Ballet Manila received 22 nominations for its various productions in the upcoming 2015 Gawad Buhay! Awards. Leading the charge are BM2.0 and the full-length Romeo & Juliet with seven nominations each.
BM2.0, BM’s 20th anniversary concert held in in March 2015, picked up five nominations for Bloom: Outstanding Modern Dance Production for which it was the lone nominee (lone nominees are automatic winners), Outstanding Ensemble Performance for Modern Dance for the company, Outstanding Choreography for a Dance Production as well as Outstanding Costume Design for Annabelle Lopez Ochoa and Outstanding Female Lead Performance in Modern Dance for Dawna Mangahas.
Also part of BM2.0 are After the Rain and Romeo & Juliet which garnered for Christine Rocas nominations for Outstanding Female Lead Performance in Modern Dance, and Outstanding Female Lead Performance in Classical Dance respectively. Rocas, a Ballet Manila alumna, is a soloist for the Chicago-based Joffrey Ballet.
The full-length Romeo & Juliet, on the other hand, received nominations for Katherine Barkman (Outstanding Female Lead Performance in Classical Dance), Rudy De Dios (Outstanding Male Lead Performance in Classical Dance), Dawna Mangahas and Pia Dames (Outstanding Female Featured Performance in Classical Dance), and Gerardo Francisco (Outstanding Male Featured Performance in Classical Dance). It also picked up nominations for Outstanding Classical Dance Production and Outstanding Ensemble Performance for Classical Dance.
Tatlong Kuwento ni Lola Basyang earned six nominations including Outstanding Male Lead Performance in Modern Dance for Gerardo Francisco in Ang Mahiwagang Biyulin, Outstanding Female Featured Performance in Modern Dance for Abigail Oliveiro and Joan Emery Sia in Ang Kapatid ng Tatlong Maria, Outstanding Male Featured Performance in Modern Dance for Michael Divinagracia in Ang Mahiwagang Biyulin, Outstanding Ensemble Performance for Modern Dance for Ang Mahiwagang Biyulin, and Outstanding Production for Children for Tatlong Kuwento ni Lola Basyang.
Rounding up the list is Osias Barroso’s Pinocchio which earned two nominations: Outstanding Female Featured Performance in Classical Dance for Pia Dames, and Outstanding Male Featured Performance in Classical Dance for Michael Divinagracia.
The 2015 Philstage Gawad Buhay! will be held on April 28, 2016 at Onstage, Greenbelt 1, Makati City.
The Gawad Buhay! is presented by Philstage, an alliance of performing arts organizations in the Philippines. This is its eighth year of recognizing outstanding performances of local productions.