HER BODY IS HER MACHINE. Lisa Macuja is trained in the Russian Vaganova method, which has helped prolong her years as a dancer. (All photos on this page by ALI VICOY)

Prima ballerina.

Then and now, more than ever, Lisa Macuja-Elizalde has every right to that title.

Fresh from her four-year stint with the Kirov Ballet in Leningrad, Russia, Lisa came back to the Philippines in 1986 and caused not a few eyebrows to raise everytime the said title was appended to her name. It was prematurely bestowed upon her, critics contended. But to her credit, Lisa never asked for that title. It was freely given to her.

“I was called prima ballerina because I have danced with principal ballet roles not just with one company but with several, not just in the Philippines but all over the world. I had clocked a certain number performances of principle roles in the whole classical ballet repertoire. Another thing, when I graduated in Russia, the review went – ‘The Russian Academy of Ballet has just graduated prima ballerina of the Philippines,’’’ Lisa explains.

Today, 25 years later, those critics have all fallen on the wayside, silenced by the fact that Lisa is still here – all of 44 years old and still dancing, still giving her all in every performance, be it as the playful Kitri in “Don Quixote,’’ as the graceful Odette  in “Swan Lake,’’ or recently as the dutiful Prinsesa Singsing in “Mga Kwento ni Lola Basyang.’’

“’I’ve earned it with all the performances I’ve done. And the fact that all my contemporaries and the dancers who are a little older than me, dancers my age, and dancers younger than me, most of them have retired without clocking the same numbers of performances that I have done. I think being called prima ballerina of the Philippines is a deserved title at this point,’’ Lisa says.

Without having to prove anything to anyone anymore, the prima ballerina has long focused on the priority roles that she has taken on– that of being a wife to media mogul, artist and art patron Fred Elizalde, and mother to children Sasha, Missy and Mac; and that of being artistic director and principal ballerina of Ballet Manila.

Established 16 years ago, Ballet Manila endeavoured to bring ballet closer to the people. Lisa and the company went down to the grassroots – dancing on makeshift stages, on the streets, basketball courts, and school quadrangles, even in a sabungan  – just to make the art form accessible to the masses.

“Ano nga kami eh – have floor, will dance. We performed with frogs on the stage, nakakapasok sila sa mga tutu namin. We also danced on the street, on top of patung-patong na soft drink cases tapos lalagyan ng sahig na plywood na nakapako sa soft drink cases… We dance everywhere without compromising the high standards of classical ballet. I really think we did accomplish it, even exceeding our expectations!’’ Lisa proudly quips.

This year, Lisa marks her silver year as a professional dancer, certainly a feat in a profession that pegs at 20 years the maximum lifespan of an active performing career. But nothing has changed from day one.

“The rewards of dancing is you experience it yourself when you’re on stage performing. You get the high, the endorphin rush.  I love dancing so much that as much as possible, I never turn down a chance to go up in front of an audience to perform. Kasi what for am I training 6 to 8 hours a day in the studio?  So I can dance for my own pleasure and watch myself dance? Hindi eh. As a performing artist, you crave for an audience. Even if it is just to say, “Look! See what I can do” and also to tell a story or to express an emotion,’’ she says.

In this 60 Minutes interview, Lisa shares the highlights of an illustrious career that started behind the Iron Curtain and continues to this day, literally keeping her toes, just like the true prima ballerina that she is. (Ivy Lisa F. Mendoza)

STUDENTS AND CAMPUSES BULLETIN (SCB): You are not only a dancer but a teacher as well. Do you also teach young kids?

Lisa Macuja-Elizalde (LME): Yeah, and it’s so hard to teach young kids (sighs). It takes a lot of energy out of you, you have to be keen in teaching it well, demonstrating it well for the students to copy. You not only have to demonstrate the movements well, but you also have to grab the limbs of these kids and position them, parang you’re molding a sculpture one by one. Pag marami pang bata sa class you have to maintain discipline and keep their attention for one hour and 30 minutes. 
 
