Cover The ‘Kingdom of the Shades’ dance sequence from Ballet Manila’s production of ‘La Bayadère’ (Photo: Instagram / @balletphotographymanila)
The ‘Kingdom of the Shades’ dance sequence from Ballet Manila’s production of ‘La Bayadère’ (Photo: Instagram / @balletphotographymanila)
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Contemporary and classical dance productions—from Wifi Body to Ea Torrado’s ‘Brown Madonna’ and grand ballets from ‘La Bayadère’ to the upcoming ‘Andres KKK’—are transforming the local stage
With Alice Reyes Dance Philippines performing Rama, Hari at the Best of ASEAN Performing Arts held at the historic Metropolitan Theater, August opened not merely as a series of disparate spectacles, but as a dense, overlapping grid of kinetic arguments. Across Metro Manila, bodies are presently in transit—not merely performing technical sequences, but actively contesting what it means to remember, to belong and to belong to a place. From the raw, unmonitored laboratory of the independent contemporary scene to the grand, institutional architectures of dramatic classical ballet, this season is a profound lesson in wayfaring through the complexities of our cultural landscape.
Here, Tatler traces the essential coordinates of a dance season that demands to be felt and understood in real-time.
Read more: Navigating Cultural Currents: the Philippines welcomes the Best of ASEAN Performing Arts (BOAPA)
Above EA Torrado’s ‘Brown Madonna’ performance in Frankfurt, Germany (Photo: Noi Crew)
EA Torrado’s ‘Brown Madonna’ performance in Frankfurt, Germany (Photo: Noi Crew)
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For its highly anticipated Philippine premiere at the intimate Myra Beltran Dance Forum Studio last August 15 to 16, Ea Torrado’s Brown Madonna offered a visceral, durational ritual of self-excavation. A full-length dance theatre work developed over a seven-year period of research and performance, the piece was a defiant refusal of singular, sanitised notions of femininity and holiness.
By queering and Filipinising two monumental colonial exports—the Virgin Mary and the global pop icon Madonna—Torrado placed the brown, excessive and grieving body at the centre of the sacred. Backed by Leeroy New’s striking costume architecture and Eisa Jocson’s razor-sharp dramaturgy, Brown Madonna translated domestic devotion into a sociopolitical imperative. Torrado drew from her own personal archives—specifically the hardworking, Marian devotion of her mother and grandmother—to pay homage to the unglamorous, generational labour of Filipina women. It was a work that operated as an embodied archive, demonstrating that what is most personal is always, inevitably, deeply political.
Above Renata Shakirova portrays Nikiya in this momentous restaging of Marius Petipa’s ‘La Bayadère’ by Ballet Manila (Photo: courtesy of Fuentes Manila)
Renata Shakirova portrays Nikiya in this momentous restaging of Marius Petipa’s ‘La Bayadère’ by Ballet Manila (Photo: courtesy of Fuentes Manila)
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Under the artistic direction of Lisa Macuja-Elizalde, Ballet Manila brought Marius Petipa’s grand 19th-century classical spectacle La Bayadère back to Aliw Theater from August 14 to 16. Known for the formidable classical rigour of the Kingdom of the Shades sequence, the restaging was a dazzling masterclass in athletic virtuosity and narrative drama. Headlining the production were visiting principal dancers from the Mariinsky Ballet, Kimin Kim as Solor and Renata Shakirova as Nikiya.
La Bayadère, which follows the libretto penned by Petipa and Sergei Khudekov and music composed by Ludwig Minkus, invites one to see a fascinating tension between the pristine, imported geometries of a European classical lexicon and the singular, dramatic warmth of the Filipino dancers who master and reinterpret it. In Ballet Manila’s hands, the classical canon was not treated as a static, sacralised relic, but as a living, breathing form that was constantly translated and handed down to generations of ballet masters. Our very own Abigail Oliveiro, who portrayed Gamzatti, rendered the character with such grace and elegance until she unleashed the Rajah’s daughter’s rage and jealousy.
Read more: Meet Lisa Macuja-Elizalde, the ballerina who brought ballet to the people
(Photo: courtesy of Wifi Body PH / Contemporary Dance Network Manila)
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The return of WiFi Body PH for its 12th edition—themed States of Connection—marks a monumental moment of self-determination. Now operating at the Ignacio B Gimenez (IBG-KAL) Theater at the University of the Philippines Diliman, the platform has made a historic return to independent production under the Contemporary Dance Network Manila (CDNM), after six years managed by the Cultural Center of the Philippines. Led by curator Nicole Primero and co-director Al Garcia—both alumni who emerged from the platform’s early editions—WiFi Body has returned to the hands of the artists who went through its very fires.
