In celebration of its 30th anniversary—the Pearl Year—Ballet Manila brings to the stage “the most romantic ballet of all time”: Swan Lake. Liza Macuja-Elizalde, “Ballerina ng Bayan” and Ballet Manila CEO, promises to keep this timeless classic fresh and splendid—backed by a cast nothing short of stellar.
Why you should watch it
Initially a “flop,” Swan Lake eventually became the “greatest hit of all time,” Macuja-Elizalde said. She described it as one of the most “demanding” ballets for several reasons.
Firstly, the roles of Odette (White Swan) and Odile (Black Swan), mirror opposites, were originally taken up by two different dancers.
“Odette is soft, lyrical, and it’s more of adagios—slow movement—whereas Odile is a seductress, she’s quite evil, and she needs to be really strong for all her turns and jumps,” Macuja-Elizalde explained.
However, since Italian ballerina Pierina Legnani took on both roles in the 1895 Swan Lake revival choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov, Odette and Odile have become the two faces of a single coin—or dancer.
Having played the dual role in the past, Macuja-Elizalde revealed the most challenging part of it was the Black Swan’s pas de deux or dance duet.
“It’s one of the longest classical pas de deux. Basically you have the entrada, adagio, and then the variation at the end, also one of the longest variations—that’s five parts, when normally classical variation has only three or four parts at the most … And it has that 32 fouettés—coda—that everybody is waiting for,” she detailed.
In other words, the Black Swan’s dance duet is longer than most, including an entrance (entrada), an emotionally intense partnered segment (adagio), solos to showcase technique (variations), and, to crown the performance, the Black Swan executes 32 rapid, whipping turns—known as fouettés en tournant—in a thrilling coda or finale.
Lastly, Macuja-Elizalde said at least 24 “strong girls” capable of dancing through four acts (two as court maidens and two as swans) are essential in the ballet.
“Swan Lake has been called a ‘ballet warhorse,’ because it is a ballet that any classical ballet company would put first and foremost in a repertoire for a company to perform,” she stated, likening it to Nutcracker, but “much more difficult.”
Macuja-Elizalde regards Swan Lake as the standard that determines whether a company can truly call itself a classical ballet company—and Ballet Manila, she claimed, is the only company in the country able to perform Swan Lake today.
Meet the cast
Macuja-Elizalde felt that mounting such a ballet would signal her company’s recovery from the pandemic for its Pearl Year; she also undoubtedly felt that no less than a superb production would do.
Off the bat, she had Katherine Barkman as Odette-Odile in mind, who had first claimed the role at age 19 with Ballet Manila, and went on to become a principal dancer for Washington Ballet, then first soloist for San Francisco Ballet. Although the role’s duality poses a challenge, she approaches it with poise and resolve.
Her Prince Siegfried will be Esteban Hernandez, who starred as Basilio in last year’s Don Quixote. Since 2019, he has been a principal dancer for the San Francisco Ballet. The prince, he believes, is not ready to assume the responsibilities of a ruler but must pick his bride. Hernandez aims to convey this inner conflict to his audiences, which may resonate with them.
Abigail Oliveiro, a principal dancer for Ballet Manila, values growth in her roles and believes she can “give a little more soul” to Odette and Odile this time around, after three full-length performances.
Nathaniel Remez, who will play Oliveiro’s royal love interest, offers new chemistry and emotion. He is presently a soloist at San Francisco Ballet.
Mark Sumaylo is a principal dancer for Ballet Manila alongside his wife, Oliveiros, and is to play Von Rothbart, the sorcerer who curses Odette so that she takes the form of a swan by day, and only regains her human form by nightfall. He assured he gives every opportunity onstage his best—200 percent.
Barkman, Hernandez, and Remez will be arriving in the Philippines by May 23, and have expressed excitement over their return.
Highlights you don’t want to miss
Macuja-Elizalde has touted fresh revisions to this year’s Swan Lake, setting it apart from previous productions.
For one, she has re-choreographed Acts I and III to tell a clearer story. Among the changes is a stronger emphasis on the prince’s role as host of his 21st birthday celebration (Act I) and Odile dancing with the Spanish boys to induce jealousy in Prince Siegfried, heightening her “desirability,” Macuja-Elizalde said.
Furthermore, she sought to emphasize Rothbart’s oppression of Odette.
“I wanted the Rothbart character to really dominate Odette in Act II. So even (for) the exit of Odette in the end of Act II, I put Rothbart there to carry her off—he literally plucks Odette from the grasp of the prince,” she divulges.
“I wanted a little bit more logic and a little bit more flow and a little bit more character development,” she reasoned.
Macuja-Elizalde clarified that she was not modifying the iconic Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov choreography, but mainly the court and group dances. She wished to have “a little bit more shared responsibility” between the men and women. Acknowledging that dancing four acts on pointe is “no joke,” she eased the women’s choreography in Act I and assigned more movement to the men instead.
However, the ballet’s ending has been altered, she shared. Overall, she said the Pearl Year Swan Lake is a new one.
Manila, Dumaguete shows
For Manila, Swan Lake will be showing on May 30 (8 p.m.), May 31 (5 p.m.), and June 1 (5 p.m.) with Barkman and Hernandez in the lead roles; May 31 (1 p.m.) and June 1 (1 p.m.) with Oliveiro and Remez.
Ballet Manila will also be staging the production, albeit with a different cast, in Dumaguete. In July, the company will hold seven performances in four days, Macuja-Elizalde said.
Moreover, Don Quixote is next in August, to be performed by ballet superstars Renata Shakirova as Kitri and Kim Kimin as Basilio.
