Alice Reyes Dance Philippines Opens its 2025 Season with ‘Pagdiriwang’

Alice Reyes Dance Philippines Opens its 2025 Season with ‘Pagdiriwang’

Alice Reyes Dance Philippines (ARDP) launches its 2025 season with Pagdiriwang: Sayaw Alay sa Sining, a mixed bill program featuring works by celebrated choreographers, set to take the stage on April 4 and 5, 2025, 2:00 PM and 7:30 PM at the Globe Auditorium, Maybank Performing Arts Theater.

Now in its fourth season, ARDP continues its commitment to elevating Philippine dance by presenting a repertoire that spans classical ballet, neoclassical, modern, and contemporary works:

AMADA (Filipino Modern Dance), choreography by National Artist for Dance, Alice Reyes, music by National Artist for Music Lucrecia Kasilag 

Amada was choreographed in 1969 by National Artist for Dance Alice Reyes and is the first of many works in the company’s repertoire that draw from Philippine literature, lore, music, and ethnic movement.

The ballet takes inspiration from Summer Solstice, a short story by National Artist for Literature Nick Joaquin. The principal characters are Don Rafael and Doña Amada, an aristocratic couple in Catholic, Hispanic 19th-century Manila. Their traditional, authoritative, and male-dominated relationship is suddenly shaken when it is touched by the Tadtarin, a ritual during the summer solstice in which women suddenly reign supreme while dark, frenzied ceremonies celebrate death and resurrection.

Candice Adea, a multi-awarded Filipina ballerina who has been performing with the West Australian Ballet and was formerly a Principal Dancer of Ballet Philippines, will take on the titular role in Alice Reyes’ Amada. This performance marks her farewell to the Philippine stage as she begins her retirement from dance.

Premiering in 1970 and last staged in 2017, the production features set and costume design by National Artist for Theater Design Salvador Bernal, with original lighting design by Teddy Hilado.

Cast: Featuring Candice Adea as Amada, Ricmar Bayoneta as Don Rafael, and Sarah Alejandro as Tadtarin, with Monica Gana, Karla Santos, Crizza Urmeneta Francia Alejandro, Cheska Vasallo, Francine Beltran, Cielo Inday, John Ababon, Lester Reguindin, Erl Sorilla, James Galarpe, Luigie Barrera, Darylle Odejar, and Justin Joseph Fraginal

SONGS OF A WAYFARER (Modern Dance), choreography by Norman Walker, music by Gustav Mahler

Premiering in 1973 and last staged in 2017, with original lighting design by Teddy Hillado, Songs of a Wayfarer was created during a trip funded by the Embassy of the United States of America. It is the second major work choreographed by Norman Walker especially for the CCP Dance Company. Walker drew inspiration from the composer’s own experience as a young man suffering from unrequited love. In his grief, Mahler composed the bittersweet song cycle used in the ballet.

The hero broods as his beloved weds another, wandering through fields that bring no comfort but only remind him of his lost love. Tormented, he leaves town in the dead of night and spends the evening under a linden tree, where sleep finally brings peace.

Cast: Featuring Ejay Arisola as Young Man, Monica Gana as Bride, and Lester Reguindin as Groom, with Sarah Alejandro, Krislynne Buri, Karla Santos, Crizza Urmeneta, Francia Alejandro, Cheska Vasallo, Francine Beltran, John Ababon, Renzen Arboleda, Ricmar Bayoneta, Erl Sorilla, James Galarpe, Luigie Barrera, Darylle Odejar, and Justin Joseph Fraginal

MUYBRIDGE/FRAMES (Contemporary), choreography by Denisa Reyes, music by Philip Glass

Inspired by the sequential photographic study of movement by photographer Eadward Muybridge, this abstract ballet features dancers demonstrating, through a series of poses, the sequential movements of a moving picture show. Premiered in 1984 and last staged in 2014, the production features set and costume design by National Artist for Theater Design Salvador Bernal.

Cast: John Ababon, Ricmar Bayoneta, Dan Dayo, Lester Reguindin, Erl Sorilla, James Galarpe, and Luigie Barrera

The world premiere of C’EST LA CIE, a neo-classical choreography and costume design by Augustus ‘Bam’ Damian III, music by René Aubry

Augustus ‘Bam’ Damian III’s newest work for ARDP, C’est La Cie, explores Damian’s neoclassical style vocabulary. Created specifically for the company, this piece aims to highlight ARDP’s technical prowess, artistry, and explosive energy.

Cast: Monica Gana, Karla Santos, Krislynne Buri, Francia Alejandro, Crizza Urmeneta, Cheska Vasallo, Francine Beltran, Cielo Inday, John Ababon, Ejay Arisola, Renzen Arboleda, Dan Dayo, Ricmar Bayoneta, Erl Sorilla, and James Galarpe

GLINKA’S VALSE (Classical Ballet), choreography by Adam Sage, music by Mikhail Glinka 

Choreographed by Adam Sage in the neoclassical style to the music of Mikhail Glinka, this piece aims to showcase the dancers’ classical ballet technique and artistry as they embody sheer joy through movement.

Sage choreographed this piece for the Alice and Friends show on February 21, 2020, incorporating Balanchine-inspired movements from Muneca Aponte’s original 1974 Valse Fantasie.

Cast: Featuring Ejay Arisola and Monica Gana, with Sarah Alejandro, Karla Santos Krislynne Buri, Francia Alejandro, Francine Beltran, and Cielo Inday

NOCTURNE (Neo-Classical), choreography by Carlo Pacis, music by Felix Mendelssohn

Last staged in 2019, this production features the final pas de deux from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, showcasing the reconciliation of Titania and Oberon.

Cast: Renzen Arboleda and Krislynne Buri

MOON (Contemporary), choreographed by Kun-Yang Lin, music by Dead Can Dance 

Last Staged in 2017, Moon is a solo piece with contrasting moments of dynamism and stillness. The hero is a priest or acolyte of an ancient culture, performing a dance in supplication to a heavenly body.

Cast: Dan Dayo

Tickets will be available via Ticketworld.