Marika Desembrana
Training and Honors
Marika’s dancing journey began in 1999 under Ms. Ianne Damian and Ms. Melanie Motus at the IDMM Ballet School. Seeing her love for dance, she was encouraged by her teachers to take classes at PBT in 2008. After a year, she was invited to join PBT as a scholar. Her first company production was “Ang Pasaway and other ballets” which was followed by “Mir-I-nisa”. From then on, she has been dancing with PBT in major productions and provincial tours.
Eventually Marika was promoted as company apprentice. In 2011, she studied in Melbourne, Australia for one term at The Australian Conservatoire of Ballet (ACB) under Christine Walsh, Valmai Roberts and other teachers. She returned to PBT and performed in “Romeo and Juliet". While still an apprentice of PBT, she continued to train with her teachers and received a mark of Distinction in the ACB Level 4 Examinations in 2012 and Highly commended in ACB Level 5 Examinations in 2013.
She was offered a place as a member of the company in 2013. As a company member she danced in classical ballets such as “Le Corsaire”, “Don Quixote”, “Carmen", “The Merry Widow”, as well as in PBT originals such as “Darangen ni Bantugen", “Vinta", and “Andres Bonifacio". Marika graduated with a degree in BA Linguistics at the University of the Philippines.
Performances
Her notable performances include the Dance of the Reed Flutes and Tea of China in “The Nutcracker” and wittily essayed the role of Rita in the restaging of Gener Caringal’s “Pilipino Komiks”. She also danced in the Philippine production of the musical “The King and I".