By Michele T. Logarta
Dancer and teacher Eileen Lopez has never wanted to be the fiery Kitri of Don Quixote nor has she ever dreamed of portraying the enchanting and magical twin roles of Odette and Odile in Swan Lake or other principal leads of the great classical ballets. That she didn’t seek the most coveted lead roles – as most dancers do – makes her most unusual.
She confesses to have once wanted to be the tragic Juliet. “It’s so beautiful and romantic,” she says of the Thomas Pazik version of the Romeo and Juliet ballet she first saw many years ago.
Looking back at her 21-year career as a dancer with Ballet Manila, she is perfectly content knowing that she has played Myrtha in Giselle and Mercedes, Kitri’s friend, in Don Quixote and a host of supporting roles that include Manuela in Carmen, Big Swan in Swan Lake, Naila in Le Corsaire. “Happy na ako (I am happy),” she says.
“My dream roles were the second leads. Siguro alam ko na hindi ko kaya na mag-Kitri and Odette/Odile. (Maybe I knew that I couldn’t do Kitri or Odette/Odile.) Because I know I am not a turner. I can turn but not turn well. I am a jumper. In dance, it’s either you are a turner or a jumper. If you are both, then you are lucky,” she explains.
To Lopez, it doesn’t matter if it’s a principal or second lead role. “If you do the dance well, that is okay.”
Lopez began dancing when she was 3 years old. She remembers she would cry whenever she could not attend ballet class at the Effie Nañas dance studio at SM Cubao. When she entered prep at St. Theresa’s College in Quezon City, she continued ballet classes there.
Lopez was one of the 12 pioneers of Ballet Manila who chose to go with BM founder and now artistic director Lisa Macuja-Elizalde when the company was formed in 1995. While others have left since, she has stayed put. With BM, she completed regular training programs conducted by guest teachers Tatiana A. Udalenkova of the Academy of Russian Ballet and People’s Artist of Russia Sergey Vikulov between 1998 and 2001 to 2004.
She has never once regretted her decision to stay and the thought of leaving never entered her mind. “No, because I still wanted to dance! I’m with the best. Shaz (BM co-artistic director Osias Barroso), Lisa and Lisa’s teacher Tatiana… you have the best teachers, the best group of friends. What more could I ask for?”
She remembers the early period of BM as the struggling years when they didn’t have enough money for costumes and airfare to perform in the provinces. “There were two big companies then and we were just starting. Everyone was putting us down. They gave us two years and said we’d dismantle. That time, palaban lang kami (we were full of fighting spirit). We wanted to prove everyone wrong.”
And they did.
This year, Ballet Manila is marking its 21st anniversary. Its home in a leafy compound in Pasay City – where the rehearsal studios, ballet school and administrative offices are housed – is a hive of activity where company dancers rehearse daily and young students come to learn dance in the rigorous Vaganova method.
BM offers a yearly performance season at its own venue, the Aliw Theater, and boasts of an impressive repertoire of classical ballets and modern contemporary works. Sixty-five dancers form its corps today. In February, BM presented the world premiere of Rebel, a collaboration of Macuja-Elizalde and British choreographer Martin Lawrance to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the EDSA Revolution.
Lopez stopped dancing in 2013. She hasn’t gone offstage completely, though, as she does occasional character roles when asked.
“You feel it in your body. You are not as supple and flexible as before. Sometimes, when you are with the younger ones, you feel old. I think it’s time to let them dance. I’ll concentrate on rehearsing and teaching. Feeling ko mas du’n na ang attention ko (I feel that is where my attention should be). I’ll be able to help the company more in doing that rather than dancing,” she explains.
Lopez is BM’s rehearsal mistress. It is her job to restage ballets for the company. “I teach the company dancers the steps – again – to refresh their memories. Not every one can remember a choreography that we did years ago. Restaging is needed to maintain the quality of the ballet,” she says.
To remember choreography that was done in the past, Lopez watches production videos and digs up her notes. “Hindi naman terabyte ang utak ko (My brain doesn’t have terabytes of memory),” she laughs. “You go over the corrections that you made so that hindi na maulit (you don’t repeat the things you’re not supposed to). Lisa’s teacher, Tatiana, binilin na niya sa akin ang corrections niya. Inisa-isa niya sa akin lahat ng corrections na puwedeng ibigay sa akin. Siyempre sa tulong ni Shaz nagko-combine ang utak namin (Lisa’s teacher Tatiana left all her instructions with me. We went over them one by one, all her corrections. With the help of Shaz, we both recall what Tatiana said).”
The job of a rehearsal mistress isn’t limited to restaging work but assisting choreographers as well. For Rebel, Eileen helped British choreographer Martin Lawrance. She also attends to the task of scheduling the dancers.
Lopez and Lawrance have become fast friends. “We work well together. Medyo nag-sync kaming dalawa. We go out and have dinner but still we talk about work! He is super bait. I’ve never seen him get mad in rehearsals. He is a patient teacher and very open-minded when choreographing. If a dancer does something on his own and it’s good, he says we can put that in.”
Lopez is also on the faculty of the School of Ballet Manila. She teaches Level One ballet to students ages 8 to 12. As a teacher, she can be demanding, even strict. “We have a standard in BM. We follow the Vaganova style. ‘Yun ang kinalakihan namin (We grew up on that tradition). That is what we were taught by Lisa and the teachers from Russia. For it to live, we must be strict in teaching it and keep the quality intact. Or else it will die.”
When in class, Lopez can sometimes express displeasure, especially when company dancers are too frisky and playful. However, she stresses, she is always gentle with the children. I never raise my voice with the kids. I just tell them calmly that they can’t play in class but only after class.”
Children in the BM school are known to start their classes smiling, a practice credited to Eileen. Sometimes, class starts so early in the morning that students come to school still sleepy. “I told them we won’t start class until they’re all smiling. So, automatic na naka– smile na sila.”
For the summer, the School of Ballet Manila offers workshops in classical ballet as well as modern dance, street dance, hip hop and even zumba and yoga. “We have the best teachers! All our teachers have danced professionally. Who wouldn’t want to study and learn from Lisa Macuja?”
Every summer dance workshop ends in tears – at least for Eileen. Watching from the wings at recitals, she becomes emotional and weeps, to the amusement of those around her. “Umiiyak ako kasi nakikita ko (I cry because I see) that they learned from me, ginagawa nila sa stage. Nakikita ko ‘yung pinagpaguran ko. Sumasayaw sila! (I see that all my efforts were successful. They are dancing!)”
In January, Eileen turned 40.
For a few moments, she turns pensive at the thought of the future. But, no, there’s no uncertainty in her. She is definite about her place and where she wants to be. It is, always has been and will always be Ballet Manila, she smiles.
