Ballet is a sport and ballet dancers are athletes too, avers National Artist Alice Reyes and Ballet Philippines' guest artist for Romeo and Juliet, Joseph Gatti
The guest artist of Ballet Philippine’s Romeo and Juliet flew in to the Philippines with heavy equipment in his luggage. This was what it sounded like when Joseph Gatti, principal dancer of Cincinnati Ballet and Corella Ballet and dancing Romeo for BP’s first show of the year, revealed what he brought to Manila for the rest of the company. “I have all sorts of machines to massage sore muscles, even Black+Decker machines that I had retooled for specific purposes,” he explained over a hearty buffet at the Conrad Hotel. “You can just imagine how the airport sensors went crazy when my luggage went through them!”
Gatti just flew in a few hours ago, haven’t had any rest but will go straight to rehearsals. And he will not have it otherwise. “The best way to fight jetlag is not to sleep!” he said, meaning, of course not to sleep until it is bedtime. Born in Warwick, New York and raised in Orlando Florida, Gatti has been to the Philippines once before now. He was the guest artist of BP’s Don Quixote presented in February 2018. In that first visit, BP artistic director and National Artist for Dance Alice Reyes said Gatti saw nothing beyond the walls of the theatre and his hotel. “He simply did not have a chance to see the city, much more the country!” Reyes, who choreographed this version of Romeo and Juliet, said.
There will be more time, a little bit more than the first, for some sight-seeing because BP has asked Gatti to conduct a few workshops for the dancers. Which the multi-awarded dancer enjoys doing. “We will do workshops on how to take care of our bodies, how we should exercise. We will talk mainly about the cycle of company life, coping with the workload and with the pressures,” Gatti, who conducts similar workshops in Orlando, said.
