The Voice Winner Mitoy Yonting Leads Guest In 'Sayaw At Serye' That Aims To Bring Ballet To The Masses

‘THE VOICE of the Philippines” winner Mitoy Yonting and his co-finalists will be the special guests in “Sayaw at Serye, An Evening of Teleserye, Musical Theatre and Dance”, to be held at the CCP Main Theatre on November 15 and 16, 8 PM, staged by the Philippine Ballet Theatre under current Pres. Concepcion “Chacha” Camacho who also wrote the show’s libretto loosely based on the rumored romance between prima ballerina Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev who were legends in ballet. Members of the board of trustees who help Chacha are Marichu Nepomuceno (the next president who owns the schools Center for Movement and Music at Don Antonio and White Plains and is the wife of president of Petron), Maridel Villavicencio (wife of Vicvic Villavicencio who owns Saisaki, Kamayan and Dad’s) and Vicky Magadia. They aim to bring ballet closer to the masses, with the help of ABS-CBN Pres. Charo Santos Concio. “We’re teleserye fans so we’re combining ballet with songs from teleseryes like ‘Juan de la Cruz’ and ‘Walang Hanggan’,” adds Chacha. “Kasi we do mall shows and to attract mall goers who can relate to it, we’re using songs like ‘Sana Maulit Muli’ and ‘Ngayon at Kailanman’ to show ballet is not elitist at pang-mayaman lang.”

“Sayaw at Serye” is the story of Margarette (played by ballet legend Julia Borromeo), an elderly lading reminiscing about her younger days as an aspiring ballerina who falls in love and has to choose between love and career. Margarette at 13 is played by Rianna Villavicencio Lago (granddaughter of Maridel, he dad is cager Dwight Lago) and in her 20s, by Bianca Troscino. Also featured is the ABS-CBN Philharmonic Orchestra under Maestra Gerard Salonga, with choreography by artistic director Ron Jaynario.

Organized by such dance icons as the late National Artist Leonor Goquingco, Tita Radaic, Eddie Elejar, the late Tony Fabella, Sony Lopez and with Julie Borromeo as chair of their artistic council, Philippine Ballet Theatre recruits their ballerinas from well off female students. But most wealthy young men would rather go into sports or other fields so they recruit their danseurs from the grassroots. They offer free training to out of school youth, trained through grants course through organizations like Mandaluyong Sayaw Foundation or the Quezon City Performing Arts. All their dancers will perform in classical pieces and teleserye inspired numbers in “Sayaw at Serye” which promises to be an evening of truly theatrical dance musical concert. For tickets, call Philippine Ballet Theatre at 632-8848, Ticketworld at 891-9999 and CCP Box Office at 812-3704.