Last night, my mom, sister and I trooped to the Aliw Theater to catch the beginning of Lisa Macuja's Swan Song Series. A "swan song series" is a ballet dancer's last performances of his/her signature ballets. Lisa, one of the Philippines' prima ballerina, is set to ease into retirement within the period of three years, with swan performances of Swan Lake, Romeo and Juliet, Don Quixote and Giselle. You can read more about it here.
Few people know that I was once a budding ballet dancer myself. I studied ballet from age five to 12, and with all modesty aside (which I have so little of), I was one of the top students of my class. I was just about to transition to point shoes when my teacher in JASMS left and I was forced to enroll in another ballet school where, I guess in hindsight, I was not able to adjust very well. It was also about this time that my interest and talent in playing volleyball blossomed and so I let go of dancing ballet. Although I don't regret any of this, I find myself smiling when I imagine what my life would have been if I continued on my ballet journey. We'll never know, I guess.
So, it goes without saying that, my interest in the art of ballet is deeply rooted in my heart. My mom also took us to see Maniya Barredo's (Philippine's first prima ballerina) final performance of Giselle. I also had the privilege of meeting Lisa Macuja when I was 10 or 11 after her performance of Darna at the CCP. So, when I heard about Lisa's swan song series, I vowed to catch every performance.
I'm not really in the mood nor do I have the ability to give a full review. But let me say this: Lisa Macuja is divine in her performance of the twin roles of White and Black Swan. She deserved every second the overly-extended curtain call at the end of the performance. If there was anything to start her swan song series with, she did it right by starting with Swan Lake.
Her next performance is on October 21 and 22 for Romeo and Juliet.
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Here is Lisa Macuja's own account of her Swan Lake experience throughout her career.
Very interesting read!
Very interesting read!
Goodbye, Swan Lake... Hello, Swan Song Series
Most young ballerinas dream that someday, they would delineate the highly coveted and extremely challenging twin roles of Odette and Odile in the immortal “Swan Lake”, which has long been considered as the epitome of classical ballet.
However, the White Swan/ Black Swan character was never a favourite ballerina role of mine.
Moreover, I only got to dance my first full-length “Swan Lake” by accident – quite literally. Not an accident that happened to me, but an injury incurred by a Brazilian ballerina who was supposed to dance with Argentinian etoile Maximilliano Guerra in “Swan Lake” at the Teatro Nacionale during the 10th International Ballet Festival in Havana, Cuba in November 1990. As a result, Guerra decided not to come for the performance. As fate would have it, I happened to be there dancing several classical and neo-classical pas de deux with my partner, Osias Barroso, on the personal invitation of Laura Alonso, daughter of Cuba’s ballet legend Alicia Alonso.
I was asked by the festival director, on behalf of Alicia Alonso herself, to fill in for the injured “swan”. Of course it was flattering but here’s the catch: I had four days to learn and perform “Swan Lake” with the Ballet Nacional de Cuba, partnered by soloist Ernesto Quenedit who was also dancing it for the first time! The prospect got me thrilled and terrified at the same time. On the one hand, it was a huge risk to learn a full-length ballet from scratch and perform it in less than 96 hours… but then again, I really do love a challenge!
Looking back, it certainly wasn’t the best of my “swans”. In fact, it was the worst “Swan Lake” I had ever performed in my life! But what happened to me in those four days in Cuba was that I had conquered my fears and doubts about ever becoming a Swan Queen. On the last day of the festival, a complete stranger came up to me and asked if he could kiss my hand. Startled, I asked him why. He said, “I saw your ‘Swan Lake’ and I think you will become a great ballerina!” At that time, I was still recovering from the awful performance I had done three nights before. That kind and gallant stranger made me feel better. And yes, I let him kiss my hand.
Fast forward a couple of decades into my dancing career and I find myself planning my “Swan Song Series”. What classical ballet should be the first to go? Without a doubt, “Swan Lake”.
