Lisa Macuja bids farewell to full-length 'Don Quixote'
MANILA, Philippines - Just one week after a ballet extravaganza celebrating her 25th year in dance, prima ballerina Lisa Macuja-Elizalde mounts another special production — her farewell performance as Kitri in the full-length production of Don Quixote.
The well-loved classic — a co-production of Ballet Manila and the Manila Broadcasting Company — goes onstage on Oct. 15 and 17, Thursday and Saturday, at 7:30 p.m., and on Oct. 18, Sunday, at 3 p.m. at the Aliw Theater, CCP Complex, Roxas Blvd., Pasay City.
“I love Don Quixote!” enthuses Macuja-Elizalde. “Kitri, the central character of the ballet, is my favorite role of all because I am very much like her. She is an audacious young girl with spirit and energy. She’s a whirlwind, and the whole ballet is about how she and her lover outwit her father and marry each other against his wishes.”
The ballerina says the time has come for her to say goodbye to the full-length Don Quixote as she concedes the entire production demands so much from the dancer who essays its lead role.
She describes, “The highlight of the whole ballet is the pas de deux in the finale, where the ballerina and her partner get to show off with real bravura dancing. The most treacherous part for the ballerina is the famous pas, where she does 32 fouettes in a row. That’s like seeing a spinning top. But once you get past the 25th fouette and are on to the next, the audience starts applauding wildly.”
While there is a tinge of sadness to be saying goodbye to the ballet popularly referred to as “Don Q,” Macuja-Elizalde feels she is doing the right thing. “I respect the role so much that I feel any lesser performance than what it demands would be unacceptable,” she says.
Since her early days as a ballerina, Kitri already became Macuja-Elizalde’s signature role. “From the very beginning when I was jumping and turning and showing off in the classroom, everybody already said that I should dance Kitri. Kitri is a role where you can show off. It’s a clap-trapper of a ballet!”
The role earned for Macuja-Elizalde a 20-minute standing ovation when she performed it with Farouk Ruzimatov at the Kirov in the 1980s. Needless to say, Russia fell in love with the Filipina Kitri — a role that the ballerina has since repeatedly performed and earned accolades for in many cities all over the world.
Macuja-Elizalde notes that while this series of performances will be her last full-length Don Quixote, she would most likely still be dancing excerpts in the future, particularly the pas de deux.
For tickets to Don Quixote and other inquiries, please call Ballet Manila at 525-5967 / 400-0292 or visit www.ticketworld.com.ph or call Ticketworld at 891-9999.
