Ballet for the elite? Lisa Macuja says no
From contemporary dance set to the music of rock band The Dawn to 'Sleeping Beauty,' Ballet Manila opens its doors wider in 2026.
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From contemporary dance set to the music of rock band The Dawn to 'Sleeping Beauty,' Ballet Manila opens its doors wider in 2026.
Excerpt from Ballet Manila's 'Sleeping Beauty'
Stephanie Mayo
Excerpt from Ballet Manila's 'La Bayadere'
Stephanie Mayo
Lisa Macuja Elizalde says ballet continues to face a stubborn perception problem: that it is only for the elite.
“I just want to erase the stigma of, you know, ballet only being for the elite, ballet only being for, you know, if you’re educated and you’re just rich and all of that. Yeah, we have to erase that stigma,” she said during a press conference for Ballet Manila’s 31st season.
In 2026, Ballet Manila mounts four productions. Three are classical works under the Prima Series. One is a contemporary production, The Dawn of Ballet, under the Ballet & Ballads banner, featuring 1980s rock band The Dawn composed of Jett Pangan, JB Leonor, Francis Reyes, Bim Yance, and Sancho Sanchez.
The project coincides with The Dawn’s 40th year in the music industry. The milestone aligns with Macuja Elizalde’s 1986 return to the Philippines after performing with the Kirov Ballet in Moscow, now known as the Mariinsky Ballet.
“With The Dawn of Ballet, I would like to have people that have never been inside a theater to watch ballet come and watch ballet,” she said.
The Dawn of Ballet is set to run on 20 and 21 February at 7:30 p.m. at Aliw Theater. Admission is free. Ballet Manila has previously staged works set to music by OPM artists including Basil Valdez, Christian Bautista, Jaya, Lani Misalucha, Nonoy Zuniga, and Side A.
Macuja Elizalde said expanding the audience does not mean lowering standards. Ballet Manila, she stressed, will not compromise its standing as the country’s premier classical ballet company. Even contemporary works, she said, require strict technique and solid classical training.
“For the Prima Series, I want to highlight the fact that classical ballet is still the best foundation for a dancer,” she said. “And dancing classical ballet, it’s still the most difficult form of dance. It is the strictest form of dance and it’s the most transparent. Wala kang matatago (You can’t hide anything).”
“You cannot disguise a mistake in anything that’s classical,” she added. “In contemporary, it’s a little bit easier to get away with some inaccuracies. But in classical ballet, you just have to be very precise and strong.”
“Another take is I just want the audiences to realize that you can appreciate both genres, classical and contemporary,” Macuja Elizalde said. “It’s dancing, it’s a universal language, it’s movement to music.”
“As Maestro said, you are moved by the music and the movement,” she continued. “You don’t have to, it could be in English or Tagalog or Filipino. It’s basically a universal form of language that I hope audiences will continue to enjoy.”
The 2026 season opens with Sleeping Beauty from 13 to 15 March, performed with the Manila Symphony Orchestra as it celebrates its 100th year, under the baton of Maestro Alexander Vikulov.
This is followed by Paquita from 19 to 21 June, marking the first full-length staging of the ballet in the Philippines.
The season concludes with La Bayadère from 14 to 16 August, featuring the return of guest artists Renata Shakirova and Kimin Kim of the Mariinsky Ballet, who previously performed together in Ballet Manila’s 2025 production of Don Quixote.
For Macuja Elizalde, the goal is simple.
“As I tell my dancers backstage, all the time during the rehearsal, dance so that the people watching will come again,” she said. “And that’s how we build our audience.”
The message is clear: ballet stays rigorous. The doors, however, are open.
