12 Facts About Maniya Barredo

Maniya Barredo is best known as the first and only Prima ballerina of the Philippines, an honor that was declared in 1978.

Maniya Barredo performed for the Joffrey Ballet, Atlanta Ballet, and the Les Grands Ballets Canadiens.

Maniya Barredo has taught at the Mount Dora School of Ballet and is the Founder and Director of Metropolitan Ballet Theatre.

Maniya Barredo was invited to tour with the Stars of the World Ballet.

Josephine Carmen Imutan Barredo was born in Manila, Philippines as the fourth child of Eugenio and Grizelda Barredo.

Maniya Barredo's mother was a former dancer who married at fifteen and had nine children.

Maniya Barredo began dancing at four years old, and later took ballet lessons with her aunt, Julie Borromeo.

At eighteen, Maniya Barredo left the Philippines to travel to New York where she pursued a ballet career with the Joffrey Ballet on scholarship.

Maniya Barredo remained with the Joffrey School until receiving an offer to dance with the Les Grands Ballets Canadiens.

Maniya Barredo danced multiple times with the famous Mikhail Baryshnikov, toured with the Stars of the World Ballet upon special invitation, and performed the role of Giselle at the Cultural Center of the Philippines Competition in 1978.

Maniya Barredo then continued to dance as the Philippine Ballet Theater's Prima Ballerina.

In 1998, Maniya Barredo founded her own ballet school and assumed the larger role of artistic director for Metropolitan Ballet Theatre based in Atlanta, Georgia in 1998.