Nang magsara ang Cultural Center of the Philippines o CCP dahil sa pandemya, isa itong napakalaking hamong sinalubong ni Ballet Philippines President Kathleen Nolasco Lior-Liechtenstein, kaya naman nagdesisyon siyang mag-shift sa digital theater. Pinalakas niya ang digital program ng Ballet Philippines at nagsagawa ng world-class masterclasses para sa mga local dancer!
Paano nga kaya naka-survive ang Ballet Philippines noong pandemya at ano ang kanilang naging plano para pigilan ang talent exodus? Alamin ang buong kwento sa video na ito.
Panoorin din ang buong episode ng Power Talks with Pia Arcangel:
00:00I don't know what I'm going to tell you, and I also don't know what I'm doing, but that we're going to live.
00:07We are going to live this darkness, and let us just think that we will make it through.
00:16At the onset, it gives you fear of what you're getting into, but as you continue, you just get into the process,
00:26trust the process, and live with it, and enjoy the moment.
00:36So your first entry into Bali, Philippines was as?
00:40As a board of trustees, and then treasurer, and the vice president, and the president.
00:51And now president, and how many years has it been since you assumed the presidency?
00:56Since 2019, just when we turned 50 years old. So we're 56 now. We're so old.
01:04But I read that you weren't initially keen on accepting the presidency of Bali, Philippines.
01:10Yes, it was offered to me actually nine years before that, but I was also with different boards.
01:17I was with 15 other boards at the time. And then I was thinking, I think, because I also had this habit, really, of, I don't want to be flaunting, but it's my passion, really.
01:32I would love to really look at ballets of the big companies in the world.
01:40International companies.
01:41Yes. I was really very blessed with hard work, from hard work, that I had this chance to see those ballets.
01:52And you cannot do that if you're with Bali, Philippines, because you have to be inside.
01:58You have to be in the Philippines.
02:00I know.
02:01So at one point, I have my subscriptions.
02:05I didn't cut any of my subscriptions, because it's expensive.
02:10And I said, oh, I'll just go.
02:11So that's one thing that I really didn't want to happen.
02:15I knew if I sat as their head, I won't be able to just pack and watch this show.
02:23And sometimes those shows never will happen again.
02:26These are dancers that you know you won't be able to see anymore.
02:31At one point, I was with one trustee who went to a theater, a very major theater in the world.
02:38And there was this ballerina that already retired.
02:44We were bawling.
02:46We were crying.
02:47Pia, when, you know, somehow in your life, you've come across when all the stars aligned.
02:53In ballet, when you're watching a show, it doesn't happen most of the time.
02:58Ninety-eight percent.
03:00It doesn't happen.
03:01But there's a moment when it happens, and you'll never forget that.
03:04So was anyone in the family surprised that, you know, you ended up becoming president of Ballet Philippines?
03:10I mean, I'm talking about your siblings, your parents or grandparents.
03:16Or they always knew that from the very beginning that you were really inclined towards the arts.
03:20I think it was just an organic thing, except that at one point, we were seated and I was watching the show.
03:30It was Margie, Margie Florendo, that was the president then that I got after her, the position.
03:38And my husband says, so, my, my, remember, this will be what you're going to do.
03:46Are you ready for it?
03:47And then my friend was like, why, what's happening?
03:49And my daughter said, oh, my mom, she hasn't told you yet, but she accepted to be the president.
03:56And I said, oh, I think everybody was just like, oh, yeah, no news.
04:01It wasn't a big surprise anymore.
04:04Which is funny, because, you know, it really turns your world around, everything.
04:10And then I stopped with my family business.
04:15I had to really just go through the ballet Philippines, because it takes so much of your time.
04:22It takes so much of not only the time, but the mindset of making sure that you produced and your lineup of shows are not only saleable,
04:36but it's something that will educate the audience.
04:40You know, when I came into ballet Philippines as the president, I had a little bit of, of, uh, some people saying,
04:49oh, she's going to run ballet Philippines as a business, which I did.
