By Marivir R. Montebon
Mark your calendar this October 2025 as we celebrate Philippine History Month in the United States.
The multi-awarded Philippine Ballet Theatre brings to New York and other cities the Sarimanok, a ballet performance of the mythical colorful bird of Mindanao and a symbol of good fortune.
The Sarimanok, directed by Ron Jaynario, will be performed on October 4, 2025 at the La Guardia Performing Arts Center at 6 p.m. Presented by the Foundation for Filipino Artists, Inc. and the Reginald Lewis Foundation, local NYC artists will perform alongside the Sarimanok ballet under the musical direction of Rogelio Penaverde, Jr.
The PBT, headed by its president Marilou Magsaysay, is on its 4th annual U.S. tour. It uses ballet to express Philippine folk and pop culture. In 2024, it became the first National Performing Arts Company for Dance by the National Commission for Culture and Arts and the Cultural Center of the Philippines.
After New York, the Sarimanok will perform in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas, and Beaverton, Oregon. The U.S. tour is co-sponsored by the NCCA, CCP, Philippine Airlines, and TFC. Awesome Media, Ltd. is actively promoting it in New York.
The PBT was founded in 1986 after the EDSA uprising, as ballet artists who felt marginalized asked for government support. The CCP Dance Company was the only group which the deposed Marcos government had supported. The Aquino administration agreed to provide a small funding and a seasonal home to PBT at the Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo at the CCP Main Theater.
According to its website, the company’s founders were National Artist Leonor Orosa Goquingco, Felicitas Radaic, Julie Borromeo, Eddie Elejar, Maria Luisa “Inday” Gaston Manosa, Sony Lopez-Gonzales, Vella Damian, Basilio Villaruz, Gener Caringal, Tony Fabella, and Eric V. Cruz.
Four active dance companies, known as the “Festival Four,” comprise the PBT. These are Totoy de Oteyza and Inday Manosa’s Hariraya Ballet Company; Eddie Elejar and Tony Fabella’s Manila Metropolis Ballet; Tita Radaic, Eddie Elejar, and Julie Borromeo’s Dante Theater Philippines; Eric Cruz and Vella Damian’ Dance Concert company.
The company’s first studio was at the Classic Ballet Academy of Inday Gaston-Manosa in Makati. In 1989, the group was invited by the Lopez Group to move to Meralco Theater in Pasig.
PBT has preserved and showcased classical full-length ballets and commissioned Filipino heritage masterpieces. It harnessed the extraordinary talent of Filipino artists, not only as performers but also as choreographers. It has supported many talented youths with training through scholarships from the support of its benefactors.
Magsaysay said the PBT has intentionally quelled the impression that ballet is an elitist art form by making its dance lessons accessible to young Filipinos through regular free workshops.
Tickets to Sarimanok are $50 and $98. Email filartists@gmail.com for inquiries and purchase.
