CUBA: BALLET LEGEND ALICIA ALONSO TRAINS TOP DANCERS AT CUBA'S NATIONAL BALLET SCHOOL,
Record ID:
754130
CUBA: BALLET LEGEND ALICIA ALONSO TRAINS TOP DANCERS AT CUBA'S NATIONAL BALLET SCHOOL,
- Title: CUBA: BALLET LEGEND ALICIA ALONSO TRAINS TOP DANCERS AT CUBA'S NATIONAL BALLET SCHOOL,
- Date: 24th September 2004
- Summary: (L!1)HAVANA, CUBA (RECENT) (REUTERS) BALLET COMPANY AND BALLET DANCERS REHEARSING VARIOUS OF ALICIA ALONSO, PRIMA BALLERINA OF THE CUBA NATIONAL BALLET REHEARSING A PIECE TO BE STAGED WITH THE COMPANY ALICIA HOLDING ON TO AN ASSISTANT, EXPLAINING BALLET MOVEMENTS WITH HER FEET AND HEAD IN A REHEARSAL BALLET DANCERS DANCING AND REHEARSING
- Embargoed: 9th October 2004 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: HAVANA, CUBA / VARIOUS UNIDENTIFIED LOCATIONS
- Country: Cuba
- Topics: Arts,General,Politics
- Reuters ID: LVAC704GS2T5PYANTTOH4I6T9BK0
- Story Text: Legendary Cuban ballerina Alicia Alonso trains some of the world's top dancers in the Cuban National Ballet School.
From a dilapidated Havana mansion run by a nearly blind legendary ballerina, Cuba is turning out some of the world's finest ballet dancers who are hotly sought by leading international companies.
Trained by 83-year-old ballet great Alicia Alonso at the National Ballet of Cuba, the dancers blend joyful Cuban sensuality and a superb classical training combining Russian, French and English techniques. The combination has stunned audiences and won them critical acclaim.
Their success reflects the remarkable development of an elitist art form in communist-run Cuba, an island of 11 million where defections have added to a drain of talent.
Jose Manuel Carreno, a principal with the American Ballet Theater of New York, has been called "a cross between a cat-like animal and a prince" by the company's director.
The Cuban dancer credits his training in his homeland for much of his success.
"Dance and life are filled with challenges, and we have been trained for that, to fight, to get through any challenge," Carreo told Reuters.
He won the 2004 Dance Magazine Award for contributions to ballet. The U.S. magazine praised his "incredible magnetism and astonishing technique" and said the 36-year-old was as "sensually passionate" as Rudolf Nureyev.
Carreo was the first Cuban to win the award since Alonso, Cuba's prima ballerina, did so in 1958.
Another Cuban ballet dancer, Carlos Acosta, who performs with London's Royal Ballet, was named Britain's best dancer last season by ballet critics.
The 31-year-old mulatto, who rose from the streets of Havana to dance his own choreography on a London stage, has been acclaimed as a bridge between Nureyev and Baryshnikov for his technical virtuosity and raw athleticism.
Even Cuban President Fidel Castro, who has seen the young dancer perform, said he enjoyed the show.
"I'm not an expert but the things one likes, one likes," he told the Acosta.
But it is the name of one of ballet's greatest, Alicia Alonso, that still resonates in the dance world.
She danced in New York in the 1940s and virtually owned the role of Giselle at her prime. Despite failing eyesight due to detached retinas, she danced until she was almost 70.
With the support of Cuban leader Fidel Castro since 1959, Alonso and her former husband Fernando Alonso turned the national ballet Cuba into a world-class company which she continues to direct, even though she does not see and has trouble walking.
For Alonso, the gift of dance her ballet students get is something they will always cherish, regardless of whether they pursue it as a professional career.
"They go to the Ballet school, they learn music, they learn dance. They may be ballet dancers, they may not, but they have a richness inside for the rest of their lives that nobody can take away," she told Reuters.
She claims Cuban ballet dancers bring a special personality to this classical dance.
"The melody helps them to project themselves, to make this style of ballet which gives it the personality that defines Cuban national ballet and today's Cuban Ballet School," she said.
At a rehearsal of "Cinderella," a Cuban concoction based on Johann Strauss's score, dancers soared through the air practising jumps on the linoleum of her company's dance studio on the top floor of a century-old mansion.
With her trademark scarf and dark glasses, Alonso directed the rehearsal from an arm-chair with the aid of an assistant who whispered in her ear.
Last year, Alonso toured the United States with new dancers in her troupe and impressed audiences with an exuberant version of "Don Quixote" in New York and other cities. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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