PRIMA ballerina Stella Abrera and eight American Ballet Theater stars are set to perform at the Maybank Performing Arts Theater in Bonifacio Global City from April 5 to 7 for the benefit and the 20th anniversary of Ayala Foundation’s flagship education program, the Center of Excellence in Public Elementary Education, or Centex.
Centex provides learning support for children from underprivileged families, as well as their parents and public-school teachers. Since its inception in 1998, it has graduated over 1,500 students in its two campuses in Tondo, Manila, and Bauan, Batangas.
The benefit performance will be Abrera’s second recital in the country after her debut in Ballet Philippines’s 2014 production of Giselle.
Ayala Foundation President Ruel Maranan, in a recent press event at Raffles Hotel in Makati, told BusinessMirror that credit for this partnership goes to none other than Sofia Zobel-Elizalde, founder of Steps dance studio.
It was through Zobel-Elizalde’s patronage of the arts and her regular trips to New York that she came in contact with Abrera through the help of pianist Steven Mitchell. “As our friendship grew, she [Abrera] told me that she wanted to be able to come back to Manila and find a way to give back to the country that she was born in,” Zobel-Elizalde said.
Ultimately, the fortunate chance came knocking on the doors of Philippine theater when Abrera and the American Ballet Theater were organizing their Asian tour this year. After their performance in Hong Kong, Abrera, together with Alban Lendorf, Arron Scott, Blaine Hoven, Catherine Hurlin, Gillian Murphy, Isabella Boylston, Roman Zhurbin and Jose Sebastian, will be flying to Manila to perform classic acts from Romeo and Juliet, Don Quixote and Flames of Paris.
“It just so happened the timing is perfect and so, come April, they will be here in the country. Given the advocacy and passion of Sofia, which is in dance and education, this is the perfect opportunity for her two passions to come together,” Maranan said.
“It’s so important to have arts available to all students, as it gives these children a chance to experience a strong discipline, learn a beautiful art form and build their self-esteem,” Zobel-Elizalde said. According to her, having Abrera here in the country only goes to show how far these students’ talents could go when given free access to quality education and strong academic and extracurricular programs.
No stranger to this ideal, Abrera shares the same vision as Zobel-Eilzalde’s. Abrera joined American Ballet Theater’s corps de ballet in 1996 after winning the gold medal in London’s Adeline Genee Awards. She was promoted to soloist in 2001 and to principal dancer in 2015. In 2014 she founded Steps Forward for the Philippines, a charity that helped rebuild and supply a school in Guiuan in the wake of Supertyphoon Haiyan (local code name Yolanda).
For the concert fund-raiser, Zobel-Elizalde shared that Abrera insisted on curating the show and doing the repertoire. “She’s very hands-on. We also had some wonderful sponsors that have come in. The Ayala Foundation has given this its full support, and we were very fortunate to get Patek Philippe [the event’s coproducer] involved.”
When asked why it is being staged in Maybank, Zobel-Elizalde said: “Normally, most of our ballets have performed at the Cultural Center of the Philippines [CCP], but we felt that it would be nice to give it an intimate setting.”
“I’d like to also say that the repertoire they’re bringing is very special because they’re bringing in Stars and Stripes, which is a Balanchine piece. Normally, you only get to see Balanchine pieces in specific companies like the New York City Ballet. And we’ve gotten the permission to do it here.
The repertoire is going to be very special. Last, it’s for the benefit of Centex, so staging it in a much-smaller setting is something I find very ideal,” Zobel-Elizalde said. Gino Gonzales, who recently won the Metro Manila Film Festival Best Production Design Award for Ang Larawan, will be the one dressing up the Maybank Performing Arts Theater for the performance nights.
“The challenge is mixing the grandeur of Castro Valley and the hip quality of Maybank. It’s something like merging the Lincoln Center and the Joyce Theater in Soho. In terms of visuals, we would like to present ballet in a contemporary framework and at the same time, not lose the classical grandeur of [acts like] Romeo and Juliet,” Gonzales said.
As for the event’s expected foot traffic, Zobel-Elizalde is optimistic that more than a thousand people will come to watch the show. “The Maybank Theater can sit 500 and we’re really hoping for a full show. Also, the first night [which will be the technical dress rehearsal] will be just for students and we’ll be selling the tickets a little cheaper to give them a chance to go. On the gala night, it’s going to be mainly patrons, donors and sponsors. On Saturday, it will be open to the general public.”
She added: “We want to remind everyone that the performing arts, especially ballet, is something we Filipinos are very much capable of excelling in.”
The event, however, serves a much bigger purpose than just promoting ballet. It also gives emphasis on the untapped potential of Filipino public-school students.
Centex schools operate by virtue of a memorandum of agreement between the Department of Education, the city government of Manila and the Ayala Foundation. The need for a Centex was realized when it became more and more evident that excellence in the elementary education level can address the lack of basic skills of students to pass the qualifying examinations and survive a scholarship program in technical and vocational education. Also, out of 10 children, only one enjoys the privileges of private-school education.
“This is not just an ordinary performance, it’s dancing for a cause. It’s primarily for Centex, for the kids and for the parents. It’s bigger than ballet because its purpose is something grander than all of us. It’s for the dreams and education of these underprivileged children,” Zobel-Elizalde said.