SCB: Who are easier to teach, the boys or the girls?
LME: Girls! (laughs) Medyo mahina ang pick-up ng boys. For instance, combinations are given on the spot, they memorize the sequence of steps, have certain counts for certain movements in the music. Usually ang pick-up ng dancers dun nadedevelop. So when they start to work with a choreographer, they memorize the steps that the choreographer gives easily. Training really starts in class.
 
SCB: Are there boys who are actually enrolling in ballet class?
LME: Maraming boys na interesado maging scholar, there are more girls who are paying students and who start when they are three, four, five-year-olds. Dinadala sa ballet school ng mga nanay as an extra-curricular activity. Right now I have 60 students in the Ballet Manila School and only one boy is a paying student. He’s five or six years old kasi kasama niya dalawang kapatid na babae in the same class. Other than that, I have 12, 13, 14 year-olds na lalaki, mga scholars lahat.
 
SCB: How do you entice boys to dance the ballet, a very feminine artform?
LME: We hold auditions once a year (on March 21). But sometimes some kids don’t wait for the auditions, they come with friends who are already into ballet. Kasi nga these boys at 15, 16 years old, they already have jobs. They are already performing, they’re getting performance fees. Some of them are company scholars. I have several teenage boys na scholars for three years, then nagpunta na sila sa Korea. But we don’t accept everybody, we look for natural gifts. Ballet Manila now has more boys than girls. The reason for this, we used to give male ballet scholarships and all of them are now professional dancers. 
 
SCB: Ah so the company boys are all homegrown?
LME: Yes. The thing is our female ballet scholars, apprentices and students, once they reach the age to choose between a professional dancing career and other options like college, nursing, call center, marriage and a life abroad, we lose them to the other options. More boys are in it for the long-haul, as a career. I realized I made a mistake. I should not have just given scholarships for boys but also for girls.

SCB: You also now have scholarships for girls?
LME: Yes, Project Ballet Futures has 40 girl scholars, 10 from Gotamco Elementary School, 10 from Bonifacio Elementary School, and 20 from Philippine Christian Foundation, from 10 to 14 years old. We give them free ballet class equipment and one meal after their ballet class, and vitamins and milk. We have to ensure that they have strong bones and muscles. Good nutrition is also important because dancers ultimately work with their bodies. If their bones are brittle, they’re going to be very prone to injury. We are going to give an exam this month to weed out already and make way for slots for more deserving students. 
 
SCB: How different are the dancers in this generation from yours?
LME: Hay naku! (laughs) This generation is spoiled. They did not experience the things we experienced. Numero uno, ‘yung venue nila, ‘yung Aliw Theater, that floor was especially for made dancers. Madali siyang sayawan, bouncy siya, magaan ang feeling mo.
Ako, nakasayaw sa semento, sa marmol, sa cockfighting arena, sa kalye, as in may wind chill factor talaga! Walang dressing room, nagsasama ang boys and girls sa isang dressing room, ang iniihian namin palanggana. Ang ilaw mo, light bulb. Minsan sa Antique, pag-back bend ko panay paniki sa taas! Magtatravel ka by bangka, by eroplano, by car, all in one go. Tapos ang bayad sa akin for one full length “Don Quixote” sa CCP, R900, kasi R1,000 minus withholding tax. I was already CCP artist- in-residence at the time huh.

Now these dancers, they have the best costumes. Ako ang bumibili ng pointe shoes ko before, so syempre tinitipid ko ‘yan kasi mahal. R5,000 pesos one pair. Maybe we’re a little guilty also of spoiling them kasi we want them to think of achieving excellence in their art. Inaalagaan namin. May pointe shoes, may magandang teatro, may magandang travel arrangements, ang venue mo aircon.
We still dance in the street. But compared to the conditions before, we’re not the isang kahig, isang tuka anymore. Kami before, isang show, isang performance, and that’s it. Of course we have more dancers to take care of. From originally 12 dancers, Ballet Manila now has 73 dancers.

