josevich

The other two are Ballet Manila and Philippine Ballet Theater. Ballet Manila was founded 20 years ago by retired Prima Ballerina Lisa Macuja-Elizalde. She was the first foreign principal at the Kirov Ballet which is now Mariinsky and was also principal at all three ballet companies I mentioned. She is the AD of the company. Ballet Manila has a strictly classical Vaganova technique which I am not a very big fan of. But I think their greatest weakness is their venue. Aliw theater is in the same block as CCP but smaller and has a university theater feel. Philippine Ballet Theater is also mostly classical but the technique is not as strictly Vaganova as BM is. I've only seen one show from them; that was last month's Don Quixote where the guest artist was Joseph Philipps who used to be a corps member at ABT and is now a principal at Primorsky in Russia. PBT is also based in CCP like Ballet Philippines. Both PBT and BP are partly government funded. There are small contemporary/modern dance companies as well but they are mostly school based. It is relatively new in the Philippines and the technique is not there yet so I'd rather watch ballet dancers doing contemporary/modern if I want to see that. You can read about the history of these companies in the article below written about them in 2003. http://ncca.gov.ph/about-culture-and-arts/in-focus/what-moves-the-three-major-ballet-companies/

Ballet Philippines is one of the three major ballet companies in the Philippines. BP is the most experimental among the three. They do classical ballet, neo-classical, modern, and Filipino ethnic. They have frequent international guests. Most recently, Stella Abrera of ABT debuted as Giselle with this company. Their usual venue is the Cultural Center of the Philippines. That's like our MET. Paul Alexander Morales is the Artistic Director; the Ballet Masters are Victor Ursabia and Ramon Victoria. They train their own dancers although they also accept dancers from other companies.

I saw BP's first show for the season "Neo Filipino". I'ts a collection of dances from different choreographers. Carissa Adea and Richardson Yadao danced Lakambini from Rock Supremo. Always great to see them. I don't know if they're back for good or if that was just a guest performance. The standout performance and choreography was the boys group led by principal Jean Marc Cordero. OMG! JM was amazing! He had a solo and a duet with Christopher Niño Royeca. That was the highlight of the night. JM did a double tour jump and was catched by Royeca that was met by gasps from the audience. It was so beautiful. I can see Royeca being principal for BP in the coming years. He's tall and easy on the eyes. Definitely prince material. His performance in Hugot Sa Rosas was poignant. I'm excited to see it again in September. JM being the only principal left stands out with his grace and technique. The second half of the show was HORRIBLE! It started with a skit by a theater group. It was vulgar! They had old cultural references that are just not funny anymore. I'm sure they're good actors but the material just didn't work. I was so mad at the tackiness of that skit. The dances that followed were not memorable. That show should not have had a second half.

I saw Joseph Philipps dance Basilio in Don Quixote last night. I've only seen three male guest artists so far but Joseph is the best ever! His control is unparalled. The lifts were effortless and beautiful, so were his jumps and turns! The audience gasped at the height of his jumps that landed so smoothly. He had the most beautiful pirouttes I've ever seen. There was one lift that went into fishdive in act 4 where it looked like Joseph lost control, but overall, especially his solos were stunning to watch. It was also my first time to watch a full production of Philippine Ballet Theater. Though I've seen them before in musical theater and in Pasinaya. I'm looking forward to watching more. I did not expect to like Don Quixote that much, but I did! I thought it was really fun and had some very funny moments. Sancho was a good actor and projected expressions well. Regine Magbitang was charming but I thought the fouettes were not clean. But props to her for being able to them at all! I didn't count how many she did as she traveled forward. Espada did a good job except for when he lost balance going down on one knee after a double tour. I look forward to watching more shows from PBT. Their costume department needs a lot of work though.

They did a West Coast US tour Spring this year but I don't think they went to Seattle. Portland was the farthest north they went in the US before they went to Canada.

Joseph Philipps who previously danced with ABT and is now a principal of the State Primorsky Opera and Ballet Theater will be performing as a guest artist in PBT's production of Don Quixote. He was one of the most promising but under utilized corps member of ABT. I'm glad he is now based in Vladivostok and can easily be invited to dance with ballet companies around Asia.

Only one of the four Principals of BP remain. Carissa Adea resigned and studied dance in the States for six months. My favorite dancer Katherine Trofeo retired. I don't like that her last performance had to be in Mandhid. I think she deserved to retire dancing Giselle or Kitri. I was surprised to learn that Richardson Yadao has also left the company. I watched their International Dance Day presentation at their studio and when they introduced him as one of the choreographers the emcee said former principal dancer. There are a few dancers that are showing great potential but I'm not sure if anyone is at a principal dancer level at this point. I guess we'll find out in the coming season. My favorite show from last season was Rock Supremo. It was the first time that ballet made me cry. Hugot Sa Rosas is also unforgettable. I didn't expect BP 2 to be that good but they were. And the music that they used were just perfect and could really draw emotion from both the dancers and the audience.

I saw her dance Giselle last night with Whiteside as Albrecht. There was a storm and the roads were flooded the orchestra couldnt make it to the venue because many of them were stranded so they had to play a CD I guess. I wasnt sure I'd make it to the venue but I went anyway and I'm so glad I did! She was phenomenal! We import a lot of dancers from all over the world to dance lead roles and she is one of the best I've seen. Such beautiful hands and a beautiful face. Totally worth ruining my dress shoes for in wading through the flood. You can see photos of her on Ballet Philippines' facebook page.