(Second of a three-part series)
Interview by Susan A. De Guzman and Giselle P. Kasilag
In 1995, twelve dancers led by Lisa Macuja and Osias Barroso banded together to form Ballet Manila. Together with artistic director Eric V. Cruz, the fledgling group – brimming with talent, bolstered by youthful optimism and supported mainly by a familial network – dared to dream big.
As a touring ensemble anchored on the Russian Vaganova method, Ballet Manila dedicated itself to the twin mission of bringing ballet to the people and people to the ballet. No town was too remote, no stage too unconventional for this group to perform in.
The pioneer twelve assumed multiple roles both on stage and off. On provincial tours, they not only had to dance; they also had to take care of rolling the linoleum after each performance. Macuja was the marketing person on the constant lookout for sponsors, while she and Barroso also handled the training of the ten younger dancers.
From those humble beginnings, Ballet Manila has blossomed into the country’s leading – and certainly busiest – classical ballet company. It has an annual season that unfolds at its home theaters (the Aliw Theater and Star Theater built for Lisa by husband Fred J. Elizalde), presenting both the classics and new choreographies. It performs all over the country through its Ballet & Ballads series, trains ballet hopefuls year-round at its School of Ballet Manila and discovers and supports scholars through its Project Ballet Futures.
As Ballet Manila marks its 21st year – with the show Ballet Manila 21 on March 19 serving as a preview of its 21st season opening in August – we sat down with now co-artistic directors Lisa Macuja-Elizalde and Osias Barroso for a special interview of “21 Questions.”
In this three-part series, the long-time colleagues and former dance partners – but most importantly, best friends – recall memories of the group’s initial years, describe the challenges they face today and share their vision of a Ballet Manila twenty-one years on.
What words of advice from Eric V. Cruz still resonate with you today?
LME: He would always remind us that the artist should always be well-dressed.
OB: He was very particular about grooming.
LME: And not just onstage but offstage as well. Up to now, we still have that in Ballet Manila. We have a dress code. We still enforce proper grooming.
OB: And it’s still very effective. Whether it’s a corporate show, guesting, or for Ballet & Ballads, when the dancers arrive all wearing uniforms, it makes a strong impact. And for me, it removes the social ranking among the dancers. Whether one is rich or poor, when they’re in uniform, it unifies the company. With Ballet Manila, everyone is of equal status.
What advice would 2016 Lisa and Shaz give to their 1995 counterparts?
OB: Personally, I would tell Shaz: “Keep cool!” My biggest problem is that I’m too emotionally attached to my work. If there’s something I can’t do, or my students can’t do, I really get affected. I consider it all my fault – that I didn’t rehearse my student well, or didn’t give proper instructions. I really take it to heart. Now, I’m a little bit more forgiving of myself. But there are times when it still comes back. So I’d advise 1995 Shaz that everything will be okay as long you continue what you’re doing.
LME: I would say to her: it’s okay to say no. I would tell the 1995 Lisa Macuja to insist on some things – like fair treatment, respect for artists and artists’ welfare. People would just take it for granted that just because you’re a dancer and you love to dance, that you would do anything and everything.
I would probably put more premium on myself – my health and my welfare – and learn to say no. And learn to say when enough is enough. When I was a guest artist in New Zealand (in 1988), I was asked by a reporter what do I dream of achieving status-wise as a ballerina and as a professional dancer. I said I would love to be very secure in my technique, in my artistry, in my status as an artist and a dancer that I would be able to say no. And I don’t think I ever really learned to say no until my legs started to give in and I began to get injured. Most of my injuries are wear and tear. So it could have been prevented if I were more conservative with my performances.
When the situation becomes too stressful, how do you keep the mood light between the two of you?
OB: We just laugh.
LME: We say, “Ballet lang ‘yan (It’s just ballet)!”
OB: We laugh! We find humor in a lot of things. But we’ve always been like that.
LME: We’ve always found humor in he most extenuating circumstances.
OB: One time in Russia, someone came up to our table and asked, “What are you drinking?” He thought we were drunk because we kept on laughing!
