Leah Salterio

‘Florante at Laura’ now in ballet version

October 14, 2024 Leah C. Salterio 84 views
Macuja
Ballet Manila’s artistic director Lisa Macuja
Ryan
National Artist Rysn Cayabyab
Florante
The cast of Ballet Manila’s Florante at Laura
British
British choreographer Martin Lawrence (left) and Ballet Manila’s artistic associate Gerardo Francisco,

GETTING the music for Florante at Laura from National Artist Ryan Cayabyab was the dream and goal early on of prima ballerina Lisa Macuja, the artistic director of Ballet Manila. “But I will not deny that I was scared to ask him,” she said of Ryan.

“Last year, we were exploring the ballet and there were several names that came up,” Lisa added. “Several meetings happened with other composers last year and they even submitted samples of their works.

“It just didn’t click for us (Ballet Manila’s longtime principal dancer and artistic associate) – Gerardo Francisco, British choreographer Martin Lawrence and myself.”

Gerardo and Martin insisted, ‘Can’t we really get Mr. C to do the music?’”

A literary masterpiece written by Francisco “Balagtas” Baltazar in 1838, Florante at Laura was earlier presented on the big screen, television, theater and even puppetry. This is the first time an original ballet will be performed onstage for Florante at Laura.

“We tell the story without having to say a single word,” Lisa reiterated. “Everything that is essential to the story is told. The audience is going to understand what is going on. There were 15 battles, but we only chose the important ones.

Florante at Laura is not Ryan’s first project with Ballet Manila. He did Ang Mahiwagang Biyulin (2004) for Mga Kwento ni Lola Basyang, the last choreography ballet of the late Tony Fabella before he passed on.

“Mr. C, at that time, gave us a fantastic deal,” Lisa shared. “He said, ‘You know what, just give me P5,000 for every performance and I’m fine. I wanted to say, ‘Can we have the same for Florante at Laura? (Laughed)

“Mr. C was sometimes surprised he would receive P10,000. He asked ‘Saan ito galing?’ I told him we did two performances of Ang Mahiwagang Biyulin.”

Ang Mahiwagang Biyulin is a 24-minute, one-act ballet that was not orchestrated. The music was arranged by Arnold Buena

“When Mr. C was my guest in Art2Art, after we taped our first episode, I sneakily sat him down and told him that we have this project Florante at Laura,” recalled Lisa.

“Then I asked him, ‘Would you be free to make the music? We are aiming for an October world premiere.’ I was already counting the months to October.

“I was floored when he said yes. Okay, let’s do this. We’re on. But warned, ‘Just don’t expect anything from me until after Holy Week.’ I wasn’t expecting him to say yes. I know he was very, very busy.”

Previously, when Ballet Manila’s original works, like Gerardo Francisco’s Ibong Adarna, the Filipinized Romeo and Juliet by Martin Lawrence, Tatlong Kwento ni Lola Basyang and Tatlong Pang Kwento ni Lola Basyang, had extended reruns.

“I actually expect Florante at Laura to be as popular as our past successes in ballet,” Lisa said. “There will be a clamor for reruns. There will be reruns next year and the year after next.

Ibong Adarna has had more than 40 performances to date and is scheduled for a provincial tour next year.

“Ibong Adarna was the first Filipino full-length ballet that had an international performance in Israel (2018) for the festival there,” informed Lisa. “A whole ballet production is different from a concert type, where you have short dances put together.

“A full-length ballet that tells a story as beautiful and epic like Florante at Laura is really different. I really expect it to earn eventually. We have to get back what we invested.

“This is not as expensive as a Broadway show, but I think this is a lot better than a lot of foreign shows that we can find in the Philippines.”

Act I was done in ten days, then eight days for Act II. “But that was cumulative,” granted Ryan. “That didn’t happen in ten days straight. I sat down for six to seven hours just writing, writing and writing before I called it a day.

“Then maybe, if I’m so ganado when I woke up the next day, I will work again. I just stopped when I came to the war part. I ran out of ideas. So if you asked me if I’m expensive, (I’m) very expensive.”

The “secret” is the expense in the writing of the orchestra, as Ryan explained. “But I told Lisa, I was not going to charge her for writing a ballet, because Florante at Laura is my gift to the Filipino people. That’s Florante at Laura.”

Many of Ryan’s big works are dedicated to his art or the people. “As long as meron akong matanggap na labada, concerts here and there, that can pay for my bills. This ‘Florante at Laura,’ Lisa paid a lot for the orchestration.

“If she asked somebody else to orchestrate it, gano’n din naman ang lalabas. So, akin na lang ang pera and I agreed to orchestrate the ballet. Otherwise, I would have told her na ‘Ayoko na. Ipagawa mo na lang sa iba.”

The music of Florante at Laura turned out to be two hours. “I was calculating it, gosh, ang haba nito,” said Ryan about his latest ballet work. “Sigurado akong mamumulubi si Lisa if she asked other orchestrators to do it.

“I know the industry standards. I told Lisa, ‘Let me be the one to do it. Let me just get the money. Just package it in’.”

Surprisingly, the National Artist found it really “easy” to create the music for “Florante at Laura.”

“The script, the libretto, the story was already there,” Ryan informed. “If the story says love scene, that can easily have three minutes of music. If you read battle, that’s two minutes. The pas de deux of father and son fighting over one woman, was great.

“For me, that was enough impetus to write music that’s why I already have a guide. Everything was already in front of me. I just have to write the music.”

Ryan breathes life into his original compositions, interpreted by the Orchestra of Filipino Youth (OFY) under the baton of his son, Toma Cayabyab.

“Everything was a surprise and wonder for me,” said Ryan. “I challenged myself into accepting this landmark ballet production and I hope that it becomes an important legacy for all of us involved in it.”

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