MANILA, Philippines ? When Lisa Macuja dances Kitri in ?Don Q? this weekend (October 9-11), she shall have logged 25 years in professional ballet. Through the years, she has kept her faith on her art (she knows dancing doesn?t make one a millionaire), and her passion for dance has remained steadfast (she knows ballet attracts only an elite minority so she invaded noontime TV shows and town plazas to bring ballet to the masses). She knows she will have to work doubly hard to keep a ballet company going.

Yes, Lisa is wearing many hats and wears them well.

At home, she is Mrs. Fred Elizalde and mother to three kids (Sasha, Michelle Elizabeth, and Manuel Cesar). In the office, she is head of a ballet company and a ballet school.

In BM?s latest season opener, Macuja was dreamy, essaying various moods while balancing between reality and fantasy. This was during the world premiere of Sergey Vikulov?s ?Madness? to the Chopin-like music of Charles Valentine-Alkan.

Big surprise

But it was in Petipa?s ?Paquita? that Lisa pulled a big surprise. To the pulsating music of Minkus, Lisa showed her impeccable sense of line in the slow part and the dazzling turns in the finale.

She intimates on what was hard about her latest ?Paquita.?

?The toughest part for me is sustaining the performances throughout the entire weekend run,? she says. ?I still tend to give my all during opening night and my recovery period is a lot longer now. So, the next day after opening night, I felt really drained and tired but I still had three performances to get through. I also find it easier to dance the classics first ? and then tackle the contemporary. As artistic director, I was able to program the works accordingly to get the best out of myself.?

She guested in the controversial ?Imelda and the Seven Arts? show at the CCP, along with Cecile Licad and other leading Filipino artists. She did a week-long tour of Davao, Dumaguete and Cebu.

Then she plunged into rehearsals for her birthday treat in which she was reunited with her previous dance partners ? premiere danseurs Nonoy Froilan and Osias Barroso and Christopher Mohnani, a pioneer of Ballet Manila who went on to become a principal dancer for the Nashville Ballet.

Lisa reflects how it is dancing at age 45 on her 25th year in professional ballet. ?It?s like living a miracle day after day,? she says.

?I still devote most of my afternoons to dancing and rehearsing. But, every time I stand up and dance in the studio or onstage, I realize that I am very, very fortunate to still be able to do this at my age. So many younger dancers have retired before me.?

She adds: ?I work very, very hard and I still push my body to the limits. It is more painful now and the process of going onstage takes some time, even to warm up and to cool down after a show. I have had to make adjustments. But overall, I am just plain happy and grateful that I?m still dancing.?

Staying power

She attributes her staying power to discipline and a genuine love for dancing. ?I also like to think that having a flexible body and soft legs that are malleable for ballet?s demands has helped me a lot. It is a bonus that I also lead and direct my own ballet company so this gives me the ability to control my schedule and choose the roles that I dance.?

To be sure, her company has grown up beyond her expectations from the initial 12 members when it started in 1995 to a whole company of 45 dancers to date. And the surprising thing is that it has more male dancers than female, which is unusual in a classical-ballet company.

Lisa recalls that when they started, they had no home studio and theater. ?Now we have three ballet studios and two home theaters averaging 300 performances a year. I would say that the challenge right now for us is to keep coming up with innovative choreographies and keeping our audiences interested in the classics as well. One of the greatest challenges that face BM will be the transition period in the future when I retire from the stage.?

What more can she ask after 25 years of dancing?

?I wish for more audiences for the ballet, more challenging and interesting roles to perform, and making new discoveries in old roles. I also wish for new roles that will keep me interested in continuing to challenge and push myself.?

Lisa Macuja-Elizalde dances Kitri in ?Don Quijote? on October 9-11 at the Aliw Theater, CCP Complex, Pasay City. For tickets, call Ballet Manila at 5255967. Or visit www.ticketworld.com.ph or call 8919999.