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World-renowned principal dancer Renata Shakirova and soloist Aleksei Timofeyev of the famous Mariinsky Ballet Russia, have been invited to Manila to dance 'Giselle' for Ballet Manila.

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  Ballet Manila 08302024

Leah C. Salterio

<div style="margin:0cm"><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:950px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1724989527642Ballet-Manila-08302024.jpg" style="width:950px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="Ballet Manila&#x27;s artistic director Lisa Macuja (middle) welcomes Russian dancers Alexsei Timofeyev and Renata Shakirova to Manila"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left"><span id="isPasted" style="color:rgb(65, 65, 65);letter-spacing:normal;orphans:2;text-align:left;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;white-space:normal;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;display:inline !important;float:none">Ballet Manila&#x27;s artistic director Lisa Macuja (middle) welcomes Russian dancers Alexsei Timofeyev and Renata Shakirova to Manila</span> </span></span></span></div><div style="margin:0cm"><span> </span><br/><span>MANILA -- </span><span>Four years of studying in Russia – when she entered the Vaganova Choreographic Institute, now known as the Academy of Russian Ballet at St. Petersburg – have made prima ballerina Lisa Macuja fluent in conversing in Russian.</span></div><div style="margin:0cm"><br/></div><div style="margin:0cm"><span>So when Ballet Manila planned to stage “Giselle,” one of the most cherished works in classical ballet, Macuja, the company&#x27;s artistic director, did not think twice about importing principal dancers from Russia and bringing them to Manila.</span></div><div style="margin:0cm"><br/></div><div style="margin:0cm"><span>Hence, world-renowned principal dancer Renata Shakirova and soloist Aleksei Timofeyev of the famous Mariinsky Ballet Russia, have been invited to Manila to dance “Giselle” for Ballet Manila. </span></div><div style="margin:0cm"><span> </span><span></span></div><div style="margin:0cm"><span>&quot;As you know, ‘Giselle’ is a tragedy,” said Macuja. “It’s sad, but it’s beautiful, but one of the most romantic ballets of all time. It’s a two-act ballet.</span></div><div style="margin:0cm"><br/></div><div style="margin:0cm"><span>“It’s always a beautiful learning experience for a company to welcome these artists and experience a ballet with guest artists who are new, special and will give a different dynamic to the performance.</span><span></span></div><div style="margin:0cm"><br/></div><div style="margin:0cm"><span>“As artistic director of Ballet Manila, I feel that my company needs to be able to also experience this kind of performance with really special guest artists all the way from Russia. </span></div><div style="margin:0cm"><span>&#x27;</span></div><div style="margin:0cm"><span>“I feel like a big sister to Renata. I considered [Kirov ballerina] Tatiana Udalenkova even a second mother. I graduated in 1984 and she [Renata] graduated in 2015.”</span></div><div style="margin:0cm"><br/></div><div style="margin:0cm"><span>The Russian dancers met Macuja online in March this year. “I wrote an e-mail to Renata’s Instagram account,” Macuja said. “I knew of Renata from my teacher, Tatiana, but we never met before. I introduced myself online and invited her to dance ‘Giselle’ with us.”</span></div><div style="margin:0cm"><br/></div><div style="margin:0cm"><span>First thing that Renata did was to look at their performance calendar because they are very busy and see if they are free to come to the Philippines.</span></div><div style="margin:0cm"><br/></div><div style="margin:0cm"><span>“Thank God, they are free to do ‘Giselle’,” Macuja said. </span></div><div style="margin:0cm"><br/></div><div style="margin:0cm"><span>“As dancers, we are very excited to be able to dance this ballet together,” Shakirova said. “Personally, it’s a very interesting part of our history together as dancers.”</span></div><div style="margin:0cm"><br/></div><div style="margin:0cm"><span>Convincing the couple to come to the Philippines for the first time and perform onstage together, was not a tall order.</span></div><div style="margin:0cm"><br/></div><div style="margin:0cm"><span>“We heard so many beautiful things about the Philippines,” Timofeyev said. “When the possibility came for us and we learned we were free to come, that was fate.”</span></div><div style="margin:0cm"><br/></div><div style="margin:0cm"><span>“It was very hard to say no to Lisa,” Shakirova added. “She was full of energy and loving life, so it was very hard to say no to her. We treasure the fact that we’re working with Lisa and Ballet Manila.</span></div><div style="margin:0cm"><br/></div><div style="margin:0cm"><span>“To be able to experience your culture, traditions, your kindness, this a country that’s very far from Russia. Philippines is very exotic. For us to experience the Philippines, we had to say yes.”</span></div><div style="margin:0cm"><br/></div><div style="margin:0cm"><span>For the male lead of Albrecht in “Giselle,” Timofeyev admitted it is one of the hardest roles for a male dancer to perform.</span></div><div style="margin:0cm"><br/></div><div style="margin:0cm"><span>“I’ll be dancing the role of Albrecht with my wife for the first time,” he said. “So it will be true love. Act II will be difficult, but I definitely will not die.”</span></div><div style="margin:0cm"><br/></div><div style="margin:0cm"><span>The standard of any classical ballet, you don’t look at the principal dancers or the soloists, but the corps de ballet. “Giselle” is hanging on its corps de ballet who all have to dance in one style.</span></div><div style="margin:0cm"><br/></div><div style="margin:0cm"><span>For Macuja’s Ballet Manila, that is more challenging. This pandemic, she lost a lot of dancers who transferred to other groups and even went abroad. </span></div><div style="margin:0cm"><br/></div><div style="margin:0cm"><span>“Dancing as a group, it becomes better the more you dance as a cohesive unit. It is really difficult to be able to create this illusion of 18 girls dancing with all the same style, with all the same line of deck in their Arabesque, with all the same line of arm.</span></div><div style="margin:0cm"><br/></div><div style="margin:0cm"><span>“That needs a lot of rehearsals, a lot of work and especially challenging because we kind of had to stretch these two levels. We meet in the middle and they become one unit when they perform.”</span></div><div style="margin:0cm"><br/></div><div style="margin:0cm"><span>Audiences will be enthralled by the visiting ballet superstars and incredible talent. “It’s the first time they will be dancing ‘Giselle’ as husband and wife,” Macuja said. “They are usually paired with other dancers, so it’s not the first time they are dancing ‘Giselle’.”</span></div><div style="margin:0cm"><br/></div><div style="margin:0cm"><span>Ballet Manila presents “Giselle” on August 31 at 8 p.m. and a Sunday matinee (September 1) at 5 p.m. Ballet Manila dancer Abigail Oliveiro will also stage a special performance on at 1 p.m. on August 31.</span></div><div><br/></div>

<p>World-renowned principal dancer Renata Shakirova and soloist Aleksei Timofeyev of the famous Mariinsky Ballet Russia, have been invited to Manila to dance 'Giselle' for Ballet Manila.</p>

Ballet Manila brings in dancers from Russia for 'Giselle'

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Ballet Manila brings in dancers from Russia for 'Giselle'

Leah C. Salterio

Published Aug 30, 2024 11:48 AM PHT

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Lisa Macuja

Giselle

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