That dance is life must surely be the motto of ballet dancers. They devote countless hours to perfect a hand gesture, an extended leg, or a hair toss, much like the way the members of Alice Reyes Dance Philippines (ARDP) do. In fact, the ARDP dancers are busy rehearsing—eight hours every day—the choreography of the seven ballets for “Pagdiriwang: Sayaw Alay Sa Sining,” the company’s dance season opener scheduled on April 4 and 5.

The hours are arduously long because a ballet dancer “can’t take much time off,” points out Alice Reyes, National Artist for Dance and ARDP chair emeritus. “They must be active as much as they can.” 

Reyes is responding to a question on how the dancers are preparing for “Pagdiriwang” at her company’s press conference at Blackbird in the Nielson Tower. Standing like the ballerina that she is, her feet in first position, she explains that ballet is a demanding career. There’s the physicality of the art that takes a toll on the body—from injuries to simply age sneaking up on a dancer, leading to retirement. 

Retiring may seem problematic for dancers, but apparently they’re merely moving into new roles in their careers. “We train new dancers at ARDP. We recall older dancers and choreographers to teach them,” says Reyes.

ARDP artistic director Ronelson Yadao chimes in: “Choreographers don’t forget dance steps. They remember them because of muscle memory, which retains the nuances that video recordings don’t.”

As for role suitability, precision is key to casting at the company, where a slight change in a dancer’s appearance can mean losing a role. In an earlier chat with former ARDP dancer Richard Yadao, he said dyeing the hair, for instance, was not allowed when he was still dancing. Seemingly rebelling against ballet’s stringency, he now sports blondish hair. “I’m free!” he exclaims, chuckling. 

For Monica Gana, it was a rough learning experience. At the Q-and-A session, she said she felt overwhelming regret when she lost a role she had so wanted because she cut her hair short.

Choreographer’s vision

Reyes says that in restaging the works of local and foreign choreographers, ARDP always honors their vision. It’s a sacred rule on top of the casting criteria of ability and role. In “Amada” (last staged in 2017), Reyes pictures the aristocratic Doña Amada with long, flowing hair. The ballet takes off from “Summer Solstice,” a short story by Nick Joaquin, and Reyes juxtaposes traditional male dominance with Tadtarin, a women-only summer-solstice ritual.

“Hair is part of choreography,” says Reyes, who has no qualms recasting a role if the dancer does not fully satisfy the criteria. (She replaced her first choice for Amada back then when the selected ballerina showed up with a shorter hairstyle.)

In the preview of “Amada,” Gana’s long black hair ripples and flips in the air as she leaps and twirls. The body and hair movements highlight the tension between authority and opposition. Gana is pinch-hitting for the guest artist, Filipino ballerina Candice Adea, who is to star in the title role in April.

Reyes and Adea worked together in 2017. “Pagdiriwang” marks their second collaboration which, as Ronelson Yadao puts it, is a way of “taking advantage” of watching Adea—an important figure in Philippine dance, he stresses—dance on Philippine stage again. Adea recently retired from the Western Australian Ballet as soloist.

Seven dances

The presentation of excerpts from the four dances shows the ability-and-role rule in action. Bare-chested and in loose white trousers, Dan Dayo is a holy person in Kun-Yang Lin’s “Moon” (last staged in 2021). Dayo pays homage to the omniscient deities through a meditative yet vibrant dance of supplication.

Energy explodes on Blackbird’s cordoned-off space with the ARDP dancers—led by Sarah Alejandro, Ejay Arisola and Gana—dancing “C’est La Cie” by Augustus “Bam” Damian III. It showcases ARDP’s trademark vitality and combined classical and modern dance techniques. “C’est La Cie” is Damian’s first new choreography after a hiatus; it is his gift to ARDP.

The frenetic pace slows down to a melancholic rhythm in Norman Walker’s “Songs of a Wayfarer” (last staged in 2017). In between bites of scones with clotted cream and strawberry jam, we watch Arisola grieve over his love’s marriage and wander through the fields (in our minds) where he, in sheer exhaustion and depression, falls into a deep sleep under a tree. (Apparently, the ballet is based on Walker’s experience of unrequited love when he was young.)

The other three dances are “Glinka’s Valse” by Adam Sage with music by Russian composer Mikhail Glinka; “Muybridge/Frames” by Denisa Reyes, inspired by British photographer Eadweard Muybridge’s photographic studies of movements; and “Nocturne” by Carlo AC Pacis, a dance duet of Oberon and Titania’s reconciliation from Shakespeare’s comedy play “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”

Commitment

ARDP is honoring the arts through the seven dances of varying genres—classical, neoclassical, modern and contemporary—and its commitment to elevating Philippine dance, says its president, Tats Manahan. “We don’t stick to the nice, linear ballet,” she says.

The commitment is seen in the dancers, too. For Arisola, it’s all about ballet 24/7. Gana is more philosophical: “There are times dancers are prepared and not prepared. [Dancers] should arm themselves with knowledge of where they are in their dance lives.” Also, she listens to her mentors’ reminders to do research (look at the book, film, and dance versions) and character analysis. Alejandro draws from her experiences outside (interactions with people) than from the “inside (read: techniques), specially when it comes to story delivery and interpretation.”

“Personalities have flavor because of their experiences,” says Alejandro. “Also, it’s important for me to have a clear message of the dance.”

“Pagdiriwang: Sayaw Alay sa Sining” goes on stage on April 4 and 5 at 2:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. at the Globe Auditorium, Maybank Performing Arts Theater, BGC. For tickets, visit www.ticketworld.com.ph. For inquiries, email [email protected] or call +63 967 153 6173.

Read more: There’s more than dance in ‘Juan Tamad’ by Alice Reyes Dance Philippines