travelswithalice

Manila is slowly becoming just another stop these days.  So it now takes pride of place in my travel blog.

I've been back a mere two days and already my fledgling healthy diet has crashed.

Saturday's meals started off well enough with veggie soups, salads, and whole wheat pasta with even more veggies. We claimed entitlement to a dollop of cream in our soup. We've been good after all.

Then came the killer. Dessert. Is there anyway to justify sticky toffee pudding? Or a stack of lemon meringue in a pool of caramel sauce?

Never mind. All is forgiven. We'll start afresh.

We started over Sunday. Very commendable breakfast of oatmeal, fruits, coffee with soy milk. An A+ for lunch of tomato soup and pasta for Stuart, fish for me. No dessert.

In the afternoon, Stuart left for Singapore. Baby, Annette, and I dropped him off at the airport on our way to Lisa Macuja's final performance of Giselle.

We had an hour to kill. We thought it best to have a little snack before the ballet which was starting at the inconvenient time of 5:30. Right. Has to be quick and not too far. The offerings at the Star City complex didn't appeal.

We drove on. Starbucks? Not really. Pancake House? Yes! Really? Yes, really!

And that's how we found ourselves happily smacking our lips, snacking on pancakes and French toast. Baby didn't mind what we were having as long as it came with maple syrup.

And so ends this sad short tale of woe.


But the night was young and the evening's main event was yet to come.

Diet failures forgotten, we excitedly took our seats in the newly renovated Aliw Theater with its spanking new orchestra pit. We were excited and proud because the star we came to celebrate is, like all three of us, a Theresian and a Filipina.

And what a star she is! This Giselle is an unqualified triumph! We wore out our hands clapping and my tender throat, recently recovered from a bad cough, was sorely tested with every call of "BRAVA, LISA!"

Lisa Macuja was magnificent. In fine form. Still the perfect wraith, the quintessential wisp of a girl, soft and tremulous as a whisper. In character as the tragically besotted innocent, she was visibly heartbroken and heartbreakingly passionate in this her final performance of the role that has brought her acclaim.

And so was she last night in real life, as Lisa the prima ballerina, not quite willing to give up this part of her dancing life.  She was in tears, at times shaking her head and covering her face with her hands, as she took her final bows to wild applause and mighty cheers from a nearly full house.

(She wasn't the only one in tears. Seated beside me, Annette had started to cry half way through the programme.)

I am not a dancer so I'm not qualified as a critic. But I declare that the Giselle I saw last night was polished, precise, controlled, and very beautiful.