Zaira Cosico is a

ballerina A ballet dancer is a person who practices the art of classical ballet. Both females and males can practice ballet. They rely on years of extensive training and proper technique to become a part of a professional ballet company. Ballet dancer ...

from the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. She is one of a few successful scholars of Liza Macuja's dance company, Ballet Manila. She first learned to dance at the Halili Cruz School of Dance. Cosico has been instructed in the

Vaganova method The Vaganova method is a ballet technique and training system devised by the Russian dancer and pedagogue Agrippina Vaganova (1879–1951). It was derived from the teachings of the ''Premier Maître de Ballet'' Marius Petipa, throughout the lat ...

by Tatiana A. Udalenkova of the Academy of Russia Ballet ( Vaganova Choreographic Institute). She has also worked with Viktor Savaliev, Sergey Vikulov and Evgeny Scherbakov.

Notable performances

Cosico’s most notable performance was in a ballet version of

Pinocchio Pinocchio ( , ) is a fictional character and the protagonist of the children's novel, ''The Adventures of Pinocchio'' (1883) by Italian writer Carlo Collodi of Florence, Tuscany. Pinocchio was carved by a poor man named Geppetto in a Tuscan vil ...

, in which she portrayed the Blue Fairy; however, during the entire performance, she was wearing a white tutu. In her career she has joined Ballet Manila in their European tours in

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

(2001 & 2005) and Scotland at the 2004

Aberdeen International Youth Festival Aberdeen International Youth Festival was a festival of performing arts and one of Scotland's major international cultural events, which ran from 1981 to 2017. Each year the festival brought over 1000 young people in performing arts companies ...

. She has also joined the company’s Asian performances, particularly in the 2005 Andong International Mask Dance & Folk Arts Festival in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

, the 2006 Angkor-Gyeongju World Culture Expo in

Cambodia Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline ...

, the 2007 Gyeongju World Performing Arts Festival 2007 held in

Gyeongju Gyeongju (, ), historically known as Seorabeol (, ), is a coastal city in the far southeastern corner of North Gyeongsang Province, South Korea. It is the second largest city by area in the province after Andong, covering with a population of ...

, South Korea and most recently the Nan-Ying International Folklore Festival 2007 in Nan-Ying,

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

Awards

In 2008, Cosico won third prize in the National Music Competition for Young Artists (NAMCYA) Senior Division.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cosico, Zaira Living people Filipino ballerinas Year of birth missing (living people) Entertainers from Quezon City