Ballet Manila taps Mariinsky stars for landmark La Bayadère

Insider Spotlight

• Ballet Manila closes its PRIMA Season with a rare full-length staging of La Bayadère at Aliw Theater from Aug. 14 to 16
• Mariinsky Ballet stars Renata Shakirova and Kimin Kim return to Manila as Nikiya and Solor after their acclaimed Don Quixote appearance in 2025
• The production carries special meaning for Ballet Manila founder Lisa Macuja Elizalde as she marks 40 years since returning to the Philippines from Russia
  
  
  
  

Ballet Manila is pulling out all the stops for the grand finale of its PRIMA Season, bringing in two Mariinsky Ballet stars for a landmark staging of Marius Petipa’s La Bayadère.

Mariinsky prima ballerina Renata Shakirova and principal dancer Kimin Kim will lead the production as Nikiya and Solor at Aliw Theater on Aug. 14 at 8 p.m., and on Aug. 15 and 16 at 5 p.m.

Why it matters

The full-length production marks a major artistic undertaking for Ballet Manila, whose founder and artistic director Lisa Macuja Elizalde became the first foreign soloist of the then-Kirov Ballet, now the Mariinsky Ballet.

Elizalde considers La Bayadère one of ballet’s great “white ballets,” alongside Giselle and Swan Lake, with its Kingdom of the Shades sequence regarded as an exacting test of a corps de ballet.

“Ballet Manila is the only company in the Philippines with this kind of superior ensemble,” Elizalde said. “That is why it deserves its place in our 31st performance season.”

Star power

Shakirova and Kim, whose partnership drew Manila audiences in Don Quixote last year, return in roles they have performed extensively.

“The first act is full of openness and love, but everything changes in Act 2 where it becomes tragic,” Mariinsky Ballet prima ballerina Shakirova said. “Every part I feel deep inside me. All the emotions of Nikiya, I feel I live through.”

Kim, known for his soaring jumps, said portraying Solor goes beyond technical execution.

“Technique is supposed to be there already from the very beginning,” Mariinsky Ballet principal dancer Kimin Kim said. “I try to make it all look easy, so the technique doesn't look like work. More important is that I can show emotion and the depth of the character.”

The bigger picture

For Ballet Manila, La Bayadère also underscores its push to pair Filipino dancers with internationally celebrated artists.

“That made me proud—not just of Renata and Kimin, but of our dancers, our school, and our thirty-one years of building a company that can hold its own on the global stage,” Elizalde said.

The production concludes PRIMA with Ballet Manila positioning the demanding classic as both a showcase of ensemble discipline and a statement of its ambitions on the international ballet —Ramon C. Nocon | Ed: Corrie S. Narisma