What To Expect From Ballet Manila's 23rd Performance Season

Ballet Manila brings down the curtain on its exhilarating 23rd Performance season with a double treat. Deux (French for two), combines both classical and contemporary Ballet in one night’s program. Shows at the Aliw Theater, CCP Complex will be on March 2 and 9 at 6pm, and March 3 and 10 at 3pm. It’s a double header that holds much promise in terms of diversity and tastes. Under the leadership of Lisa Macuja-Elizalde, Ballet Manila continues to innovate and present possibilities via a myriad of shows and performance options that keep Ballet alive in this day and age.

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The first chapter of the Deux show will highlight classical vignettes. "Les Sylphides" is a dreamlike, white-world fantasy depicting a lone danseur (The Poet) interacting with his muses—the sylphs or air sprites. They dance in the moonlight, and while there is no story as such, the music of Chopin, and the choreography of Michael Fokine, combine to give us an otherworldly weightlessness, as accentuated by the intricate pointe work of the ballerinas. 

The second part of the show should prove to be the real crowd-pleaser as it’s Martin Lawrance’s The Winding Road. A word premiere of this work, it’s rock and roll beats and music from the last century, servicing a ballet that’s punchy, contemporary, and more today. As the title would suggest, the music comprises of Beatles tunes—from "She Loves You" and "I Saw Her Standing There," to "Something" and "Here, There, & Everywhere," and of course, "The Long & Winding Road."

As Ballet Manila CEO and Artistic Director Lisa Macuja-Elizalde was happy to say, “It has been a very exciting and rewarding 23rd season. It kicked off with electrifying productions that formed part of our Tour de Force, and now we’re poised to close it with Deux.”

For more details about this special closing double-bill, and for tickets, visit www.bit.ly/balletmaniladeux.