By Caesar Vallejos
Eagle News Service
“It’s amazing,” Joseph Gatti, the former principal dancer with Cincinnati Ballet and Corella Ballet said about working with Filipino artists.
Gatti was featured as the international guest artist who played the role of Basilio in Ballet Philippines’ (BP) staging of Don Quixote at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP). It runs from February 9-18, 2018.
“This is one of the best companies I have guested for. Their encouragement and their hunger for dance…has been an inspiration for me as well,” Gatti said. BP’s Don Quixote is “an incredible production,” he added.
Respect
Gatti, also a winner of various prestigious international ballet competitions including the New York International Ballet Competition and World Ballet Competition, said that Ballet Philippines showed “respect and hard work and enjoying it too.” He further defined enjoying it as “really getting close to each other like a family. They work hard but they also make it fun.”
“It’s really hard to find it in a company world with ballet companies,” he emphasized. “There’s so much respect and love in this company that I haven’t seen in a long time,” Gatti said.
“Ballet Philippines is so different. I’ve been freelancing and danced with so many different companies and this whole group and their energy has inspired me so much as I don’t see that very much these days – a company where everyone is working on that same level,” Gatti described.
“They’re so kind and respectful and it makes it much easier to perform in an environment like that,” he noted.
Gatti has danced in international ballet galas in the USA, South America, Japan, Europe and Russia. In the Philippines, he partners with BP’s resident guest artist Candice Adea with the live performances of the Manila Symphony Orchestra conducted by Jeffrey Solares.
The Filipino audience is ‘fantastic’
“I love the people. The Filipino audience is fantastic,” Gatti said.
I hope to come back, I’d be honored to come back,” he said.
“That inspiration – doing what you love (dancing) because it’s not going to last forever is what I will definitely bring back with me.”
“It reopened my eyes because I am 33 now. In ballet, at 30, they would say ‘oh your level is dropping’.”
At the gala night last February 9, Gatti’s fierce and fun performance as Basilio was the most intense and his stage presence was powerful giving Don Quixote’s signature leaps, constant turns, and high lifts a more spectacular execution.
Gatti said his energy and power on stage “comes from the mind, the will to push forward.”
“I was brought up by my parents never to give up. When you’re tired, you push it for more. And I process that in my work ethic and I prepare that way as well and when I’m on stage it really assists me to use my energy at the right moment with the accents and the music,” Gatti narrated.
“It’s been a big thing in my family to never give up, to work hard and work smart,” Gatti said.
What ballet companies are missing
“In Ballet Philippines, there are a few standouts who inspire me – Francis (Cascano), Victor (Maguad) and Ian (Ocampo) are standouts; Jemima (Reyes), Denise (Parungao) and of course, Candice (Adea). Some of them are very young, they’re always watching and they are learning from each other which is very important,” Gatti said.
Aside from Gatti and Adea, the principal roles of Kitri and Basilio are portrayed by BP company members Jemima Reyes, Monica Gana, Victor Maguad and Ian Ocampo.
He also announced opening his ballet company in Florida based in summer (where most dancers in America are on a lay-off).
“I’m going to incorporate what I have been doing on my own as a freelance dancer, incorporating conditioning and swimming as we are athletes as well.”
He said that there should be a balance’. “I think that, in a lot of ballet companies, that’s missing because (to them) it’s all about rehearsals. As dancers, we are also athletes, and we need to be cared for as athletes. As a freelance dancer, I learned that going to the gym and making those exercises are very very important as these will give you a healthier and longer career in dance,” Gatti concluded.
‘You’re never too good to get better’
According to BP Don Quixote’s Regisseur Adam Sage, the dancing part of the ballet is the easy part. “The difficult part is getting the story across because there are a lot of side stories at the same time as the main story. I directed it in a way that the audiences look to the right place at the right time, and that they don’t miss the little things that make it so charming,” he explained.
“I asked Joseph if he was willing to do this and thankfully he agreed,” Sage remembered. “He is charming, an amazing artist, very professional. And a very regular guy,” Sage said.
“He fits in very well, he is very welcoming to the dancers, helping when he can by giving advise, corrections. And he still takes corrections from me,” Sage added.
While he has already choreographed over 50 works in nearly three decades of his career that spanned four continents, Adam Sage said: “I still learn from them every day, and they learn from me.”
“You’re never too good to get better,” the Ballet Master said.
