Prima ballerina Lisa Macuja-Elizalde celebrates her 25th anniversary in professional ballet with an extravaganza featuring dance performances, musical numbers, video images and special effects all combined to reflect a storied career that still continues to thrive.

 

 

 

 

            Lisa@25 co-presented by Manila Broadcasting Company goes onstage at the Aliw Theater, CCP Complex, on October 2 and 3 (7:30 pm) and October 4 (3:00 pm).

 

            "It will be two hours of pure entertainment that showcases the highlights of my career, including never-before-seen footages of my performances in Russia, videos and still photographs taken during provincial tours—and of course, lots and lots of dancing,” enthuses Macuja-Elizalde, who is ably supported in the production by her company, Ballet Manila, and a host of other artists.

 

            Lisa@25 is made special by the onstage reunion of Macuja-Elizalde back with four of her previous dance partners—premiere danseurs Nonoy Froilan, Osias Barroso,  Maxim Chashchegorov,  and Christopher Mohnani, a pioneer of Ballet Manila who went on to become a principal dancer for the Nashville Ballet.

 

Maxim Chashchegorov is formerly of the Marikinsky and now with Munich Ballet.  Nonoy Froilan is formerly Ballet Philippine’s

 

Osias Barroso is Artistic Associate and dancing partner of Macuja for the 17 years.

 

            For the first time in a ballet production, a Watch Out multi media display presentation is being used in Lisa@25, allowing Macuja-Elizalde and other dancers to interact with images projected on it. The visual technology provides a huge, dynamic backdrop with changing images and videos.

 

            The show opens with a look at the past, aptly set to the song I Have a Dream. The whimsical sequence features Macuja-Elizalde dancing as her sister Gia Macuja-Atchison sings and brother-in-law Robert Atchison plays the violin and pictures of the ballerina as a baby and young girl are flashed onscreen.

 

            One of the major highlights is the Classical Ballet Medley where Macuja-Elizalde gets to display the artistry and dance technique that she has been recognized for. The medley features excerpts from an array of ballet favorites like The Nutcracker, Harlequinade, Don Quixote. Giselle, Romeo and Juliet, La Bayadere, Carmen and Swan Lake.

 

            Macuja-Elizalde will also dance to live piano accompaniment by Mary Anne Espina and violin by Bob Atchison in Cantabile, with music by Paganini and choreography by People's Artist of Russia Sergey Vikulov whom the dancer considers as a second father and a mentor.

 

            The OPM/Pop Medley echoes Macuja-Elizalde's mission of bringing ballet to the masses. This segment features her with Miss Saigon sensation Robert Seña, and Gia Macuja-Atchison and Bob Atchison as she performs to music for which ballet pieces were made specially for her years ago—Sana Maulit Muli, Somewhere in Time, Sun and Moon/All I Ask of You and Sana'y Wala Nang Wakas.

 

            Lisa@25 will also feature Prinsipe ng mga Ibon, one of the dances comprising the groundbreaking Tatlong Kuwento ni Lola Basyang production of Ballet Manila. Macuja-Elizalde plays Prinsesa Singsing in this enchanting piece that celebrates love.

 

            Finally, the show is capped by the number set to Lipad, the song from the animated film Dayo, that speaks also of Macuja-Elizalde's aspirations to continue dancing in the coming years.

 

            Macuja was the first Filipino and foreigner to be invited to join the famed Kirov Ballet in 1984, after she graduated at the top of her class from the Leningrad Choreographic Institute. Returning to the country in 1986, she went on to establish herself as a premiere dance artist who is known internationally and who has made it her mission to bring ballet to the people, earning for herself the moniker “Ballerina ng Bayan”.

 

            Apart from being principal artist and artistic director of Ballet Manila, Macuja-Elizalde has fortified her advocacy for the arts and support for Filipino artists by hosting the weekly art-and-culture radio program Art 2 Art on dzRH. The program, incidentally, has again been named as a finalist in the Catholic Mass Media Awards this year.

 

            Lisa@25 captures the essence of the Macuja-Elizalde's unique place in the history of dance and the arts in the Philippines.

 

The show is sponsored by Caltrate, ING Private Banking, and Star City.  Official media partners include Lifestyle Network Easy Rock, Love Radio, Yes FM and DZRH. Official mall venue partners are SM Mall of Asia, SM City Davao, SM City Cagayan de Oro, and SM Cebu. Special thanks to Metrobank Credit Corporation and Island Rose

 

Tickets are available through Ticketworld at 891-9999 or www.ticketworld.com.ph. Tickets can also be purchased at Ballet Manila office at telephone numbers 400-0292, 525-5967 or email info@balletmanila.ph.