Maniya Barredo was born Josephine Carmen Barredo in Manila, Philippines, as the fourth child of Eugenio and Grizelda Barredo. Barredo's father owned the Mabar Trucking Company. Her mother was a former dancer who married at fifteen and had nine children. Barredo credits her mother for influencing her decision to pursue dancing as a career. Barredo began dancing at four years old, and later took ballet lessons with her aunt, Julie Borromeo. Borromeo was one of Manila's most famous ballet dancers. By the age of nine, Barredo had her own children's TV show, which helped support the education of her siblings.
Ballet Career
At eighteen, Barredo left the Philippines to travel to New York where she pursued a ballet career with the Joffrey Ballet on scholarship. Upon arriving, Barredo faced scrutiny from the director of the school, Robert Joffrey. Having noticed that her weight had increased, Joffrey insulted Barredo, telling her that she should pursue a nursing career instead of ballet like "most Filipino women" did. After a year of hard work, Barredo succeeded in proving Joffrey wrong and later received positive recognition in the form of a changed name. According to Barredo, Joffrey renamed the dancers in whom he saw potential. Thus, Barredo was given the name of "Manila" after the largest city in the Philippines. Barredo remained with the Joffrey School until receiving an offer to dance with the Les Grands Ballets Canadiens. In 1976, her career with Les Grands Ballets Canadiens climaxed. Renowned Cuban Prima Ballerina, Alicia Alonso, specially chose Barredo to perform on behalf of Canada at Cuba's International Ballet Festival. After this distinction, Barredo continued to dance. She 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. After this performance, Barredo was honored with the Gawad CCP Para Sining Award of Excellence given to her by the Philippine President. Because of this, the renowned ballerina, Dame Margot Fonteyn, gave Barredo the distinction of Prima Ballerina. Barredo then continued to dance as the Philippine Ballet Theater's Prima Ballerina. After this career, Barredo returned to the United States to take the position of Prima Ballerina for the Atlanta Ballet where she would dance for twenty years before retiring.
Later Life
After retiring from the Atlanta Ballet, Barredo pursued a teaching career where she became the artistic consultant to Atlanta's and the Cultural Attache for the Philippines. In 1998, Barredo founded her own ballet school and assumed the larger role of artistic director for based in Atlanta, Georgia in 1998.