04:54Which is not necessarily bad.
04:55And I'm not going to deny that.
04:58I, when I came into ballet Philippines, I studied it.
05:01I studied its book.
05:02I studied its financials.
05:04Because I think, Pia, I love the buhol-buhol that they say.
05:09Ever since I was small, I love fixing buhol-buhol.
05:13You know, when there's a buhol-buhol.
05:15So you're the untire of knots.
05:16Yeah, I love that.
05:17Even in my mind, I do that.
05:19And, and so when there are problems, I love the problem solving.
05:23I think my strength really was knowing that potentially, as a business,
05:31ballet Philippines was meant to be run as a business corporation, more than anything,
05:37in order for it to sustain itself.
05:41So that means you were, um, you were at the helm, uh, right?
05:45During pandemic, at the peak of pandemic.
05:46Yes, that was, I think, the pivotal times of not only ballet Philippines,
05:54but, uh, a lot of our entertaining businesses, a lot of, even the artists, I suppose.
06:02That was the dark moment, no?
06:04At the same time, uh, it was the moment when we had to do our thing.
06:10So, uh, I didn't know anything about the digital world, but, uh, I woke up one time and I said,
06:19mm-hmm, we're going there.
06:21I don't know what is it all about, but we are going there.
06:25And I talked with my people over Zoom, and because that time was already after the,
06:32uh, the whole Philippines was closed, and I said, guys, um, I don't know what I'm going
06:39to tell you, and I also don't know what I'm doing, but that we're going to live.
06:45We are going to live this, uh, darkness, and let us just think that we will make it through.
06:53And we did.
06:55I called our communication director, Ping, Ping Valencia, and I told her,
07:03Ping, do you know anything about the website?
07:05I said, no, why?
07:07We're going there.
07:08I said, oh, my God.
07:11Yes, we're going there.
07:12From then on, we didn't, I think we would sleep only three hours, four hours,
07:17because you really didn't know what's happening.
07:19So, we did this, what you call, ballet.ph, and our main objective then was to survive.
07:30Dance, dance to survive.
07:33And so, we put up, um, a theater, a digital theater, while we CCP closed down,
07:41and we didn't want our dancers to be just there without nothing.
07:46It was a process that really was thinking about the dancers, the company, and the Filipino people.
07:55You know, Pia, when they say, uh, there's always good and bad, there's always darkness and lightness.
08:01Uh, the good thing when that happened was we were able to make a master, master class
08:08with the superstars of the ballet world, uh, in a normal time, you won't be able even to say hi to these people,
08:18or even watch them, because they are just untouchable in terms of their, their position in the world of ballet.
08:29Oh, I'm talking about the principal, uh, dancers of the Royal Ballet by Zoom.
08:36So, with Bolshoi, the Marinsky, the Australian Ballet, everybody, we had them,
08:46and we have very good artistic director, Misha Martin-Yuk, then came, uh, came aboard.
08:53He is a Russian, um, very, very well-respected, and the principal dancer of the Moscow Ballet.
09:00So, he knew all of these guys, but even he, if it's just not COVID, he would not even be able to get in touch with it.
09:08So, he would call, or I would write a letter, and say, pro bono, gratis, could you please come and, and have, uh, a master class with our dancers?
09:21And it was not monetized at all.
09:23It was free for everyone.
09:25It was open to the world, so we would have students from all over the world.
09:31At one time, we even got the Batsheva Dance Company of Israel, a modern dance company.
09:38He would even be able to talk to them.
09:41Uh, they have a schedule of five years for you to talk.
09:46We got them to teach us for a month.
09:49Oh, a month?
09:50A month, yeah.
09:51Yeah, so, all of this, uh, I could name drop everybody, and you were like, whoa, uh, that's the good point there.
09:58And, and also, the best one was really that the dancers, they were able to continue dancing, to continue training.
10:08So, when the world reopened, we were ready.
10:12We were just so ready, technically speaking.
