Dancer was picked up

Press, 7 December 1988, Page 9

Dancer was picked up

By ANABRIGHT HAY When the Chinese dancer Ou Lu first met his Juliet, Lisa Macuja, he picked her up, not because he fancied her, but to test her weight. On stage the lovers meet at a masked ball in Verona, but Ou Lu and Lisa Macuja, who dance the guest principal roles in the Royal New Zealand Ballet’s “Romeo and Juliet,” first met at Hong Kong International Airport. The dancers have never danced together before, visited New Zealand or danced the roles of Shakespeare’s starcrossed lovers. But the pair are far from inexperienced, having amassed a formidable list of roles and accolades in their dancing careers.

Macuja had her initial training in her homeland of the Philippines. From 1978 to 1982 she was a soloist with the Philippines Dance Theatre. Then came

a U.S.S.R. Ministry of Culture Scholarship to the Leningrad Choreographic Institute for two years. Graduation in 1984, with an excellent rating, was followed by performances at the Kirov Theatre and an invitation to join the Kirov Ballet from 1984 to 1986. On returning to the Philippines in 1986, Macuja was appointed first Artist-in-Residence of the Cultural Centre of the Philippines in Manila. Ou Lu is a graduate of Beijing Dance Academy and was a leading dancer with that city’s company from 1979 to 1984, appearing in several classical principal roles As a leading dancer for the Chinese Central Ballet Company, he has performed extensively overseas and has won places in international, ballet competLastnSyear he won second place for men’s solos in the fifth Osaka International Ballet competition in Japan.