Ballet Manila (see yesterday's post), aside from principal ballerina Lisa Macuja-Elizalde, may not be as technically proficient as Ballet Philippines but it has done more to make ballet accessible to the masses. They choose pieces with strong story lines, tickets cost a fraction of Ballet Philippines', and when you do buy a ticket, you also get a free all-day pass to Star City, the indoor-outdoor amusement park right beside the Aliw Theater. I confess though that I've never been inside. The most I've done is walk down that sidewalk and if it weren't for Arabesque, I would never have noticed just how funky their doorways are.