#TheaterPH - A Ballet Icon Comes Home: How Lisa Macuja Elizalde Is Turning a Milestone Into a Movement
Some anniversaries feel more like a warm hug from the universe—those rare moments when you look back, smile, and think, Yep, that was exactly the right choice. That’s the vibe surrounding Lisa Macuja Elizalde’s 40th homecoming anniversary, a milestone that feels less like a professional checkpoint and more like a celebration of everything she’s poured into Filipino culture.
Four decades ago, Lisa walked away from a rising career in Moscow’s prestigious Kirov Ballet. Imagine being at the heart of classical ballet’s world stage and still choosing to come home because your heart tells you your purpose is somewhere else. That decision shaped the artistic landscape of an entire country.
This year, she’s marking that homecoming with Ballet Manila’s PRIMA Performance Season—a lovingly curated lineup that serves as both a love letter to her roots and a promise to the next generation. It’s classical, it’s nostalgic, but it’s also refreshingly accessible, which has always been Lisa’s thing: ballet that doesn’t feel intimidating, ballet that welcomes you in.
One of the most surprising and delightful highlights? A stage collaboration with The Dawn. Yes, that The Dawn—the rock icons whose anthems practically live in every Filipino’s cultural DNA. Picture it: ballet and rock sharing one stage at the Aliw Theater, February lights blazing, music you grew up with reimagined through movement. It’s bold, a little rebellious, and absolutely on brand for two icons who have weathered four decades by evolving without losing themselves.
This show is part of Ballet & Ballads—an idea born years ago from Fred J. Elizalde, designed to nudge ballet closer to the everyday Filipino. Perform with mainstream artists, keep the tickets affordable, and let people feel that the art form is meant for them too. It’s the kind of initiative that made—as in really made—ballet feel like it belonged in the local performing arts ecosystem.
But the celebration doesn’t stop there.
The season is stacked with classics that feel like comfort food for the soul:
- Sleeping Beauty in March, complete with live accompaniment from the Manila Symphony Orchestra under Maestro Alexander Vikulov.
- Paquita in June, a showcase of the company’s Vaganova strength—clean technique, crisp lines, unapologetically classical.
- La Bayadère in August, featuring the return of Mariinsky Ballet guest artists Renata Shakirova and Kimin Kim, whose Philippine debut last year practically broke the internet in dance circles.
It’s a lineup that says, We’re celebrating, but we’re also raising the bar.
And just when you think the year couldn’t get busier, Ballet Manila is taking Ibong Adarna to Dumaguete in February, then to Ateneo’s Areté in October. They’re flying to Kuala Lumpur in September. And as always, December will bring the Holiday Cheer shows—a yearly tradition that feels like a cozy sweater in performance form.
What strikes me most about this milestone is how Lisa talks about it. For her, it isn’t just about longevity. It’s about the promise she made when she first came home: that ballet would belong to the Filipino people. And when you look at everything she’s built—graduates, productions, collaborations, entire seasons that feel like cultural events—it’s clear that the promise wasn’t just kept. It’s still growing.
Forty years after a brave young dancer flew home from Moscow, we’re not just witnessing an anniversary. We’re witnessing a legacy that’s alive, evolving, and still finding new ways to reach us.
If you want to catch any of these shows (and honestly, you should), schedules and tickets are up on Ballet Manila’s website and Ticketworld.
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