Ballet as educational entertainment

The teenagers yesterday were lined up to watch Ballet Manila's original two-act Filipino ballet "Alamat: Si Sibol at Si Gunaw" (Legend: Bloom and Doom). Based on an illustrated children's book written by Ed Maranan, the ever-old, ever-new story contrasts love of family vs. love of power and teaches children to care for our environment. The original choreography and the costumes were based on Filipino folkloric traditions, most of them from Filipino Muslim culture. The production was a spectacle of colors and special effects, with the mother goddess Luningning (Brilliance), danced by Lisa Macuja-Elizalde, flying between heaven and earth on a moving platform attached to a track on the ceiling or using a harness. Ballet purists would have gone into conniptions, and at first, I also found it odd to see ballerinas in tribal costumes dancing en pointe but then I thought, "Why not?" Who says that ballets have to have tutus and European costumes? When I got over that hump, I could accept the production for what it was and had a grand time. The teenagers obviously had no such preconceptions and thoroughly enjoyed the ballet, judging from their enthusiastic applause throughout the performance.