This 47th Season of Ballet Philippines, FIREBIRD and Other Ballets is graced with both homegrown and foreign guest choreographer making this opening very unique and remarkable. It is time that we get to know them.
GEORGE BIRKADZE
Choreographer, “Firebird”
Born December 21, 1975 in
Tbilisi, Georgia. His primary dance training began at the National Academy of
Dance of Tbilisi with Wahtang Chabukiany. In 1991, his was invited to attend
the School of the Bolshoi Ballet under the direction of Genady Ladiah, former
director of the Verse Conservatoire. In 1996, Birkadze graduated with Honours
in Classical Ballet, Pas de Deux, and Traditional Dance.
Birkadze was awarded the
Gold Medal in Moscow for his brilliance in World History and Literature. During
his dance studies, Birkadze obtained his Diploma in Business Administration
with a Master in Art Direction, and Public Relations and Marketing. Upon
graduating from the School of Bolshoi Ballet, he decided to further his studies
in Dance Pedagogy. In
September of the same year, under the direction of Ekaterina Maximova,
principal ballerina of the Bolshoi Ballet, he entered the Kremlin Ballet with
director Erick Volodin (former Director of the Bolshoi Theatre) and Yuri
Grigorovich (Choreographer and Director of Bolshoi Ballet).
Some of his numerous roles
include: “The Jester” in Swan Lake, “Mercutio” and “The Clown” in Romeo and
Juliet (choreography by Grigorovich), Nutcracker, Don Quijote, Tom Sawyer,
Napoleon Bonaparte, among a plethora of others. He participated in a number of
Galas interpreting choreographic works by Y. Grigorovich, A. Petrov and V.
Vasiliev, all with European success and acclaim. He was awarded the Silver
Medal in Russia, and the Bronze Medal in Luxembourg in 1996.
In October 1999, he was
promoted to Principal Dancer in the Young Ballet of Catalonia, a company
directed by renowned teacher Rodolfo Castellanos, principal dancer of the
National Ballet of Cuba. In 2002, Birkadze created “In a Coma” for
International Dancer Angel Corella that premiered at the Gala de la Hispanidad
in Murcia, Spain. He was also named Artistic Director of BMK Company.
In the following years, he
participated in numerous productions at the Gran Teatre del Liceu of Barcelona,
while Teaching Advanced Technique in the most prestigious schools in the city.
He continued to work with Angel Corella, creating Macbeth, Taming of the Shrew,
and Celaje for the tour, Angel Corella and the Stars of American Ballet.
In 2007, he started working in Corella Ballet Castilla y Leon as a dancer and
choreographer. In 2010 joined Sarasota Ballet as a Soloist and Choreographer. Nowadays, Birkadze is a Resident
Choreographer in Festival Ballet of Providence in Boston.
Some of the featured
dancers in Birkadze’s Choreographies include iconic figures in the dance world,
in the ranks of international star Marc Peretokin, ABT principal and Principal
and Artistic Director of Corella Ballet CyL, Angel Corella, former Soloist of ABT
and Principal and Assistant Artistic Director of Corella Ballet CyL, Carmen
Corella, ABT and Corella Ballet CyL principal, Herman Cornejo, former ABT
soloist and Boston Ballet principal, Erica Cornejo, ABT principal, Cory Sterns,
ABT Soloist, Maria Riccetto, Lienz Chang of Etoile of Roland Petit, Nadezda
Grachova, and Aidar Ahmetov of the Bolshoi Theatre, Svetlana Romanova of the
Bolshoi and Kremlin Ballet, Boston Ballet Soloists Aidarys Almeida Santana, and
Joseph Michael Gatti, Het National Ballet Principal, Matthew Golding, and
Birmingham Royal Ballet Principal, Iain Mackay.
Birkadze, also an extensive
traveler, has choreographed and danced in numerous countries including Russia,
Portugal, France, and Spain; teaching, and molding the careers of professional
dancers. Having a great passion for operas, he has also performed as a dancer
and actor in countless productions with the Gran Teatre del Liceu, including Giulio Cesare, Boulevard Solitude, Turandot,
Don Carlos, Pikovaia Dama, La Gioconda,
Norma, Elisir d’amore, Cleopatra,
to name a few.
He has worked as an
Assistant Director as well, having his choreography shown in many grand
productions. His most important works are displayed in operas such as Manon, Khovantxina, L’enfant et le
sortilege, and La Gazzetta.
