Wait a minute! This wasn’t supposed to happen. But it did.
Our once-in-a-lifetime concert “The Legends & The Classics” went viral and there was nothing to stop the frenzy for tickets that followed. Admittedly, it is casting coup event that you don’t want to miss. How can you beat Lea Salonga, Cecile Licad and Lisa Macuja (yours truly) all in one evening doing what they do best – sing, play music and dance!
Tickets to this concert are available on Ticketworld but the thing is BEFORE this March 17 event in the CCP Main Theater, Ballet Manila will still have a class-act production to close our 16th season.
“Lab Ko To” on February 17 at 7:30pm in Aliw Theater is Ballet Manila’s post Valentine ballet gala that will highlight the world premieres of three new works by three of our country’s top choreographers.
“Alon ng Buwan” is Max Luna III’s second ballet for the company, after his highly successful pas de deux “Embraceable You” drew raves at concerts in Korea and Manila last year. A modern piece that draws inspiration from the centuries-old Filipino dance form, pangalay, the seven pairs of dancers even took special sessions with indigenous Filipino dance expert, Raymund “Rama” Marcaida, just to get the hand gestures right.
In the latest of his collaborations with Ballet Manila, Augustus Damian gives us “The Last Poem” — a dance-drama that has brought me to tears several times during rehearsals. It is a fairly simple adagio, but needs the most sensitive of portrayals. How does one engage in something so athletic as dance and project being sick and dying at the same time? Now that is a challenge worthy of any seasoned dancer, including one who is on the brink of retirement.
Without a doubt, Manuel Molina is a passionate and moving choreographer who always demands the best of athleticism and grace from his dancers. After the moving “Love Beyond Goodbye” set to Josh Groban’s magical voice last year, he now challenges the company to Piazolla’s tangos in “Buenos Aires”. Whether they are his striking solos, those breathtaking duos, or the relationship roundabout in pas de quatres, Manny will certainly entertain – and I have always dreamed of having a tango ballet in our company’s repertoire!
In keeping with our Vaganova roots, included in “Lab Ko To” is the classical ballet divertissement Satanilla Pas De Deux from The Venetian Carnival. Gerardo Francisco’s Moros will also have it’s local showing after winning fourth place in The Andong Festival’s choreography competition last year in Korea. Loyal fans of Ballet Manila always find something different in our end of season productions, as we usually come up with new and refreshing collaborations with different Filipino artists. In the last two years, we’ve had highly successful team up with legendary balladeer Basil Valdez and the iconic band, Side A. This year, our 16th season comes to a close with a dreamy selection of original work specially choreographed to showcase the manifold skills and talents of Ballet Manila’s winsome ballerinas and powerful danseurs.

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6:00 am and a gentle nudge wakes me up. I am a morning person – Fred, my husband of 12 years is a night owl – so, I forgo the traditional alarm clock to a shaking by our house helper in order to ensure my husband doesn’t wake up. I treasure my early mornings either alone on the porch with my steaming cup of java – or bringing my children to school and chatting in the car. My children – Missy (age 10) and Manuel (age 8) are still at that age when they like having me bring them to school. The rest of my mornings are used very efficiently as my “office hours”. Breakfast in front of the laptop as I do all the communications work needed to run and manage a ballet company and school. Fred and I spend many a mornings on this famous porch... Read More