PASSIONATE PERFORMERS: Viengsay Valdes and Ballet Nacional de Cuba perform 'Don Quixote.' The ballet company is launching an American tour this week. ENRIQUE FALCON/BALLET NACIONAL DE CUBA
Posted on 10/17/2003 1:21:58 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
Cuban ballet dancers have brought their fiery passion and Russian-based technique to American audiences for decades, despite political tensions between the two countries.
That tradition continues this week when the Ballet Nacional de Cuba launches an American tour - its first since November 2001 - and Cuban superstar Jose Manuel Carreño debuts with the Boston Ballet in "Don Quixote."
Prima ballerina assoluta Alicia Alonso set the stage for Cubans dancing in the US in the late 1930s. She performed with Ballet Caravan, the predecessor of the New York City Ballet. Now she is general director and choreographer for the Ballet Nacional.
Performing abroad is a liberty that Cuban dancers enjoy today largely because of the high standard Alonso has set and her devotion to her native land. Dancers are given elite status in Cuba, and the government proudly sends them abroad as cultural assets, despite economic embargoes and travel restrictions.
Mr. Carreño, who marks his first performance with Boston Ballet this week, has also danced with the English National Ballet and the Royal Ballet in London. For eight years, he's been a member of American Ballet Theatre.
"I will always be Cuban but my dancing now is so international," says Carreño from his home in New York. "I spent four years in the company in Cuba, and I learned a lot those four years. But I had done everything in the classical repertoire. That's when I went to London."
Carreño says he was initially lured overseas by the opportunity to work with choreographers such as Jiri Kylian and William Forsythe. "I was hungry to do something else," he says. "In Cuba they cannot afford to bring in these huge and amazing choreographers."
Boston Ballet artistic director Mikko Nissinen hired Carreño to dance the lead in "Don Quixote" and to fill a temporary vacancy in the ballet's principal dancer ranks. Carreño joins two other Cubans in the company, Lorna Feijoo and Nelson Madrigal. In November, a fourth Cuban - the latest wunderkind, Rolando Sarabia - will join Boston Ballet.
Mr. Nissinen says he hires Cuban dancers not to show favoritism to that method of training, which combines Russian, French, and English techniques with Cuban charisma, but because Cubans are some of the best-trained in the world. He adds that Cuban dancers' desire for a better life often fuels their passion, a different motivation from their American or European counterparts.
"Being a [Cuban] ballet dancer, being able to tour internationally, gives you a little bit better life than you might have access to otherwise," Nissinen says.
"Cuba is training incredible dancers," he adds. "They have a wonderful dance tradition."
The Ballet Nacional de Cuba in Havana operates the way ballet companies did in Communist Russia. Children are handpicked to attend ballet school after passing stringent physical exams.
Once they enter the school, they train, tuition-free, and are groomed for professional ballet careers. Students study at the elementary level for five years and at the secondary level for three years. Then they are eligible to dance in the company.
Cuban teachers and choreographers are thoroughly involved. Dancers are given a solid technical foundation and this enables them to push themselves artistically, whether jumping higher or expressing deeper emotions.
This year, Ballet Nacional de Cuba celebrates its 55th anniversary. Since becoming the country's official company, it has toured to more than 50 countries. The Ballet presents two classical programs in New York this week, including a full-length version of "Don Quixote."
Director Alsonso hopes New York audiences are impressed with the dancers' bravura, which she says comes from a combination of good training and natural ability.
"It comes because of the mix of the races ... tradition, popular dance, a very good ear for the music - and a wonderful climate," she says via telephone from her home in Havana. Alsonsosays the future of the company depends on whether it can hang on to talented dancers. She has mixed feelings when dancers leave for careers in America or Europe.
"Sometimes we allow them to do so," Alonso says, "to give guest performances or to have an exhibition. That is something we are very happy about. But we worry that they must have training with us and keep the Cuban school tradition very much alive. We are very careful that these styles are not only kept but that they are developed with more richness."
Alonso hopes Cuban dancers will always return home, just as she has, despite opportunities to dance with companies such as Boston Ballet and American Ballet Theatre. "I never 'moved back' to Cuba, I was always in Cuba," Alonso says. "I was traveling ... but I'm always coming back."
o Jose Manuel Carreño performs "Don Quixote" with the Boston Ballet at the Wang on Oct. 17 and 19. The Ballet Nacional de Cuba performs at New York's City Center through Oct. 19.
Gema Díaz, 21, and Cervilio Amador, 20, were supposed to perform in the company's production of Don Quixote on Sunday.
But the pair had already defected, spirited away Saturday in a taxi that ferried them to West Palm Beach.
By Wednesday, they were meeting with an immigration attorney in Coral Gables, preparing to officially ask for political asylum.
''This is an extraordinary story,'' said attorney Nelson Rodriguez-Varela. ``This is a very nice couple that were up-and-coming dancers with the national ballet, but artists in Cuba are extremely suppressed.''
Amador, who spoke to reporters at Rodriguez-Varela's office Wednesday, said the company's tours through the United States and Europe inspired him to defect.
''I began to see how people around the world live, what their individual capacities can achieve in an atmosphere of freedom,'' he told El Nuevo Herald.
The ballet company is on a seven-week, 20-city tour and now is in New York. Daytona Beach was the closest it came to Miami.
''They feel they have a lot of support here in the exile community and that people will help them realize their dreams,'' said Rodriguez-Varela, who said he was referred to the couple by friends in Miami.
The ballet company didn't acknowledge the pair's absence Sunday in Daytona Beach: Díaz and Amador were still listed in the programs for Don Quixote, based on Cervantes' tale of idealism in the face of ridiculous odds.
Díaz was to dance the role of Dulcinea, Don Quixote's ideal love. Amador was to dance the part of a young gypsy. And as of Wednesday, the Cuban National Ballet's website made no mention of the defections: Diaz and Amador were still listed on the company's roster. [End]
HOPE FOR A BETTER FUTURE: Cervilio Amador kisses the hand of his girlfriend, Gema Diaz, after entering a petition for political asylum in Coral Gables.PEDRO PORTAL/EL NUEVO HERALD
Will catch up with these threads later...I have things to do.
"That's where I learned to dance the Macarena", he added.
Geez, I think I own the shirt he's wearing.
Michael
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