Saturday last week on February 8, 2020 to be exact, Ballet Philippines Foundation president Kathleen L. Liechtenstein issued a memo announcing the appointment of Russian danseur Mikhail Martynyuk as the new artistic director of Ballet Philippines for the 51st and 52nd seasons for the years 2020 to 2022.
Friday night and Saturday afternoon, Manila’s balletomanes saw two Odette-Odiles and two Siegfrieds, one pair straight from Russia and another pair, purely homegrown but nevertheless equal to the challenge.
Saturday last week, balletomanes enjoyed a rare ballet Valentine treat through a revival of a 1981 production of “Romeo and Juliet” by choreographer Alice Reyes, now National Artist for Dance.
Petipa’s dance classic Don Quixote proved its enduring appeal Friday night (February 9) at the Cultural Center of the Philippines when the Ballet Philippines revival received a rousing standing ovation from Filipino balletomanes.
Manila’s ballet scene bristled with excitement last weekend when three sets of Filipino Odette-Odiles took to the CCP stage for their baptism of fire in the world’s favorite ballet warhorse, Swan Lake.
When Ballet Philippines stages Swan Lake starting February 24 at the CCP main theater, balletomanes will most likely look back to the decades the ballet was first interpreted by distinguished Filipino and foreign ballerinas.
By PABLO A. TARIMAN THE opening of Carlo Pacis’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” at the CCP Friday night showcased a totally new generation of dancers, not to mention an equally young emerging choreographer brimming with new ideas. When Ballet Philippines artistic director Paul Alexander Morales acknowledged the company’s co-founder, Eddie Elejar, the gala audience
