Ballet Philippines (BP) closes its 54th season with an original full length ballet entitled, "Limang Daan" from March 8 to 10 at the Theater at Solaire.
Limang Daan is directed by BP artistic director Mikhail "Misha" Martynyuk; libretto is by Moira Lang;music is by Erwin Romulo and traditional Philippine garments designed by JC Buendia.
We interviewed key people behind Limang Daan, beginning with BP president Kathleen Liechtenstein.
Why did you decide to end the season with Limang Daan?
Kathleen: Ballet Philippines aims to educate, inspire and entertain the audience. Limang Daan is a full-length original ballet in the 500-year narrative of the Philippine heritage from a feminist lens. The struggles, challenges and troubles of the past mingled with the triumphs, celebrations and victories of Filipinas of what we are today is a stunning story to inspire everyone.
What do you hope the audience will take away from this production?
As we celebrate Women's Month, we also celebrate the fact that the Philippines continues to lead as the most gender-equal country in Asia with a 79.1 percent gender parity based on the 2023 Global Gender Gap Index Report by the World Economic Forum, January 18,2024.
The past oppressive and tyrannical colonization has been transcended with continuous wins on women's empowerment and equal rights in the workplace, workforce, and home-front. The audience will witness through dance the transformation of the past 500 years.
***I also asked this question to the other key people in the production.
What will you bring to the table to make the production of BP's Limang Daan unforgettable?
Jemima Reyes (BP principal dancer): I'm dancing Maria Clara's role. For the most part of it, I will be telling her story throughout the production. But more importantly, I will have to define a character that is known to many Filipinos — something I am honestly both fearful and excited about as she is seen as a very relevant image in society since the olden times.
JC Buendia (costume designer): I created costumes that can travel through time, they are neither the past nor present, but in a realm that only ballet can bring to life.
Erwin Romulo (music composer): A sense of humor. All art forms, most especially balet, needs more of that.
Moira Lang (librettist): My experience writing for ballet! I hope that what's usually considered a disadvantage is, in this case, a plus. Just as telling a story mainly through movement and without dialogue or narration to rely on became, eventually, gradually, quite exhilarating instead of constricting. It was certainly a struggle getting there and in my experience, when that happens it usually means it's something worth seeing through to the end.
How will you treat it differently from your past works?
Jemima: Ballet Philippines has presented the character Maria Clara several times in a production. She's always been portrayed as someone shy, timid and little fragile in the movement choices. For this show, she will have more independence from Crisostomo Ibarra as the libretto can be a little bit fictional, making it easier to inject my own understanding of a modern Filipina. The ending? I will leave it to the audience to give them a reason to see how she will be this time.
***For more information on BP 54th presentation Limang Daan, check out www.ballet.ph or call BP 09692828308 or 0906373393.
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