He has worked with
prestigious directors including Herbert Wernicke, Nuria Espert, Stein Winge,
Xavier Montsalvatge, Amilcare Ponchielli, Peter Konwitschny, Nikolaus Lehnhoff,
Mario Gas, and Francisco Negrín.
Most importantly, Birkadze
has had the great pleasure and honor of working with some of the most prominent
figures of the current cultural world, in the likes of Dario Fo, Italian winner
of the Nobel Prize of Literature in 1997, as well as the genuinely talented
David McVicar, with whom he has made many fond memories.
Also dabbling in mass
media, and entertainment, Birkadze has choreographed for the 2007 Freixenet
television commercial featuring Angel Corella and International Actress,
Gwyneth Paltrow.
DAVID CAMPOS
Choreographer, “Nenelehdej”
Born in Barcelona, David Campos began classical dance training at the
Insttituto del Teatro, Barcelona, and later in Paris with Solange Golovine
Master (Marquis de Cuevas) His ballet training began at Städtische Bühne Hagen
in Germany, culminating with the Royal Ballet of Flanders in Belgium, under the
direction of Madame Brabants and later with Valeri Panov. He became a soloist of the Royal Ballet of
Flanders at the age of 18, and with the company, danced key roles of ballets by
leading choreographers in the likes of Jiri Kyliam, Nils Christie, Valery
Panov, John Butler, Frederick Ashton, and Agnes De Mille, performing in Europe,
United States and Asia.
In 1989, he returned to Barcelona with his wife, Irene Sabas, also Royal
Ballet of Flanders soloist, to start a project company: Ballet David Campos.
With the aim of fomenting ballet in his home city, the project company right
away gained ground to establish itself as one of the most recognized, and
acclaimed professional dance projects of Catalunya and Spain, opening doors for
the ballet to perform in various towns and venues all over the country, and
internationally. With the company, Campos was able to develop his choreographic
ideas, developing his unique style of movement and modern visual conception,
strongly based on the rigorous classical technique of his dancers, combined
with new tendencies.
Since 2004, having gained residence in Teatro Sagarra, Barcelona, Campos
has created an original repertory of new choreographies. He has created
comprehensive revisions of full-length ballets, such as his own versions of
the Nutcracker, Petrushka, The Sleeping Beauty, Don
Quixote, and lately, Giselle. Campos continues to explore new movements
and innovation for the classic idiom in his works: Rock Requiem (music
Metallica), Carmina Burana (Orff), and The Mask of the Red
Death, based on Allan Poe´s story, with the music of the Finnish rock
group Apocalyptica. He is also able to create pieces on original musical
compositions such as: The Key of Jazz, Turn Me On, with a
collaboration with the Virus String Quartet, and Eurasia, a multicultural
reflexion through dance between the two giant continents, Asia and
Europe, amongst other works.
Aside from company activity and creativity, Campos and Sabas have also
founded their own dance center and school in Barcelona: the Escola Ballet David
Campos, specializing in classical dance, and initiating pre-professional
and professional dance courses. The school has produced outstanding students,
including Aleix Martinez, 2008 Gold Medallist in the prestigious Prix de Lausanne Competition in
Switzerland.
CARLO PACIS
Choreographer, “Shifting Wait”
Carlo is a dancer, teacher, and choreographer who joined the Hong Kong Ballet
after graduating with First-class Honours from the Hong Kong Academy for
Performing Arts in 1998. As a senior
soloist in the company he essayed lead roles in ballets such as The Merry
Widow, Madame Butterfly, Romeo and Juliet, Swan Lake, and Firecracker, and was
a principal in abstract works such as Balanchine’s Rubies and Stanton Welch’s
Clear. He received the Hong Kong Dance
Award in 2002 for his technical artistry and
the depth of his dramatic reading
of roles. In the twelve years he
spent with the company he worked
closely with Alexander Grant,
Natalie Weir, Stephen Baynes, Wayne Eagling, Irek Mukhamedov, Ronald Hynd,
Bengt Jorgen, Merrill Ashley, Stephen Jefferies, and John Meehan.