Twenty-one years since my “Swan Lake” debut and I still dread dancing Odette/Odile. Even if it was tiny Japanese prima ballerina Yoko Morishita’s performance in this White/Black Swan role that moved me so much at the age of 14 to commit myself to a life of dance, it’s still not a role which I could persuade myself to truly believe I can deliver convincingly.
Why the unabashed insecurities? Let me count the ways. First and foremost, I’m not tall enough. I don’t have the lines. I don’t have the traditional “look” of a Swan Queen, so how can I dance her? What exactly would make me stand out in a flock of tall, long-limbed, gorgeous ballerinas that would make Prince Seigfried choose me, instead of the tall, long-limbed, gorgeous ballerinas fluttering around me?
That being said, dance the physically and psychologically demanding role of the Swan Queen I have… And on my father’s faithful accounting of all my ballet appearances, I have clocked a total of 20 full-length performances where I tackled both Odette and Odile, nine of which were were danced overseas.
All in all, if we are to include the excerpts, I’ve completed 122 performances of the White Swan, 72 of her Black doppelganger. However, it’s a bit distressing to note that if I needed to, I would not be able to name all the Prince Seigfrieds I have danced with in chronological order. But I am certain the list would include distinguished danseurs Ernesto Quenedit, Nonoy Froilan, Osias Barroso, Vasily Polushin, Charles Askegard, Oleg Shukaryov, Brando Miranda, Maxim Chashchegorov and Paul De Masson, as well as Ballet Manila’s very own Jonathan Janolo, Nazer Salgado and Rudy De Dios. The latest addition would be David Makhateli, principal dancer of the Royal Ballet, with whom I shall be dancing the last of my twin Swan roles this weekend.
I think what makes “Swan Lake” so challenging is that it is really a ballet meant to be danced by two different ballerinas — one possessing the lyrical temperament and sincere vulnerability for Odette, and the other needing the sultry cunning and seductive allure for Odile. Both roles call for spot-on technique, a steely left supporting leg, elevation, flexibility, and most importantly strength. Tchaikovsky’s score calls for impeccable musicality — the ability to sustain balances and peg those pirouettes. One has to have complete control over one’s body.
May I be completely honest? There is always a point when, while doing a quick change from my black tutu back to the white tutu, that I feel complete relief and — for the first time in the course of the entire ballet — singular pleasure at the prospect of performing with wild abandon in the arms of my prince. Every step before this point is, well, sheer terror.
Once more, fate threw me off-kilter again with this final full-length performance. If I only had four days to learn and rehearse my first “Swan Lake” in 1990, I only had a little under eight weeks to gain back the strength needed to perform tonight. My left foot’s plantar fascia ruptured while in London for a concert tour last June and since then, I had been dancing in pain for the following two months. Finally, I decided to have the surgery done in August so that I could be onstage for you tonight as we celebrate a memorable send-off for Odette and Odile.
I was asked by the festival director, on behalf of Alicia Alonso herself, to fill in for the injured “swan”. Of course it was flattering but here’s the catch: I had four days to learn and perform “Swan Lake” with the Ballet Nacional de Cuba, partnered by soloist Ernesto Quenedit who was also dancing it for the first time! The prospect got me thrilled and terrified at the same time. On the one hand, it was a huge risk to learn a full-length ballet from scratch and perform it in less than 96 hours… but then again, I really do love a challenge!
Looking back, it certainly wasn’t the best of my “swans”. In fact, it was the worst “Swan Lake” I had ever performed in my life! But what happened to me in those four days in Cuba was that I had conquered my fears and doubts about ever becoming a Swan Queen. On the last day of the festival, a complete stranger came up to me and asked if he could kiss my hand. Startled, I asked him why. He said, “I saw your ‘Swan Lake’ and I think you will become a great ballerina!” At that time, I was still recovering from the awful performance I had done three nights before. That kind and gallant stranger made me feel better. And yes, I let him kiss my hand.
