The Swan's last stand

The universe has a way of course-correcting — it is stated in one of the episodes of Lost , which (believe it or not) is one of the favorite TV shows of the ballerina of the people, Lisa Macuja-Elizalde.

“I never thought I could actually dance the Swan Lake,” Lisa reveals.

She runs down the grocery lists of whys. She doesn’t look like the traditional Swan Princess. She’s not tall enough. She doesn’t have willowy legs and long arms that conjure the magic of flight. Other Swan Princesses have that classical beauty and intense fragility (with those “gorgeous, heartbreaking” faces) that make princes notice them and fall desperately in love. Not so with Lisa. She says, “I felt more like an ugly duckling.”

But, yes, the universe had other plans. And it happened in Havana.

She was in Cuba in November 1990 with Osias Barroso as participants in the 12th International Ballet Festival upon the personal invitation of Laura Alonso, the daughter of Cuba’s ballet legend Alicia Alonso. There was an injury incurred by a Brazilian ballerina who was supposed to dance with Argentinean etoile Maximilliano Guerra in Swan Lake at the Teatro Nacionale. They needed a replacement — fast.

Lisa recalls, “I was asked by the festival director, on behalf of Alicia Alonso herself, to fill in for the injured ‘swan.’ Of course it was flattering, but here’s the catch: I had four days to learn and perform Swan Lake with the Ballet Nacional de Cuba, partnered by soloist Ernesto Quenedit who was also dancing it for the first time. My answer was a resounding ‘Si!’”

Looking back, Lisa confesses, it certainly wasn’t the best of her “Swans.” But what happened to her in those four days in Havana was that she had conquered her fears and doubts about ever becoming a Swan Princess. A stranger even approached Lisa a few days later to kiss her hand and foretell she would become a great ballerina someday.

The rest is an unforgettable lake of flights, fancy costumes and Philippine ballet history. Twenty-one years later, the ballerina has logged in a total of 29 full-length Swan Lakes, 122 performances as the White Swan Odette, and 72 as her black doppelganger, Odile. “That’s a lot of Swans (laughs). Maybe I was not entirely correct about not looking right for the part.”   

Lisa with David Makatheli, principal dancer of The Royal Ballet in London. He plays Prince Siegfried on several dates.

Now Lisa’s ready for her so-called swan song as she bids adieu to one (or, more precisely, two) of the most demanding roles as a ballerina. 

She will dance her last full-length Swan Lake in a series of performances with Ballet Manila, which culminates on Oct. 15, Saturday, at 5 p.m. (Deep inside, she muses, those two beautiful swans will be lovingly missed after their last flight.) Concurrently, there will be an exhibition of Ben-Hur Villanueva sculptures inspired by ballet and tribal dance titled “Bridges Across Cultures” on view until Oct. 22 at the Aliw Theater Lounge, CCP Complex, along Roxas Boulevard.

Dancing as Prince Siegfried on several dates is David Makatheli, principal dancer of The Royal Ballet in London, whom Macuja-Elizalde personally invited to be her partner for the production. Via — believe it or not — Facebook.

“David and I met each other in London earlier this year and we had one rehearsal together,” she shares.

Osias Barroso — fondly called “Lisa Macuja’s last surviving dance partner” — recalls that he and Lisa met David in Moscow when he was 11 years old. How time flies, indeed.

This production, by the way, kicks off Lisa’s “Swan Song Series,” her farewell full-length performances of her signature roles, starting with Odette/Odile in Swan Lake, and also including Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, Kitri in Don Quixote and Giselle in the ballet of the same title. The entire series will unfold in the next two to three years.

At the press conference for the “Swan Song Series,” somebody asks Lisa what would happen to Ballet Manila after Lisa’s exeunt as the Swan Princess. Who would play the role?

David interjects, “Natalie Portman!” 

White light, black heat: Lisa Macuja-Elizalde channels the Swan as Odette and Odile in Ballet Manila’s production of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake.

The company is in good hands, Lisa assures after the entire room cracked up with David’s quip. She shares, “Swan Lake is a classical ballet warhorse that (should be) in the repertoire of any good ballet company. As the artistic director of Ballet Manila, I do plan to keep Swan Lake in our active repertoire for many years to come.”

The ballerina makes it clear that she’s not retiring just yet, that she will do so in three years’ time. She’s looking forward to sitting in the audience and watching her company, instead of watching sideways from the ring. She’s looking forward to being more active as a ballet teacher and a coach. And…

“I’m also looking forward to having toenails that are alive (alive), that are nice to look at through open shoes; to waking up in the morning not feeling body aches; to having worry-free vacations — because, if you’re dancer and you’re on vacation, you’re always thinking of how to get back into shape.”

But the 47-year-old ballerina admits it’s still difficult to say goodbye to those beloved roles. But time, as Marcel Proust and Pink Floyd tell all of us, has a way of catching up.

“I have my shares of going to the doctor, taking anti-inflammatory (medicine), being in casts, having to take a week off to heal a strain or a sprain. Leukoplast is my best friend. Underneath those tights all my joints are Leukoplasted (laughs) and I’ve had two surgeries for the past year. The first surgery was for my chronic tendonitis for both of my ankles last September — I’ve recovered from that. And then I ruptured by plantar fascia in London just last June, and I’ve had surgery for that as well.”

But Lisa remains adamant. She alters a Liza Minnelli quote: “As long (as I feel good and) they keep replacing my parts, then I guess I’ll keep dancing (laughs). But there comes a time when you have to take pity on yourself and your audience. When you’re already shortchanging your audience, I think it’s time to go.” 

She has this to say, though: With age comes wisdom and experience.

“I watched a performance of mine (on video) when I was 24 years old when I guested with the Royal New Zealand Ballet — my God! I was like the Energizer Bunny (laughs)!” she says.

You should’ve seen her then: jumping and running all over the place, brimming with fiery ballet energy.

“But there comes a time when you look beyond the technique,” Lisa explains. “When you look beyond actually being able to do, say, a triple or quadruple pirouette. You shy away from the flashy sort of dancing that the young dancers are prone to do because they like to show off. You look forward to a more artistic approach to dancing. It becomes more about the overall performance rather than a show of moves, or how to do the solo variations better. (The focus is now on) the growth of the character from one act to another.”

But if you ask Osias Barroso or David Makatheli or ballerina Mylene Aggabao, each is going to tell you Lisa Macuja-Elizalde is truly, truly far from retiring. Not by a long pirouette.

Let the universe, or something like it, be the ultimate arbiter.

* * *

For inquiries about Lisa Macuja-Elizalde’s “Swan Song Series,” call Ballet Manila at 400-0292 or 525-5967, visit www.balletmanila.com.ph or e-mail info@balletmanila.com.ph. Tickets are also available through Ticketworld at 891-9999 or through SM Tickets at 470-2222.