SCB: But as far as their commitment to the art is concerned?
LME: ‘Yung values medyo iba na, the value that we used to put on a performance. Kami rin ang may kasalanan. Before, magrerehearse ka ng tatlong buwan, tapos magpeperform ka ng tatlong beses sa isang weekend. ‘Yun na ‘yung nirehearse mo ng tatlong buwan. Ngayon, magrerehearse ka ng tatlong araw, ipeperform mong tatlong buwan. The actual going onstage, putting on make-up, costume, going in front of an audience and dancing, it has become more normal than a special occasion.

But the values…now its “Show na naman. Magkano ang bayad? Magkano ang kikitain ko after this week? Bilangin natin ‘yung shows…makakabili na ako ng cellphone!” Before it was “Wow, it’s a performance, I’ll get ready for it!”

Wala na ‘yung mga ritual. Ako, before a performance, I go in two hours before, I lay out my make-up, warm up, get ready, headdress and everything. Ngayon, yung mga dancers nakikita ko backstage, playing the PSP o texting. Ten minutes later, they’re on stage, dancing. Nagpapalit ‘yung the whole way that they value the artistic performance. The sacred stage has diminished.

SCB: The ones that you started young, do you notice the difference in values?
LME: May old school, may new school. ‘Yung old school nandiyan pa rin, pero unti-unti na silang nagreretire eh. Of course, they teach the values they learned before, they try to instill it into the next generation of dancers.

We have disciplinary actions, we have rules and regulations, we have consequences. We’ve suspended dancers, we’ve fired them for abuse or negligence. But the value that they give to their art form, ‘yung talagang buong buhay mo ibubuhos mo doon? It’s more the exception than the rule. Before, ang artist talagang artist, may aura, may pagka-perfectionist.

Before, I dreamed of doing all the classical ballet roles. You ask a ballet dancer now what they dream of doing, and you’ll probably get a different answer. They’ll probably dream of going abroad on a performance tour. Hindi na ‘yung “I want to at least dance once Odette/Odile of ‘Swan Lake’.” Hindi na ganon.

SCB: With today’s youth holding such different values, do you see a lot of them doing this for now and just doing something else later?
LME: Unfortunately yes, which is the sad part. Mahirap eh. It’s a choice, and it’s a very hard profession. In Russia they call it “the work of a mule.” And it’s true! It’s very hard physically, mentally, emotionally, and your career span is so short. I’m lucky I’ve had 25 seasons. Usually 12, 15 seasons, that’s the active dancing span of a classical ballet dancer and after that they go into modern dance, neo-classical, kasi ang classical ballet iba talaga ang demands niya.

One of my greatest fears is what Ballet Manila will be like, number one, when I stop dancing, and I’m just teaching and directing, and number two, when I die. In Russia it’s a 300-year old tradition, it’s passed down from one generation to the next. They were able to preserve that because there was no exodus. You could not defect, you could not go away. Now they’re losing their best teachers and dancers to companies abroad. They’re in the process of trying to protect and preserve this tradition.

That’s a big problem.Another thing that happens is you are in a company with many great soloists, pero walang star. ‘Yung ganong problema, matindi din ‘yun.

DANCE DRAIN

SCB: Can you spot if a dancer has star material?
LME: Yeah, but some of them leave. I had a girl, Christine Rocas, she won the silver medal in New York, she left. She’s now on her third year contract with the Geoffrey Ballet in Chicago. Of course she acknowledges her roots are in Ballet Manila and that I was her teacher since she was nine years old, but her repertoire now is very American.

SCB: How do you feel when you see your dancers or students leave for greener pastures or Hong Kong Disneyland?
LME: If they are offered a contract, green card, anong laban mo doon? Many opt to audition and work in Hong Kong Disneyland where the pay is good but work has little variety. I mean if you are happy doing the same thing five times a day or putting on big Mickey Mouse head and dancing, that is fine. I do not judge these dancers because I’m sure they have considered everything.

