Ballet Manila to open 23rd season Sept. 1
Ballet Manila will open its 23rd season, “Tour de Force,” with two weekends of award-winning contemporary ballets, legacy pieces and choreographic miniatures in a unique back-to-back series —“Iconic 1.0” and “Iconic 2.0.”
Artistic director Lisa Macuja-Elizalde said the new season would kick off preparations for BM’s silver anniversary in 2020. Since 1995, Ballet Manila (BM) has built a repertoire of 200 classical and contemporary works. It has also been commissioning new works.
Elizalde said BM was beginning its three-year anniversary countdown “by bringing together our past, present and future into one spectacular production—a well-curated program performed by our current roster of dancers, which projects the vision, artistry and diversity that the company has always been known for through the years.”
BM will present the vast range of its repertoire. “And that is why,” she said, “we have “Iconic 1.0” and “Iconic 2.0” to open our 23rd performance season—two completely different repertoires that promise to leave your breathless for two amazing weekends!”
“Iconic 1.0” on Sept. 1 and 2 will consist of “Bloom” by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, “Arachnida” by Agnes Locsin, “Sotto Voce” and “Reconfigured” by Bam Damian, “Kinabuhing Mananagat” by Rudy de Dios, “Romeo and Juliet (Fantasy Overture)” by Sergei Vikulov, “Reve” by Ernest Mandap, “Musika’t Pag-ibig” by Jonathan Janolo and “Mahiwagang Biyulin” by Tony Fabella.
“Iconic 1.0” will also premiere “Fuga,” created by resident choreographer and principal dancer Gerardo Francisco for the recent USA International Ballet Competition (IBC) in Jackson, Mississippi.
On Sept. 8 and 9, “Iconic 2.0” will feature an excerpt from the award-winning “Ibong Adarna” by Francisco, “Ecole” by Osias Barroso, “El Adwa” by Bam Damian, “Fur Elise” by Elizalde, excerpt from “Aria” by Martin Lawrance and the legacy piece “Carmen” by BM’s founding artistic director Eric V. Cruz.
“Iconic 2.0” will also premiere the newly commissioned ballet, “The Distance Between,” by Australian choreographer Simon Hoy, a competition piece for BM guest principal Katherine Barkman, who clinched the silver medals at the USA IBC and the Varna IBC.
“We hope the audience will join us for both shows and complete this journey with us,” Elizalde said.