Ballet Manila (BM) and Academy One will team up to mount the fund-raising dance concert, “Tuloy ang Saya-wan,” on July 21, 3 p.m., at Star Theater, Pasay City.
“Tuloy” aims to raise funds for dance scholars of Ballet Manila’s Project Ballet Futures. Meanwhile Academy One trains select wards from the Tuloy Foundation, a shelter for street children.
“Our common goal is to provide ballet scholarships for street children and marginalized Filipino youth. We believe ballet can help create social change,” said BM artistic director Lisa Macuja-Elizalde.
Previously the two companies raised funds for Raymond Salcedo, a Tuloy-Foundation-scholar-turned-Ballet Manila-company-artist, when he had to undergo an operation for a torn meniscus last year.
“Tuloy ang Saya-wan” will showcase and celebrate the success stories of the two ballet scholarship programs.
Among scholars who will be perfoming are Celine Abrea and Rodney Catubay—former Tuloy Foundation scholars trained by Academy One who are now both dancing with Ballet Manila.
They will perform the Pas D’Esclave pas de deux from “Le Corsaire.”
John Edmar Sumera and Benedict Sabularse—two ballet scholars from Tuloy Foundation who competed in the Prix de Lausanne and received scholarships in Europe – will be coming home to perform in the show.
After the concert, they will be going back to Europe. Sumera, 19, will be dancing with Leipzig Opera Ballet in Germany, and Sabularse, also 19, with Ballet Preljocaj of Aix-en-Provence, France.
Ballet Manila soloist Rissa May Camaclang and company artists Jessa Balote and Jamil Montibon—all Project Ballet Futures alumni—will also have featured numbers, as will current PBF scholars and BM finalists competing in the Asian Grand Prix in Hong Kong.
Katherine Barkman, former BM principal dancer now with the Washington Ballet, will perform “Grand Pas Classique” with BM principal dancer Elpidio Magat. Grand Pas Classique is the pas de deux that clinched for Barkman her silver medals in the USA International Ballet Competition and the Varna International Ballet Competition last year.
Meanwhile Marcelino Libao of Hamburg Ballet will premiere in the Philippines as a choreographer. “Paloma Muerta,” a piece that he created in 2017 for Hamburg Ballet, will be performed by BM principal dancers Joan Emery Sia and Mark Sumaylo, soloist Nicole Barroso, and company artists Brian Sevilla and Rafael Perez.
Libao will also perform a contemporary dance solo.
“Tuloy ang Saya-wan” will also showcase the world premiere of British choreographer Martin Lawrance’s “Sketches from Romeo and Juliet.” It will also mount “Dancing to Verdi” by Tony Fabella and “Blind Love” by PJ Rebudilla. —CONTRIBUTED
Tickets to “Tuloy ang Saya-wan” are available via TicketWorld, tel. 8919999 or visit www.ticketworld.com.ph; or through Sylvia Lichauco de Leon, 0917 855-5652. Tickets can also be purchased through Rose or Sheila of Academy One, tel. 8265182, 8206622 or 0917-8323355.