Ballet Manila kicks off its 22nd 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 3rd 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.
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