stars of the Russian Ballet with Ballet Manila,” the show goes onstage on July 10, 8 p.m., at the Aliw Theater, CCP Complex, Pasay City.
Produced in collaboration with Kantor Pos, the show features top dancers from the most prestigious ballet companies of Moscow, St. Petersburg, Amsterdam and Manila.
The visiting Russian ballerinas and danseurs include Jurgita Dronina, principal dancer of the Swedish Royal Ballet and Dutch National Ballet paired with David Galstyan, soloist of the Ballet du Capitole Toulouse, for the Le Corsaire pas de deux and Don Quixote pas de deux; Yana Selina, soloist of the Mariinsky Ballet and Mikhail Lobukhin, principal of the Bolshoi Ballet in the Balcony pas de deux from Romeo and Juliet and the Giselle pas de deux; Viktoriya Ananyan and Alexander Zhembrovskyy, soloists of the Dutch National Ballet, featured in two contemporary choreographies; Marina Mishina and Dmitry Zagrebin, soloists of the Bolshoi Ballet in the Flames of Paris pas de deux and the La Fille Mal Gardee pas de deux; and Yelizaveta Cheprasova and Filipp Stepin, soloists of the Mariinsky Ballet, for the Corsaire pas de’Esclave and Balanchine’sTarantella.
Lisa Macuja-Elizalde, together with Ballet Manila, will also perform several numbers from their repertoire: Tony Fabella’s Dancing to Czerny, and Bam Damian’s contemporary pieces Rebel and Reconfigured.
“Ballet Manila is very proud to have the SCEI as our partner in this very important event especially as it is their first fundraising activity,” says Lisa, who is also BM’s artistic director. “We share a common vision for the improvement of cultural literacy and the enhancement of arts appreciation, especially among our youth.” The society, through its officers led by president Consul Helen Ong, have earmarked proceeds from the show to benefit SCEI’s programs for the improvement of culture and arts teaching in the Philippines.
Renowned for her own Russian training at the Vaganova Choreographic Institute and later, for being the first foreigner to become a soloist of the Kirov (now Mariinsky) Ballet, Lisa is excited to share “great dancing” with the Filipino audience, which has regarded her as an icon of dance in the last 25 years. Lisa credits her Russian training for the longevity of her ballet career and has been passing on the Vaganova tradition to Ballet Manila’s dancers and students. Believing the Russian standards of classical ballet to be the highest in the world, she engages in a constant exchange of training and performances for her company.
“It is simply hard to beat more than 250 years of tradition in classical ballet handed down from one generation of Russian artists to the next,” Lisa enthuses. “This gala will not only be first-class entertainment, but I believe it will reveal to Manila audiences how global our own standards of dancing are in the local arts scene. It is a wonderful opportunity to see these artists perform here in Manila and not have to go abroad to enjoy international star-studded concerts like this one.”
For ticket inquiries, call Ticketworld at 891-9999 or visit www.ticketworld.com.ph, or Ballet Manila at 400-0292, 525-5967 or e-mail info@balletmanila.ph.
