American ballet stars headline Ballet Manila fundraiser

Ballet Manila kicks off its 22^nd season with the brightest and fastest-rising Asian and American dance artists with the American Stars Gala on July 7, 2018, 7:30 PM at the Aliw Theater.

This one night only performance, a fundraiser for Ballet Manila’s Project Ballet Futures scholarship program features Boston Ballet principal dancers Lia Cirio and Junxiong Zhao, with soloist Hannah Bettes; Houston Ballet principal dancers Yuriko Kajiya and Jared Matthews; and Ballet Manila resident guest principal artists Katherine Barkman and Joseph Phillips.

Ballet Manila company artists Nicole Barroso and Joshua Enciso, fresh from participating as the first Filipino contenders in the USA International Ballet Competition’s junior division, will make a special appearance. As of this writing, both Nicole and Katherine (competing in the senior division), have made it to the 3^rd and final round of the competition.

Lia Cirio, who has Filipino roots, will perform with BM soloist Mark Sumaylo and BM corps de ballet Act 2 from Swan Lake. Yuriko Kajima and Jared Matthews will dance the Giselle pas de deux and the Madame Butterfly pas de deux by Stanton Welch. Junxiong Zhao and Hannah Bettes will perform the La Sylphide pas de deux and the Sleeping Beauty wedding pas de deux.

Katherine Barkman and Joseph Phillips will perform the Le Corsaire pas de deux and the contemporary piece KBJP, created for them by choreographer Augustus Damian III. Nicole Barroso and Joshua Enciso pair up for George Birkadze’s tango-inspired Bru and the classic Diane and Acteon.

Speaking of George Birkadze, Ballet Manila will premiere his new work Imperial as well as a restaging of Deconstructing Gershwin, by Hazel Sabas-Gower.

I’ve always considered myself a classical purist when it comes to ballet. But of late, it’s the newer works, especially those set to familiar music that I am more eager to see.

So just a few days after the United States of America celebrate their Independence Day, it’s time to head to the Aliw Theater for the American Stars Gala.