This shift is more than administrative housekeeping; it is an act of making paths through active, felt engagement with the environment rather than submitting to pre-determined, institutional channels. The choreographies of the twelve finalists, split across Set A and Set B, directly address ties formed out of necessity rather than choice—ties bound by labour, distance and the relentless demand of digital presence. Whether in the Bisayan playfulness of KJ Canata’s Pyat Syete, the calculated geometry of Nikki Gorre’s Unraveled or Ibarra Toledo’s endurance study Labors of Love, movement becomes a way to negotiate and mend the fragile, fractured relations of our present.
The Philippine Ballet Theatre is gearing up to mount Gener Caringal’s Andres KKK, a nationalistic ballet that translates the revolutionary fire of the Katipunan into rigorous classical poetry, from August 22 to 23 at the Proscenium Theater in Rockwell Center, Makati. Bypassing the dry, sanitised narratives of traditional textbooks, the ballet focuses on the raw, psychological humanity of Andres Bonifacio and the men and women of the revolution. Andres KKK follows the libretto penned by Lilia Quindoza Santiago and uses an original score by Jesse Lucas.
By blending the sharp, vertical lines of classical ballet with the earthy, grounded rhythms of indigenous movement, Andres KKK addresses the perennial struggle for self-determination. The dancers’ bodies become kinesthetic monuments, proving that the archives of our national revolution are not frozen historical documents but active, vibrating currents that continue to press upon our contemporary consciousness.
No exploration of Philippine movement is complete without honouring the historic footprint of Bayanihan, the National Folk Dance Company of the Philippines. With Taginting: 70 Years of Bayanihan Legacy, the company celebrates seven decades of preserving, spectacularising and globalising the country’s rich tapestry of indigenous and vernacular dances from August 28 to 29 at the Metropolitan Theater, Manila.
Historically anchored in what cultural critics describe as the “autochthonous” tradition—capturing the rhythms of the everyday and the sacred rituals of the regions—Bayanihan has been instrumental in shaping our collective national imaginary. Taginting serves as both a dazzling retrospective of their international triumphs and an active forward-looking manifesto, proving that folk dance is not a fossilised museum artefact to be kept in glass cases, but a dynamic, regenerative force that continues to teach us how to walk—and dance—in the right direction.
In a lavish display of narrative theatricality, Ballet Philippines takes to the stage 1001 Nights, a grand-scale full-length ballet production inspired by the legendary Arabian folktales of Scheherazade. The company is transforming the Theatre at Solaire stage from September 11 to 13 into a multi-sensory panorama of movement and colour, tracing the winding, nested narratives of betrayal, resilience and redemption.
The company’s artistic director, Mikhail Martynyuk, developed new choreographies for this ballet through his arrangement of the music mainly composed by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, for the ballet Scheherazade. Martynyuk is also using the music of one of Rimsky-Korsakov’s peers, Modest Mussorgsky, that richly translates Russian folklore; as well as Danish composer Carl Nielsen, who was known for his Aladdin Suite, and Aram Khachaturian, who was known for his vibrant, folk-inspired ballet scores like Gayane and Spartacus, which brilliantly infused grand symphonic orchestration with the rich cultural traditions of his Armenian heritage.
Beyond the opulent, glittering textures of its Orientalist themes, the production quietly centres on the act of storytelling as a primary tool for survival. By translating these ancient, labyrinthine tales into a fluid contemporary-classical format, the company showcases dance’s unique capability to construct and bridge disparate worldviews, proving that the stage remains an active site for world-making and poetic liberation.
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About
Before assuming the Art and Culture Editor position, Franz has always had a penchant for visual and performing arts. He is passionate about exploring and writing about the local cultural scene and rediscovering the country’s storied past and rich heritage. Besides working on this luxury lifestyle magazine, Franz is an avid book reader, local traveller, museum-goer, chorister, and community theatre playwright.
Work
Franz earned a degree in Journalism from the University of Santo Tomas. He writes about local visual and performing artists and their craft; drinks wines, liquors, and spirits and talks about the creativity of their respective winemakers and master blenders; tries to learn more about business and investments; respects the tradition and artistry that go behind the making of watches and jewellery; and appreciates the genius of architecture and creative design.
As head of Tatler Philippines’ pool of writers, he helps them bring impactful and socially relevant stories to light.
For any leads, you may reach him through @franzsorillaiv on Instagram or franz@tatlerphilippines.com via email.