I have had dancers in my company who came to me for advise because they heard that there’s an audition in a cruise ship that would pay $2,000 a month. I mean, I always tell them the same thing: “It’s your choice. Would you rather cut your classical ballet career now, give up the chance to dance Seigfrid? Odette/Odille for dancing the boogie or the chacha in the cruise ship. Or being a parade dancer in Disneyland. If that is what you want to do, if that is what going to give you the greatest satisfaction as far as a dance career is concerned, go ahead. You are only a dancer for 10, 15 maybe 20 years if you are lucky so how you choose to spend those 20 precious years on stage in the parade on a street, or on a cruise ship is up to you.

Wala ka ding laban kasi it’s need. We really can’t pay these salaries that these cruise ships or companies like Disney can pay. I lost one soloist who was already doing Kitri in “Don Quixote,” who was already doing Giselle in “Giselle.” But she has two kids, she opted to go toHong Kong Disneyland.

‘HAVE FLOOR, WILL DANCE’

SCB: You mentioned earlier that you have danced in the weirdest places. Where are these places?
LME: Naku, ang dami. Sa mga probinsiya like I danced in Polomolok in Mindanao, Isulan in South Cotabato, in Antique.

SCB: Did you perform the classics in these remote places?
LM: Yeah. There was a time that the performance was delayed by three hours because the electricity was cut off (laughs). I performed with frogs on the stage, nakakapasok sila sa mga tutu namin. Yung mga sequined at bejeweled tutu, may palaka dun sa loob, Diyos ko! Also in Cebu Coliseum before it was renovated. One dancer said that maybe we should pay the audience just to watch us. Kasi ang dusty, it was rundown. I also danced on the street, on top of patung-patong na soft drink cases tapos lalagyan ng sahig na plywood na nakapako sa soft drink cases…

SCB: But that’s dangerous for you…
LME: Yes, it is. Tapos ang lakas ng kalabog! (laughs)

SCB: Eh why do you risk it?
LME: Good question. Ah, a performance is a performance. I love dancing so much that as much as possible, I never turn down a chance to go up in front of an audience to perform. Kasi what for am I training six to eight hours a day in the studio?  So I can dance for my own pleasure and watch myself dance? Hindi eh. As a performing artist, you crave for an audience. Even if it is just to say, “Look! See what I can do” and also to tell a story or to express an emotion.

Going in front of an audience is very exciting. It’s therapeutic also. You can become a different character, it’s like working on a role, you become a different character, you transform and after the performance, you get a high! And there’s a rush and then you move on to the next show. It’s exciting but it’s not just all glitz-glamour, it’s a lot of perspiration, sweat, calluses, pain, you know a lot of pain especially because I have to maintain this body and it’s hard. Kasi as you get older, it’s getting harder and harder to get up in the morning. What more pa if you force yourself to do two hours of rigorous exercise (laughs).

SCB: When you started Ballet Manila 10 years ago, you dreamed of a company that could bring ballet to the people, to the, to the grassroots. Do you feel you have accomplished this already?
LME: Ano nga kami eh — have floor, will dance. Make ballet accessible to the people, anywhere, everywhere but without compromising the high standards of classical ballet. I really think we did accomplish it, even exceeding our expectations, especially with the home theaters of Star Theater and Aliw Theater. We brought ballet to Star City goers through weekend shows that started with “Belen,’’ a Circus d’ Ballet in year 2000. We did student lecture demonstrations, ang dami mo kasing magagawa pag iyo yung venue because you can conceptualize all these shows and bring the audience to the ballet. And now with “Tatlong Kuwento ni Lola Basyang,’’ ginawang ballet yung libro. This also encourages viewers to brush up on Philippine literature. 
 
SCB: Ang ganda ganda daw ng Lola Basyang…
LME: You should watch it, it’s fantastic. It’s a really really good show. That also exceeded our expectation. Hindi namin akalain na ganun ka…And the material is very Filipino, music is all original Filipino, really something to be proud of.
 
