About the Event
The Lisa Macuja School of Ballet Manila wraps up its summer activities with the highly anticipated recital concert, Just Dance XIX, scheduled on May 29 at the Aliw Theater. This annual event will feature timeless choreographies that highlight the school’s distinctive classical tradition, merged with new and original pieces in contemporary dance.
According to school directress Lisa Macuja-Elizalde, over 120 regular students attended this year’s summer intensive workshop along with 20 scholars from Ballet Manila’s advocacy program, Project Ballet Futures.
“For the second year in row, we conducted auditions all over the Philippines and awarded PBF scholarships to a good number of deserving students. We are also happy to announce that this year, we are choosing two new trainees and one additional member for BM’s second company,” she said.
Since 1997, the school has provided Ballet Manila with a steady supply of well-trained and highly skilled young talents who have chosen to embark on a professional career in dance. Among its most notable alumni are Christine Rocas and Nazer Salgado (now soloists of the Joffrey Ballet and Singapore Dance Theatre respectively); BM’s own principals Dawna Reign Mangahas and Gerardo Francisco and, as well as soloists Sofia Sangco-Peralta, Romeo Peralta, Alvin Santos and Joan Emery Sia. Meanwhile, former PBF scholars Jessa Balote, Rissa May Camaclang and Jamil Montibon have become fulltime company artists.
This year, the Just Dance XIX repertoire will be divided into three parts: Paquita (a purely classical divertissement performed in the version re-staged by Tatiana Udalenkova from the original performed at the Academy of Russian Ballet); Deliberately Delibes, an original choreography by Macuja-Elizalde and Osias Barroso set to the music of French composer Leo Delibes; and Rhythm & Rhymes, a frolicsome piece that will feature students enrolled in the school’s Fisher Mall branch in Quezon City.
For more information about The Lisa Macuja School of Ballet Manila, please call telephone numbers 400-0292/ 525-5967, or e-mail info@balletmanila.com.ph.