isa Macuja-Elizalde is poetic whirlwind – she twirls with the agility of a storm and pirouettes as lightly as snowflakes waltzing in a milky air on a December morning. He intensity is quieted by her grace: she can lift her legs up to her ear, pull her back to a perfect arch, exceed the usual movements of the human body. “Technically, I'm really strong to the point I've always been accused of making my performances look like circus acrobatics. My main argument there, if you can do it, why not? Show it. When the performance calls for subtlety and less showmanship, that's when I rein myself in,” the top graduate from the Academy of Russian Ballet says.

“As a ballerina, you must not be afraid of making mistakes. You have to go onstage and you have to feel that I'm the most beautiful, most talented, perfect ballerina in the world',” she smiles. It's a technique that has wafted her from a eight-year-old in tutus to a phenomenon in mid-air. She has weightlessly thrown herself to performances as prima ballerina in over 80 cities and five continents. Her repertoire speaks of the best in ballet. Swan Lake, Giselle, La Bayadere, Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker, Le Corsaire, La Fille Mal Gardee, Coppelia, Romeo and Juliet, Carmen, Les Sylphides, El Amor Brujo, Serenade and Pineapple Poll. She once received a 25-minute standing ovation after playing the role of Kitri in Don Quixote for the 260-year-old company Kirov Ballet in St. Petersburg . Back in 2001, no less than Russian President Vladimir Putin conferred the Order of International Friendship to her. She was once recognized as one of the Ten Outstanding Young Persons of the World.

AS she celebrates the twentieth year since she returned from Russia to become the country's foremost ballerina, she still ahs her ballet shoes on. It's not my retirement year,” she says. “I'm fortunately that I'm turning 42 and I'm still able to do these things. I'm the only ballerina in my generation who is still dancing.” Until February next year, Lisa will stage the most unforgettable performances of her career in the Elizalde-owned Aliw Theater as part of this year-long celebration. Backing her up in this classical rendezvous is her brainchild, Ballet Manila, which she also directs.

Ballet Manila stands for Lisa Macuja's dream to give world-class classic ballet performances to the public. “I want to raise awareness for ballet to become a viable form of entertainment in the digital age. I want the classical ballet dancers to feel secure to the point that they know they have an audience who will watch them perform on a regular basis. They will be able to put their kids to school, raise their family on a dancer's salary. I don't want dancing to be known as a hobby. It's viable profession, and that can only be done through audience development.”

And that's why she still saunters to the Ballet manila studio everyday and starts her morning with leg exercises and grand battement. Lisa Macuja-Elizalde stretches herself for others and tiptoes to their dreams, tirelessly tipping out magic on the dance floor, onto the stage and into the world.

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