Philippine Ballet Theatre restages ‘Le Corsaire’ with Jared Tan

MANILA, Philippines - Philippine Ballet Theatre stages a repeat of its highly-successful Le Corsaire on Aug. 28 and 29 at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo. So impressed were audiences of the adventure-filled ballet of pirates, slave traders and staggeringly beautiful women.

Based on a version by Francois LeComb set to Adolph Adam’s beautifully lush music, Le Corsaire is restaged by PBT artistic director Ronilo Jaynario. The stage is beautifully designed by Miguel Faustmann and lit by Marcial Borromeo. Faustmann also portrayed the Pasha who “purchases” Medora in the first run of Le Corsaire; his alternate Joel Matias will take on the role full time for this August run.

A special addition to this new staging is Jared Tan, who graces this production as Ali, the famed slave popularized worldwide by premier danseur Rudolf Nureyev. A former PBT soloist, Jared has been dancing with the Atlanta Ballet for three seasons, along with his sister Faye Abigail. Aside from classical solos such as the Bluebird pas de deux and various sweets from The Nutcracker, Jared has made marks in Christopher Hampson’s Rite of Spring, Jorma Ello’s First Flash and Helen Pickett’s Prayer of Touch. He has also performed in Atlanta Ballet’s Romeo and Juliet, in the company’s tour of China. In June, he was featured as one of the Stars of Philippine Ballet, hosted by Lisa Macuja-Elizalde and Ballet Manila at the Aliw Theater, which Jared felt was successful in that he didn’t feel any competition from the other dancers, the other “stars,” only how happy they were dancing together.

In the recent performance of Le Corsaire at the University of the East, Jared gamely joined in as one of Pasha’s guards. Before he flies back to Atlanta at the end of the month, Jared tackles the meatier role of Ali, partnering with Ma. Regina Magbitang as Medora and Lemuel Capa and Nordic Caraig as Conrad. 

Also in the cast are Lobreza Pimentel and Joni Galeste as Medora’s friend, Gulnare; Joshua Mendoza and Rolby Lacaba as the slave trader Lanquemdem; and Mark Joseph Pineda as the villainous pirate, Birbanto.  Matthew Davo alternates with Jared as the slave Ali.

Philippine Ballet Theatre’s Le Corsaire makes a stand against modern-day slave trading and human trafficking, in cooperation with the Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) and the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking-Advocacy and Communications Committee. For tickets and information, call PBT at 632-8848, 893-1369, 0929-2482554, or 0917-9221515, the CCP at 834-3704, or TicketWorld at 891-9999. Senior citizen, student and group discounts are available.