Cuban dancer keeps dream alive after rehab from rare immune disorder

Record ID: 1685952

  • Title: Cuban dancer keeps dream alive after rehab from rare immune disorder
  • Date: 24th August 2022
  • Summary: HAVANA, CUBA (AUGUST 18, 2022) (REUTERS) DANCERS OF CUBA’S NATIONAL BALLET (BNC) REHEARSING FIRST DANCER AT BNC, YANKIEL VAZQUEZ, REHEARSING DANCER’S FEET VARIOUS OF VAZQUEZ REHEARSING (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) FIRST DANCER AT CUBA’S NATIONAL BALLET (BNC), YANKIEL VAZQUEZ, SAYING: “I joined the company in 2011 and suffered from an illness, the Guillain-Barré syndrome, which left me incapacitated. I had to begin rehabilitation; first, I had to learn how to walk again. That took several months. Then came the more challenging part when I arrived at Cuba's National Ballet. The physical preparation was harder and more complicated. I experienced a lot of pain. It was hard because I came with my illness, and they label you as if you are still weak, but thanks to rehabilitation, I was able to carry on and became the first dancer.”
  • Embargoed: 7th September 2022 12:02
  • Keywords: ballet dancer
  • Location: HAVANA, CUBA
  • City: HAVANA, CUBA
  • Country: Cuba
  • Topics: Arts/Culture/Entertainment,South America / Central America
  • Reuters ID: LVA001021823082022RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:Cuban dancer Yankiel Vázquez thought his dream of dancing with Cuba's National Ballet was finished when a rare neurological disorder nearly crippled him several years ago.
    The 29-year-old man, a native of the town of Mantua, in rural western Cuba, had joined the ballet in 2011.
    Shortly after, he was stricken with Guillain-Barré syndrome, a rare but often debilitating condition in which the immune system attacks the nerves, sometimes paralyzing one's extremities.
    He returned to the ballet and this year, he became a "first dancer," an elite distinction within the ballet made even more impressive by his battle against the disorder.
    "Reaching 'First Dancer' is what one dreams of as a child," he told Reuters.
    Cuba's National Ballet, founded in 1948 in Havana and later supported by Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution, is among the world's most renowned ballet companies.
    An associated school has graduated thousands of dancers onto the world stage over several decades.
    The companies 70 dancers have long benefitted from a team of physiotherapists who keep performers healthy, according to Viengsay Valdés, director of the National Ballet of Cuba, including those who helped nurse Vazquez back to health.
    A team of physiotherapists arrived recently from Chile to compare notes with their expert counterparts from Cuba and to help condition Cuban dancers for upcoming performances.
    (Production: Nelson Gonzalez, Mario Fuentes, Anett Rios, Nina Lopez)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2022. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
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