SCB: Do you see yourself doing more of that, as in crossing over to or collaborating with other artforms?
LME: (Laughs.) I started Ballet Manila as a classical ballet company, we specialize in dancing ballet the way the Russians do it because that’s my training. Classical ballet is really hard to dance and to master. Now at the ripe old age of 44,  it’s even harder to dance classical ballet, it’s easier to dance modern, contemporary and neoclassical. It’s freer and there are a lot less rules.

My way of putting it, it’s not just easier for the dancer, its also easier for the audience, it’s not as heavy. For example, “The Swan, The Fairy and The Princess’’ is made up of three huge greatest hits – “Swan Lake,’’ “Nutcracker,’’ and “Sleeping Beauty’’ to the music of Tchaikovsky. The program is dance heavy, really trains the dancers very well, make them stronger and more skilled but it’s very hard.

But then again, ballet has evolved. We are now in what you call contemporary dance of the 21st century. A lot of people are saying you know “Swan Lake,’’ that’s outdated. Even in Europe, the classics are evolving and changing, like they made “Swan Lake’’ into a whole 32 male-swan show.

SCB: How do you attract the ordinary people to see a ballet?
LME: I’ve worked to preserve the classics because there’s only one way you can watch the original classical ballets, if you’re a Filipino who doesn’t have the means to go to Russia or to Europe to watch these classical ballets, you can watch Ballet Manila perform these classics Swan Lake, Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, Giselle, Don Quixote, Le Corsaire.

But at the same time I have to keep the program interesting enough and innovative to keep on attracting especially the younger markets who want light, easy to understand ballets,  na they won’t feel na para silang tanga, that they can relate to, na uupo sila at alam nilang maiintindihan nila. Sometimes it even means spoonfeeding the audience.

When we did the two-act, The Naughty Daughter, it was a comedy but it was classical ballet. So before performance started, I explained to the audience what classical ballet is. So pag napanood na nila, nakikita nila ‘ah kaya pala nagtuturn out yung paa nagpopoint because of the line, making the classical line.’’
 
SCB: You explain to the audience?
LME: This is for our student matinees, para maintindihan nila yung pinapanood nila. And because we are a Filipino ballet company, we have to make it Filipino. We can’t just keep on dancing the Russian classics also, although the Russian classics are a great part of the classical ballet repertoire. You have to just strike the balance.

I was just really lucky with “Tatlong Kuwento ni Lola Basyang,’’ and this December, there will be Tatlo Pang Kuwento ni Lola Basyang. We’re launching new books on the stories of Severino Reyes, and new ballet at the same time. Also when you participate in international festivals you have to have Filipino ballets because the international audiences won’t expect Swan Lake to be danced by a Filipino ballet company. 
 
SCB: Is there such a thing as Filipino ballet?
LME: Oh yeah, madami. Neoethnic, modern ballet fusion na. It was started by a lot of our pioneers like National Artist Leonor Orosa Goquingco whoc combined stage ballet and folk dance way back in the 1950s or 60s. Ang kakaiba lang sa Ballet Manila is the foundation of the training is still Russian classical. I had the best and strongest trained classical ballet dancers.

The beauty of being trained in classical ballet is you can easily transform into a modern ballet dancer or do the chacha, the ballroom, the waltz or the tinikling. You can easily do that kasi you’re trained in the highest form, the strictest form of dance. It’s easier to become freer, less strict with yourself.
I may be tooting my own horn here, but the Russian Vaganova method, the class, that level of technique and the standard that you maintain as a Russian-trained dancer, also prolongs your life as a dancer. The easier that you take the maintenance of your form, if you don’t push yourself like an athlete to continue to go over the hump of the pain, get that leg higher, turn faster, jump higher, chances are your career span is really lessened. Iba ang demands.

SO IN LOVE WITH BALLET

SCB: How old did you start?
LME: I started at eight years old. My mother danced ballet and she was quite talented. I inherited my turn out, my flexibility from her. The ability to rotate my legs in all different angles. (laughs) Pero pagawa mo sa kanya ngayon, magagawa niya. She can still put her legs behind her head, and she’s what, 68 years old. And when she had me, talagang bata pa lang ako sinasabi na niya, “O, pag dating mo ng grade two, magbaballet ka.”
 