You are conducting nationwide auditions right now. Does the Philippines have enough promising young talents to continue what you have started?
OB: Yes, we do. We have lots of talents. Look at Mark Sumaylo who’s from Cagayan de Oro. Then two of his classmates are also doing very well, John Balagot and Johnny Mag-aso. When I gave out their contracts to them, I was touched because they show so much improvement after just one year. I told them, one of the advantages you have is that you realize the opportunities you got in Ballet Manila. They value the training, the opportunity – everything. Nakakataba ng puso. (It makes us happy.)
LME: With the auditions I saw in Aliw Theater, I of course saw that the training in Ballet Manila is really different. We audition our scholars to determine if they can keep their scholarships. Every year, they stand beside new scholar wanna-be’s. You see the difference even in just the way they stand, the way they move their arms and legs. It really makes you proud.
With your thrust to bring ballet to the people, how do you compare the audiences of 1995 to that of today?
OB: I think we just need to keep repeating. You cannot assume that the audience now knows ballet, because you’re always dealing with a new generation. Like the audience who saw Lola Basyang before, another generation’s going to watch that. We need to keep re-educating and exposing them to ballet.
LME: I think our audiences now are less patient. The shows are being shortened, even the intervals. It’s happening not just here but including in Europe and the United States. What is normally a three-hour, four-act ballet becomes two-act, with prologue, with one intermission. For example, our La Bayadere is three acts but the Kingdom of the Shades is the only one left intact. We removed a lot from Act 1 and Act 2.
OB: We snip out what we can snip out. Even Don Quixote, The Nutcracker. Because if you play the whole thing, it would be too long.
LME: It’s hard when you’re doing the classics because there’s a certain way of doing them. The audience has also become a little bit more jaded. They’re a lot harder to impress because of the fact that you have YouTube, all of these entertainment options. It’s harder to get a wow when the curtain opens.
OB: It makes me feel more responsible to my art. The more you should present the real spectacle of ballet which is the talent, the dancer. For example in La Bayadere, there’s nothing happening on stage except the dancing. The dancing is the “gimmick.” You go back to the roots, the basics.
LME: As directors, that’s always our assignment – to be able to give the audience what they want but at the same time not compromising the standards of the classics.
What would you consider as Ballet Manila’s biggest contribution to Philippine dance?
LME: I think the most important legacy of Ballet Manila is the class, the technique and the standards of the ballet student in the School of Ballet Manila. Once you educate the ballet students, even the ones that don’t become professional, you educate not just the student or professional dancer, you educate the audience and then eventually it becomes a cycle with each generation. Hopefully, the students of our original Ballet Manila 12 will also teach in that method with those kinds of standards. I think eventually, the standards of Ballet Manila will be the norm rather than the exception.
But we get criticized also – that you’re not supposed to force turnout or you’re not supposed to demand a 180-degree turnout from your students. Maybe in a sense it’s true. But if those are the standards you’re committed to, what we see is, because of the training, even the not-so-talented dancers are able to dance.
Ballet Manila has grown into a large organization – both in terms of dancers and production team. What are the challenges of running a large company now as opposed to the motley crew of 12 plus parents that made up your team in 1995?
OB: We have 40 dancers with contracts, BM 2 has twelve dancers, then we have 12 trainees. For me, the biggest challenge now is monitoring. I wish that even if we’re this big already, everyone is 100 percent doing their jobs and tasks. Before, we were just twelve, but everybody’s there 100 percent. Some get complacent or don’t go the extra mile.
LME: And I think also, living up to our name, because of the reputation we’ve established. Constantly though, I find myself with Shaz in the technical booth watching a performance of Pinocchio or Lola Basyang or Romeo and Juliet. I turn to him and I say, so how are we gonna top this? Like, even with our recitals, we look at each other, so how are we gonna top this next year? With Rebel, you look at that audience on its feet crying and cheering and I’m like, what are we gonna do next season?
OB: Whatever we do, whatever we present, it’s really important to monitor the standard – production, dancing, everything.
To be concluded