He began choreographing for the company’s workshops and educational
programs in 1999 and had the premier of his first one-act ballet, Beatles On A
String, in 2004. In 2006 his work,
There’s A Fly In This Soup, was invited to the 1st Asia Pacific Ballet Festival
in Seoul, Korea. He did the additional
choreography for the company’s Swan Lake in August 2007 and this production has
been taken overseas on tour. In October
2007, he was given an opportunity to work with Opera Hong Kong, choreographing
for their production of Aida which was also restaged for the Beseto Opera in
Seoul, Korea that same year. He obtained
his Master of Fine Arts in Dance degree from the HKAPA in 2009. His work for Ballet Philippines, Shifting
Wait, which was based on his MFA thesis project, received a GAWAD BUHAY 2010
from PhilStage for Outstanding Choreography for a Dance Production. Most recently, his full-length version of
Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream premiered in Manila and received from
PhilStage, 11 nominations including Outstanding Choreography for a Dance Production.
Currently, he works freelance and is based in Hong Kong. He teaches in the full-time and Gifted Young
Dancer Program at the HKAPA; is Associate Artistic Director of the Youth Ballet
of Asia; is involved in the projects of various local and international
institutions such as the Asian Grand Prix International Ballet Competition, The
Hong Kong Dance Alliance and Ballet Philippines; and is a Stott© Pilates and
CoreSuspend™ Instructor and a CoreBarre™ Intructor Trainer.
DWIGHT RODRIGAZO
Choreographer, “Moving Two”
Choreographer, “Moving Two”
Dwight Rodrigazo has had a long history with Ballet Philippines, with
whom he has toured all over Asia, Europe and the USA. He was a former Principal
Soloist of the company, and has been a choreographer and dance teacher for
several years. Mentored by Agnes Locsin, he was one of the performing artists
“Moriones” and “Babaylan” which garnered the Silver medal and was awarded the
Prince Takamado Award in the International Choreographer’s Concourse in Tokyo,
Japan.
In 1996, he accepted a residency grant with the Brumachon Center
Choreographique National de Nantes in France, and represented the Philppines in
the 2003 Edinburgh International Arts Festival in Scotland and in the
International OFF-Festival in Avignon, France with Paul Morales that same year.
He was a former Associate Artistic Director and Chief Choreographer of Airdance
Philippines, and has been a dance workshop conductor of the British Council of
the Philippines, the Cultural Center of the Philippines, and the National
Commission for Culture and the Arts. He is also an accredited ballet teacher of
the Australian Conservatory of Ballet (ACB).
Rodrigazo has four full-length ballets to his credit, all critically
acclaimed: “Indios Bravos” for Airdance, “Tsukat Yeshua” for Dance, Inc., and
most recently, “Karga Tapas” and “Port Links for the Dance Pull Project. An
excerpt from “Indios Bravos” garnered Airdance the prize for Best Young
Contemporary Dance Theater Group of the Philippines during the 3rd
Mindanao National Modern Dance Competition in 2004. Another of his critically
acclaimed pieces was “Bread of Angels” on which he collaborated with
award-winning theater director Anton Juan, and was presented in the 1993
Neo-Filipino production in CCP. He also choreographed the dance series of the
24-hour live band concert, “Bistro sa Amoranto.” His works have continuously
been commissioned by various dance companies and dance schools around the
country. In May 1997, he was awarded “Artista sang Banwa” (Artist of the Town)
in the field of dance in Murcia, Negros Occidental.
He recently formed and conducted the Composition and Movement Analysis
Program (C-MAP) for Choreographers and Dance Teachers held in Bacolod City,
Negros Occidental Philippines. The program teaches the choreographers how to
sculpt movements through ideas/visualization and construct through intuition,
knowledge, and creativity. Its objectives are to further develop the
choreographer’s and dance teacher’s knowledge, intuition, and creativity in
crafting dances in the Philippines, and to create an environment where
choreographers and dance teachers could freely exchange thoughts and ideas.
Accompanying this program is a syllabus containing learnings from Rodrigazo’s
vast resource of choreographic studies and experiences derived from his time as
a dance scholar in France as well as his many years in creating dance, mentored
by Denisa Reyes, Edna Vida, and Agnes Locsin.
Currently, he is the Artistic Director of the Dance Pull Project Inc.,
and the owner of the Dance Pull School of Performing Arts, based in Bacolod
City. Not only do his students compete in prestigious dance competitions such
as the Asian Grand Prix, but they often emerge as finalists. His school is the
Center of the Australian Conservatory of Ballet Training and Examination
Program, Visayas Chapter.
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