SCB: Was it hard for your parents to let you go when you left for Russia at a young age?
LME: I think they let me go there with the intention that I would come back and give up ballet. They thought I’d suffer so much that I would give up, that I would realize that ballet was not for me and I would just enroll in BS Accounting. But I never did that. I think they realized that when I graduated with honors, na ballet na talaga.
 
SCB: What’s your favorite role onstage?
LME: My favorite lively technical role would be Kitri in “Don Quixote.’’ The most sensitive, romantic role that I like to perform all the time is Juliet in “Romeo and Juliet.’’ Kasi I like to die. (laughs) And I like to grow up from one act to another because Juliet does that eh. She starts, in a sense, a 13-year-old prepubescent teenager and then extends to love, marriage, betrayal, death, separation and the act of committing suicide and all of that is really cool.
 
SCB: How did you feel when you first danced the role of Kitri?
LME: I was 19 when I first danced the pas de deux of “Don Quixote’’ as my graduation piece in Russia. I felt so excited and proud but very nervous. It’s a very technical role and you are allowed to show off, and at that age I was a show-off. I wanted to show the audience that I could do triple a la secondes, that I could do double fouettes, that I could do all of this technical stuff that I now put less value in. Now I put more value in interpretation, in becoming the role instead of becoming a circus performer doing all of these tests of flexibility, athleticism and grace. Now it’s the overall picture that you paint for the audience.

I’m scheduled to do three more Princess Auroras, and the most I do is four pirouettes, I don’t push for six or seven like before. Period siya, prinsesa ka, regal. Princess Aurora never runs. You don’t see princesses that run.

SCB: What’s the most number of pirouettes that you’ve done in any performance?
LME: Supported, you can go as many as 12. Unsupported, I’ve done six.

STILL AN UPHILL BATTLE

SCB: So are audiences now more receptive to ballet?
LME: Meron pa rin tinatawag na captured audience which are the elementary and high school students that are “captured” and “commanded” to watch a ballet performance. What’s nice about it is that after the performance, their reaction is “Ah, maganda pala, buti na lang pumunta ako.”
Then you have the regular knowledgeable theater-going crowd who has dispensable income and who will buy a ticket and watch the show. Ang kalaban mo diyan ay traffic, other social events, home entertainment system, you know, DVD. Ang dami humihingi sa akin, iniimbita ko manood ang sasabihin sa akin, “Bigyan mo na lang ako ng DVD.” Sabi ko naman, “Iba yun, iba ang live show! You know, iba kapag theater.”

Ang hirap kasi ang kalaban mo talaga is yung tradition or the practice of going to the theater to enjoy a live performance. It doesn’t matter whether it is a play, a musical, a ballet — these are all considered as high forms of art that only a select few will enjoy. And you have to fight that kind of perception by doing what Ballet Manila is doing, bringing the audience to a ballet that they will understand and they will enjoy watching. And then maybe, after a while, nurturing that audience so eventually, they will be ready for Swan Lake or eventually they will be ready for a Giselle kasi “nakapanood ako nung bata ako. Now I’m mother to a two-year old girl, I will now bring my daughter to watch Nutcracker kasi I watched it when I was a kid.” Yung ganun? It would take generations of excellent performers to develop a theater-going audience. Kasi no matter how excellent you are, if you perform inside the box, no one will appreciate it eh.

SCB: After all these years, you’re still fighting an uphill battle?
LM: Oh yes, why? (laughs) Kasi ang hirap kapag ang dami mo na ngang ginagawa tapos may mga kalaban ka pang mga detractors, tapos ang dami pang all other forms of entertainment — may kalaban kang computer, may kalaban kang traffic, transportation. Eh Diyos ko ang kalaban mo...bibili ka ng R100 — R100 na lang ha — na ticket ng Tatlong Kwento ni Lola Basyang o dun ka lang sa bahay, manonood ka ng sine sa HBO?