Fast forward a couple of decades into my dancing career and I find myself planning my “Swan Song Series”. What classical ballet should be the first to go? Without a doubt, “Swan Lake”.
Twenty-one years since my “Swan Lake” debut and I still dread dancing Odette/Odile. Even if it was tiny Japanese prima ballerina Yoko Morishita’s performance in this White/Black Swan role that moved me so much at the age of 14 to commit myself to a life of dance, it’s still not a role which I could persuade myself to truly believe I can deliver convincingly.
Why the unabashed insecurities? Let me count the ways. First and foremost, I’m not tall enough. I don’t have the lines. I don’t have the traditional “look” of a Swan Queen, so how can I dance her? What exactly would make me stand out in a flock of tall, long-limbed, gorgeous ballerinas that would make Prince Seigfried choose me, instead of the tall, long-limbed, gorgeous ballerinas fluttering around me?
That being said, dance the physically and psychologically demanding role of the Swan Queen I have… And on my father’s faithful accounting of all my ballet appearances, I have clocked a total of 20 full-length performances where I tackled both Odette and Odile, nine of which were were danced overseas.
All in all, if we are to include the excerpts, I’ve completed 122 performances of the White Swan, 72 of her Black doppelganger. However, it’s a bit distressing to note that if I needed to, I would not be able to name all the Prince Seigfrieds I have danced with in chronological order. But I am certain the list would include distinguished danseurs Ernesto Quenedit, Nonoy Froilan, Osias Barroso, Vasily Polushin, Charles Askegard, Oleg Shukaryov, Brando Miranda, Maxim Chashchegorov and Paul De Masson, as well as Ballet Manila’s very own Jonathan Janolo, Nazer Salgado and Rudy De Dios. The latest addition would be David Makhateli, principal dancer of the Royal Ballet, with whom I shall be dancing the last of my twin Swan roles this weekend.I think what makes “Swan Lake” so challenging is that it is really a ballet meant to be danced by two different ballerinas — one possessing the lyrical temperament and sincere vulnerability for Odette, and the other needing the sultry cunning and seductive allure for Odile. Both roles call for spot-on technique, a steely left supporting leg, elevation, flexibility, and most importantly strength. Tchaikovsky’s score calls for impeccable musicality — the ability to sustain balances and peg those pirouettes. One has to have complete control over one’s body.
May I be completely honest? There is always a point when, while doing a quick change from my black tutu back to the white tutu, that I feel complete relief and — for the first time in the course of the entire ballet — singular pleasure at the prospect of performing with wild abandon in the arms of my prince. Every step before this point is, well, sheer terror.
Once more, fate threw me off-kilter again with this final full-length performance. If I only had four days to learn and rehearse my first “Swan Lake” in 1990, I only had a little under eight weeks to gain back the strength needed to perform tonight. My left foot’s plantar fascia ruptured while in London for a concert tour last June and since then, I had been dancing in pain for the following two months. Finally, I decided to have the surgery done in August so that I could be onstage for you tonight as we celebrate a memorable send-off for Odette and Odile.
Dancing the twin Swans may never have been my personal favorite, but the fact that thousands of people all over the world have come to watch me perform these roles over the last two decades only goes to show that perhaps I was not entirely correct about “not looking right” for the part. That maybe, just maybe, the spontaneous applause and standing ovations that echoed through the halls after every performance have woven a magic spell on this tiny ballerina, inspiring her to work even harder and dance her heart out with every show, if only so she could rise from the bevy of tall, long-limbed, gorgeous swans.
And that after all has been said and done, she knows deep inside that Odette and Odile shall be lovingly missed after this last flight.
Few people realize that there are two versions of “Swan Lake”: one which ends with the tragic suicide of the lovelorn couple hoping to find redemption in the afterlife, and another where true love finds the Swan Queen transformed into a real princess and they live happily ever after. I have performed both versions, but personally, I always prefer a happy ending.
Farewell, “Swan Lake”. From hereon, it shall always be a much-cherished “ever after”.
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