13 December 2005 – The Philippine Embassy in Moscow reported to the Department of Foreign Affairs that Ballet Manila, one of the Philippines' foremost classical dance companies schooled in Russian techniques, is currently on a seven-city tour that started on 06 December 2005 and will end on 21 December 2005 of Russia's Ural Mountains, which serves as a pre-launch event for the commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of Philippine-Russian relations next year.

Ambassador Ernesto V. Llamas  said Ballet Manila (BM), led by prima ballerina Lisa Macuja, who danced for Russia's famous Kirov Ballet, started its third tour of Russia with performances in Magnitogorsk and Chelyabinsk, the largest centers of metallurgical industry in Russia both located in Chelyabinsk Oblast. Russian audiences also await them in Ekaterinburg, Perm, Kirov, Izhevsk and Tyumen.

BM's last visit to Russia was during the 25th  anniversary of RP-Russian relations, when Ms. Macuja brought her company in a return performance in St. Petersburg (Leningrad) at the Maly Theater. They also performed original Filipino choreography in Moscow, Krasnoyarsk, Yoshkar-Of, Cheboksary, Nizhny Novgorod and Novgorod Veliky.

The 26-member troupe was also joined by soloists Marian Faustino and Gerardo Francisco, who became semi-finalists in the 10th International Ballet Competition and Contest of Choreographers in Moscow in June and finalists in the 5lh Japan Ballet Competition in Nagoya in July this year.

As a scholar of the USSR Ministry of Culture, Ms. Macuja trained under former Kirov ballerina Tatiana A. Udalenkova at the Vaganova Choreographic Institute (now the Academy of Russian Ballet) starting in 1982. Finishing at the top of her class in 1984, she became the first foreigner to be invited to join the Kirov Ballet, where she danced as principal ballerina until 1986 under the tutelage of Galina P. Kekisheba.

Barroso, meanwhile, is an accomplished danseur who has also completed the special Vaganova Method Master Class program conducted by visiting instructor Udafenkova of the Vaganova Institute in 1996-2003.  He has also worked with Sergei Vikulov, Viktor Saveliev and Evgeny Scherbakov.

Ballet Manila was formed by Macuja and current Artistic Adviser Eric Cruz in 1995 as a splinter group from Philippine Ballet Theater. It espouses the Russian style, in particular the Vaganova method.

In 1995, within six months of its creation, Ballet Manila was invited to represent the Philippines at the 2nd International Music Festival of the Asia-Pacific Region in Krasnoyarsk, extending to a six-week tour of the Siberian cities of Ulan-Ude, Yakutsk and Norilsk.   In 1996, it collaborated with the Krasnoyarsk State Ballet on a three-week tour of key cities of northern and central Philippines. END