10:16And, also, I think the confidence level was different, because they knew.
10:21One time, I was talking with this principal dancer.
10:26She even has this, this show, um, she even has a movie.
10:30And, she was coming in as a master, and a master class.
10:33And, of course, before that happened, she said, hi, hello, thank you so much.
10:37Sabi niya, why are you existing?
10:40Well, I'm in Boston now, and a lot of our dance companies that are very big are, are, right now, sleeping or dead.
10:50Ah.
10:50So, even they were surprised.
10:52They were surprised.
10:54At the onset, it, it gives you fear of what you're getting into.
10:59But, as you continue, you just get into the process, trust the process, and, and live with it, and enjoy the moment.
11:09I would always meet with the people, with my staff, and I would say to them, look, guys, let's just think.
11:15We are a Galleon.
11:17We're a Galleon.
11:18We don't know where we're heading.
11:19We're heading, there's a hurricane around us, but we have to survive, or we capsize with the ship.
11:26I said, so you have to rally behind me.
11:28As your captain, I'll either sink us, or look for a port for us to anchor safely.
11:34And, they did.
11:35They rallied behind.
11:37And, the good thing with Valley Philippines, and that's always what I'm saying, our secret weapon, I would say, is the board.
11:47Since its inception, 56 years ago, I think it's the board.
11:53It's the trustees that carries the company.
11:56They are very, very supportive.
11:58They are hands-on in a way that they know exactly what you're doing.
12:02And, because they are such pillars of the industries, that's one thing, also, that you have to really look into, also, as the head of a company.
12:12The dancers, are they well enough, are they even prepared to transcend their ballerina days?
12:20After that, it's a very short period of their lives.
12:23You need to look into that, are they dancing properly, and then thinking about how they're going to move with their careers, and are they dancing the right roles?
12:36Are they given the right exposures?
12:39You know, all those things, you have to talk it over with your artistic director, although my artistic director is sublime.
12:48I think, Valley Philippines was very, very blessed to have him.
12:54He had been giving them technicalities.
12:59When I say that, it's the techniques of the ballet discipline, which is based on the Russian Vaganova style and the discipline.
13:13So, not only that, he gives them training, but he also looks into, even sometimes he has drama classes on how the pilikmata can work it.
13:26Wow.
13:27Work your pilikmata.
13:29Not even the eyes, the eyelashes talaga.
13:32Or your eyebrow, do something with it.
13:35And the like, the partnering classes, endless of classes for that.
13:41It's just not really dancing.
13:43It's a different world.
13:44Mm-hmm.
13:45How do you prepare the ballerinas for retirement?
13:48Because like you said, they do have to retire earlier than most other people would from their jobs.
13:53So, as much as possible, like one now is pregnant, so instead of telling her, stop, come back when you're ready.
14:02So, we put her into our public relations.
14:06Ah, okay.
14:07Social media.
14:08Nice to meet you differently.
14:09Yes.
14:10And if they love it, and they become great working on that, that's another career path.
14:16Because Pia, if you don't like the dancers, they will have the talent exodus, which we're so famous of.
14:27And by exodus, you mean they go abroad?
14:29They go abroad because they dance better there.
14:32It happened a lot of times to us.
14:34Okay.
14:35It's heartbreaking.
14:36Some of our principal dancers would come, and I would really tell them, look, you're in a ballet company that can give you the stage.
14:45Own it.
14:46Mm-hmm.
14:47Because if you're abroad, what do you have?
14:50Okay.
14:51You can better yourself because, of course, it's a different world, but this is your country.
14:59Mm-hmm.
15:00This is your own.
15:02Own it.
15:03Make it as your heritage, your legacy to your children in the future.
15:09Mm-hmm.
15:10Mm-hmm.
15:11You know?
15:12Then, they're listening.
15:13Mm-hmm.
15:14Because these are very intuitively intelligent people.
15:17Mm-hmm.
15:18To be able to balance your whole body on the stage on the tiptoe.
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