Jennifer Olayvar

Jennifer Olayvar
Born	Jennifer Rose Olayvar Philippines
Nationality	Filipino
Known for	Ballet
Movement	Classical and Modern

Jennifer Rose Olayvar is a contemporary ballerina from the Philippines. She has been a dancer for Ballet Manila since 2000. She had been the special assistant to Lisa Macuja-Elizalde from 2004 to 2007. Olayvar has taken minor and intermediate examinations in the Royal Academy of Dance in London, England.

Career

Olayvar studied ballet at Goldcrest Dance Workshop under the tutelage of Jinggay Formoso and Josette Salang. In 1995, she transferred to Steps Dance Studio where she trained with Sofia Zobel de Ayala-Elizalde and Raul Sauz. At Steps, she has danced the lead roles of Sugar Plum Fairy for "The Nutcracker", Princess Aurora in the "Sleeping Beauty" to name a few. Olayvar came to the attention of the Ballet Manila when she was able to get the principal role of Giselle in July 2000 when the Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) held local auditions in the Philippines. She joined Ballet Manila right after where she stayed with the company until 2007 but returned after a year of absence. In an interview with Pointe Magazine, Olayvar pointed out that Ballet Manila is not state funded and the dancers do not have contracts, instead they are paid from the troupe’s performances.

Notable performances

Olayvar has danced the principal roles of Lise in "La Fille Mal Gardee", Kitri in "Don Quixote Grand Pas de Deux", Giselle in "Giselle", Gulnara in "Le Corsaire", Micaela in "Carmen" and (up-coming) Sinderela in "Sinderela". She has essayed the Fairy Doll rendition of Ballet Manila in 2001 and had been a soloist in the 2002 performance of Markitanka Pas de Six. She has joined the company’s performances for La Bayadere, Romeo & Juliet, Carmen, Don Quixote, Paquita, Firebird, Nutcracker, Le Corsaire, La Fille Mal Gardee, OPM & OPB, Swan Lake, Pinocchio, Giselle, Halo-Halo and Tatlong Kwento ni Lola Basyang. In 2005 Jennifer Olayvar joined the 8th Asia Arts Festival held in China. Her other tours includes the 2004 Aberdeen International Youth Festival in Scotland, the 2004 & 2005 USA Tour, the 2005 Andong Mask Dance Festival in South Korea, the 2005 Russia Tour, the 2006 Angkor-Gyeongju World Culture Expo in Cambodia, and the 2011 England, Ireland, and South Korea Tour. In 2008, guest choreographer Sergey Vikulov selected three lead couples where Olayvar was one of the dancers chosen to perform in La Fille Mal Gardée (The Naughty Daughter).

Personal life

Jennifer Olayvar is a bachelor's degree graduate majoring in International Studies from De La Salle University where her undergraduate thesis in which she got a perfect score of 4.0 was about the comparative study of ballet in the Philippines and Russia. Olayvar was also an active cheerleader of the Pep Squad organization in DLSU. She briefly became a flight stewardess and left Ballet Manila in 2007 but came back to the company after a year of absence. Currently, she is a faculty staff member of the Ballet Manila School and at the same time she is also holding the role of marketing consultant within Ballet Manila.

Olayvar has always been the athletic type - enjoying football in her High School alma mater at the Colegio San Agustin (CSA) in Dasmarinas Village, Makati. Being a team varsity of the CSA Soccer team and a pioneer of the Boosters (cheerleading varsity) squad, she also played for Makati Football School and had been a part of the champion team during the 1997 Metro Manila Girls Football Association, the Alaska Cup, and many more. She had also joined in 3 international football tournaments - the Helsinki Cup in Finland, the Gothia Cup (said to be the "World Cup" for the youth) in Sweden and the Pondus Cup in Denmark.