SCB: Or pirated DVD at 40 pesos….
LME: Yes. I don’t want to think that going to the theater and the performing arts is a dying art form. I don’t want to think that that’s what I devoted my whole life to. But talk to Nes Jardin, CCP artistic director and president, and he would probably say the same thing, marami kang kalaban.
So you fight, you fight with excellent performances. The key is to get these audiences to go and watch excellent performances.

And then, ang dami mo din kalaban na pangit na ballet. Mga manonood ka ng ballet tapos matu-turn off ka sa ballet kasi pangit yung napanood mo! (laughs). For example, papanoorin ka ng nanay mo ng six-hour recital ng kapatid mong babae. Manonood ka ng nag-gaganyan na mga two-year olds na naka-tutu and yun na yung idea mo ng ballet. That’s sad, and for a 10-year old boy watching his six-year old sister doing the recital for six hours, having to sit there like that and be tortured by it. That would be an impression and it can last. It will last until he’s 18 , 19, even when he is a father already. He might not want to enroll his own child in ballet because of that.

SCB: Where do you get this courage despite so many going against you. Why still fight?
LME: Why? (laughs) Why do I dance and still fight? Because there are just so many things that I need to do. And while I still have the strength to do it, while I still have the strength and capability to dance, I will try to savor every moment on stage.

I’m 44. When people ask me when I’m going to retire, I still can’t say. I will eventually have my last ‘’Swan Lake,’’ and my last ‘’Giselle,’’ and my last ‘’Sleeping Beauty’’ and my last classics and then I’ll probably continue to dance, pero the easier roles na.

It’s very hard for a ballerina who genuinely loves to dance to say goodbye and stop practicing your art. It’s easier when you have an art form that permits you to practice until you’re like 75 years old! Look at Arturo Luz, he’s 80 and he’s still painting and sculpting, nakaka-inggit di ba? Pero ayun I still continue to do that because ballet is just so much a part of my life that it’s very, very hard not to do it.
I’ve always been called a perfectionist. If I do something, I want it perfect, I want it to be really good or else I won’t start it at all. And that’s how I’ve always been for the last 25 years, 30 years.

SCB: How different is the fulfillment that you get from dancing and from teaching kids to dance?
LME: The rewards of dancing is you experience it yourself when you’re on stage performing. So you get the high, the endorphin rush. When you’re teaching, it’s very exhausting especially when you have non-responsive students or students that are not talented or not progressing the way you want them to progress or develop.

It is also hard when somebody else is doing the dancing for you. Mahirap panoorin. Mahirap manood ng estudyante kasi ikaw ang ninenerbyos. Tapos you see all the…. Mahirap para sa akin manood ng ballet because you see all the flaws, you see all the details that you'd rather not see or sometimes you see the way other artists are cheating, you can tell. Sisikip talaga ang dibdib mo! Especially kapag competition tapos pinalitan yung steps! I mean, there should be rules! (laughs) Bato-bato sa langit!

SCB: Ikaw ba you never cheated, ever?
LME: There are times that I play it safe and there are times that you can give it your all and say bahala na, mabuo o hindi. For example, you do a double pirouette instead of a triple but the requirement naman talaga is a double. But if you do the triple you’ll probably make the performance more exciting but you play it safe, you do a double to end the show.

SCB: In your 25 years, what can you consider as the three highlights of your career?
LME: Dancing Kitri the first time backed up by the 250 cast members of the Kirov Ballet Company in Russia. In January 1986, I was partnered with a Russian dancer who I really had a crush on, Farouk Ruzimatov. I would dance my favorite role, full orchestra. My family was there in the front row, in Russia. I had a 25-minute curtain call after and it was hard to come down. As in yung mga tao nakatayo pumapalakpak, sinasarahan na sila ng ilaw kasi kailangan na ngang linisin yung theater for the evening show kasi it’s a matinee. That was one highlight.

