PH ballerina Veronica Atienza receives special award at US ballet competition

MANILA, Philippines – Ballerina Veronica Atienza of the Philippine Ballet Theatre was given the Special Jury Encouragement Award for the senior category during the the USA International Ballet Competition, held at Jackson, Mississippi last June 10 to 23.

Veronica performed pieces from Giselle and Esmeralda during the first round of competition, getting the judges attention.

PBT Artist, Veronica Atienza, is now off to the Second Round (Contemporary) of the USA International Ballet Competition! Here’s a featured photo of Veronica in her Esmeralda variation during the first round of the competition. Photo by Richard Finkelstein #USAIBC2018

A post shared by Philippine Ballet Theatre (@philballettheatre) on Jun 15, 2018 at 7:10am PDT

For the second round, she did a piece called “Leap of Faith,” a contemporary solo choregraphed by Jaynario, which got her into the final round.

Missing everything about @usaibc My heart feels so full getting to see and meet such amazing dancers It’s been great!! #111 #giselle #usaibc2018 @gaynorgirls @gaynorminden photo by Richard Finkelstein

A post shared by Veronica (@veronicaatienza) on Jun 26, 2018 at 5:51pm PDT

For the last round, she performed a contemporary dance called “Tribal Princess” by Jaynario and two more performances — the Black Swan and Diana variations. The Diana won Veronica 4th place in the 2016 World Ballet Competition also held in the US.

Veronica is set to reprise her role in Philippine Ballet Theatre’s The Merry Widow this July.  She will perform in Cinderella and The Nutcracker scheduled in September and November of this year.  – Rappler.com