00:00 Now this ballet production is set to bring new life to a Bicolano epic.
00:04 The Philippine Ballet Theater's Ibalon opens on Friday.
00:08 We find out more about the show with PBT President Marilu Magsaysay and composer Paolo Zarate.
00:16 Welcome to the show.
00:17 Good evening.
00:18 Thank you for having us.
00:19 It's so good to have you here.
00:21 First of all, congratulations on your 37th season opening this new full-length Filipino
00:27 ballet.
00:28 And I understand this is also your comeback, ma'am, after being gone for three years.
00:34 Now why choose this Bicolano myth as your opening for the 37th season?
00:39 Well, truth be told, our artistic director and choreographer, Ron Genario, really wanted
00:46 to do something for his hometown.
00:48 He's a Bicolano.
00:49 And he wanted to pay tribute to the resiliency of the Bicolanos.
00:53 And you can see it in the ballet, how they fight adversity.
00:57 And then he brings in the love story to make it more interesting.
01:02 But his choreography and Paolo's amazing music.
01:07 Yeah, for the music.
01:08 Fantastic.
01:09 Yeah, it really, it's a hit.
01:11 Okay, you mentioned Paolo.
01:12 I'd like to talk about the music since you composed original music, right, for this.
01:19 But first, give us a bit of a background on the love story.
01:22 I understand this is between the warrior and the cursed princess.
01:27 Tell us about that.
01:28 So yeah, the cursed princess, well, actually, Hadion didn't really know about the cursed
01:34 princess.
01:35 Like he just knew that Aureole, being the half serpent adversary of the kingdom, where
01:44 he's trying to protect the kingdom of King Gatibal.
01:50 He never really knew that Aureole was the princess Bulanan.
01:56 So princess Bulanan was actually the lost daughter of the King Gatibal from Ibalon.
02:04 So to make the long story short, they really didn't know each other.
02:07 So he was sent to kill Hadion, the famous warrior.
02:13 He was sent to kill the monsters.
02:17 The irony of it was one of the monsters was Aureole.
02:20 Because she's a half serpent.
02:23 She's a cursed, what you call it, a serpent, a princess in that sense.
02:30 Then I had to introduce themes to better understand who is Hadion, Aureole, and how their love
02:38 came about through the music.
02:43 Ron, being a good storyteller, would tell me excerpts of what his ideas were.
02:48 So the challenge for me was trying to set themes.
02:54 If you would watch Les Misérables or these other famous musicals, you would know right
03:00 away, "Oh, this is Hadion because this is his music.
03:02 This is Aureole because this is her music."
03:05 Then they're set in different themes, where there are fight scenes.
03:11 Then you would know all the tension and everything.
03:14 So I set themes on how to make this story more understandable in that sense.
03:21 How would you describe the music in this production?
03:24 You mentioned there are battle scenes, but this is also a love story.
03:29 Yes.
03:30 Actually, when composing the music, I had a pretty hard time because this is my first
03:37 ballet.
03:38 So I would try to put myself in the position of the director, how he imagines everything.
03:45 I would try to imagine how to marry all the themes.
03:49 So we came about with the love theme.
03:51 I tried mashing up the theme of Hadion and Aureole, then come up with the love theme
03:59 that would sooner or later be a really big musical part of the ballet.
04:06 So it was a big challenge.
04:08 And how I came about doing that was a big challenge because I didn't really know how
04:12 to present it.
04:14 Coming from my background, I'm a film TV composer.
04:18 So I do theme songs and score for movies.
04:21 So I was asking Ron, "Ron, is it okay if I make it a little bit bigger?"
04:28 Because knowing ballet is like subtle dances and everything.
04:32 But here in Ibalon, he gave me this freedom.
04:35 "You know what?
04:36 Do whatever.
04:37 Do whatever."
04:38 He's like, "Okay, I want it to sound like a Marvel movie."
04:43 So that came about.
04:45 Because when I watch ballets, in no offense, but when I watch ballets, there are some themes
04:50 that has to be more into it, especially with the war scenes.
04:57 The love scene has to be like, you know, gets you out there.
05:00 It has to move you.
05:02 So I had to think of ways to make it stronger, louder, and maybe more heavy.
05:08 I understand there are colorful dances from Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.
05:14 I'd like to talk about that in a bit.
05:16 But first, I'd like to ask Miss Marie Lu because ballet has been gone for three years, right?
05:23 Philippine ballet.
05:24 But now that the public health emergency on COVID-19 has been lifted, the shows are back,
05:30 the concerts are back.
05:31 And tell us first, how are the dancers, how are our dancers, our artists, and how did
05:37 they cope during the pandemic?
05:40 It was a very difficult three years for all of them.
05:43 And not just PBT, it's all the artists.
05:46 We have some dancers who, one became a security guard, the other one was selling fruits and
05:52 vegetables, another one was making soap.
05:55 And the hardest part in being a dancer is they only had a small space in their homes
06:01 to be able to keep up their dance, their work, and their exercises.
06:11 And many of them would teach online.
06:14 That's the only way they could earn.
06:16 But everybody suffered.
06:19 And we were only able to give them food allowances for the first year.
06:24 And it was really difficult because we didn't get the support from the country.
06:31 So we just did the best we could.
06:34 They pulled through, we survived, and ballet is back, I hope with a vengeance.
06:40 Tell us Paolo about the dances that we're going to see here.
06:44 We see different from different provinces, from Itogao, from the Muslim province, from
06:51 the Waray province.
06:52 So different parts of the Philippines, you'll see one ballet.
06:58 And you will see them in a way that, you know, and hear them in a way that you haven't heard
07:04 before.
07:06 And we're going to see a more modern take on this?
07:09 Yes.
07:10 You mentioned more modern.
07:11 Yes, more modern.
07:12 Okay.
07:13 Okay, Ma'am Marilu, what do you want audiences to take home after watching Ibalon?
07:19 I want them to take home not just the memory of Paolo's fantastic music, but to want to
07:26 support more Filipino artists and to know that we'll always be there for them.
07:35 We'd like to help in whatever way we can, especially for schools, free schools, we support
07:42 them.
07:43 We give them free balcony seats in every single show.
07:46 They get balcony one, balcony two, we give scholarships.
07:50 And just to know that we would really appreciate all the Filipino support and for them to come
07:57 and watch Ibalon.
07:58 Yes, please do invite our viewers.
08:01 It's opening this Friday, right?
08:03 At the Samsung?
08:04 Samsung Theater at 8 o'clock.
08:06 And again on Saturday, July 29.
08:09 Okay, do please watch.
08:11 We expect a fantastic show.
08:13 Thank you for joining us tonight, Philippine Ballet Theater President Marilu Magsaysay
08:19 and Paolo Zarate, musical director.
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