Another would be when I danced Odette/Odille in Havana, Cuba, backed by National Ballet de Cuba. I danced with a partner who only spoke Spanish and I had to learn the ballet in four days because I was taking the place of a Brazilian prima ballerina who got injured and wasn’t able to perform. So the director of the festival called me up in the hotel and asked me if I can learn the dance of Odette /Odille of Swan Lake in four days. And I said yes! (laughs) And I did! It wasn’t a very good Swan Lake but it was I think a highlight because I was able to prove to myself that even though that Odette/Odille was categorically against me as a dancer, as a classical ballerina, I still could develop into a great Odette/Odille. It took me several years and several performances but now I’m very proud of my Odette/Odille and it all started in my performance in Havana, Cuba. Have I not been thrown into that role I’d probably would have said no to Odette/Odille unless I would be trained by the best teachers.

The third highlight would be dancing Romeo and Juliet to the PPO (Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra) in a role that was created for me by Sergey Vikulov, the Russian choreographer. Because not many ballerinas can say, this Juliet is mine, it was created and choreographed on me, for me and I have already performed Juliet in different productions in the past. It was an all-Filipino cast, live music — PPO, CCP main theater. For the world premiere of this production, Fred (Elizalde, her husband) did the set design and I had my two kids with me. Missy was at that time almost three years old and Manuel was a baby. That was really very special.
 
SCB: Are your kids interested in ballet?
LME: No. They’re not. They like playing on stage with the props and the set. They like when they watch mama perform, they shout “Bravo!” during the curtain call but they are not interested in becoming performers. 
 
SCB: But Missy has taken lessons?
LME: Yes, she did two summer workshops but she stopped. She doesn’t like dancing. Mac is a very creative and lively boy but his energies are directed in other pursuits. (laughs)
 
SCB: Like?
LME: Right now his passions are pandas and dragons. He wants to become a ‘dragonologist’. He’s eight. Missy is very interested in horseback riding — equestrian — she might continue again because she stopped for now. She’s now very much into saving the tigers, very environmentalist sila. Missy actually adopted a tiger in Nepal and Mac adopted a panda. They know the name and everything . They have a certificate, picture. I think it’s also part of their education, go green, you know.
 
SCB: Do you have a big thing planned for your 25th year?
LME: I don’t know. Just kidding. (laughs) I have a big concert called “Lisa @ 25”, it’s my silver anniversary. It is really a cause for a celebration because not all dancers go to their 25th season, go on to the classics in their 25th season. The concert will feature highlights of my career from never before seen videos, maybe of my performances abroad.
There will be something old — a classic, maybe an act from a favorite ballet. Something new — a world premiere. Something borrowed — probably a ballet from another company to perform, and something blue — I’m trying to get Gary Valenciano, who is also celebrating his 25th year, to sing and we’re going to have a ballet in blue denims. All in one show! October 2 is the premiere and October 3 is my birthday… 45…(laughs). 
 
SCB: In the past, there were people who refused to use the title ‘’prima ballerina’’ with your name. Now, these people have sort of conceded. What can you say about that after 25 years?
LME: Prima ballerina is a nice title; some say it was prematurely given to me. Just as they say that it was premature for me to be nominated as a National Artist. It’s a matter of public opinion and public perception, and your track record.

I was called prima ballerina because I have danced the principal ballet roles not just with one company but with several, not just in the Philippines but all over the world. I had clocked a certain number of performances of principal roles in the whole classical ballet repertoire. So those are factual, there’s the track record that you cannot really deny.

And another thing is I was called prima ballerina in Russia, prima ballerina of the Philippines. In fact when I graduated the review was, “the Russian Academy of Ballet has just graduated the prima ballerina of the Philippines or the next prima ballerina of the Philippines.” So it’s a title given to me when I was very young.

I’ve earned it now, at 44 with all the performances I’ve done. And the fact that all my contemporaries and the dancers who are a little older than me, the dancers my age, and the dancers younger than me, most of them have retired without clocking the same numbers of performances that I have done. I think being called prima ballerina of the Philippines,  it’s a deserved title at this point. I would like to believe that I earned it.