Ballet Nacional

Havana´s International Ballet Festival

October promises the best in ballet
BY MIREYA CASTANEDA(Granma International staff writer) August 19, 2002

With a wave of her wand, Alicia Alonso will once again transform Cuban stages into a kind of oracle, heralding the arrival of Havana´s International Ballet Festival: the fairy godmother has conjured up the dance world to show us its present and let us gaze into the future.

Since the festival´s very beginnings in 1960, the opening gala has been the high point of the symbolic date celebrating the creation in 1948 of the Alicia Alonso Ballet, today the National Ballet of Cuba (BNC). But in this 18th edition, the closing event on October 28 will be the highlight of the festival.

The world ballet festival takes place from October 19-28 in the Cuban capital, with famous guests, dancers, companies and choreographers from Germany, Argentina, Brazil, Spain, the United States, France, Italy and Mexico.

The island´s prima ballerina assoluta - the heart and soul of the festival - has always been on the look out for something more than straightforward, albeit perfect, functions and dances. She has been the guiding light, and then some.

In 1908 for example, she decided to extend ballet´s links with the other arts; in 1982, ´84, ´90, 94 and 2000, she respectively emphasized choreography, style and choreographers; choreography past, present and future; the diversity and wealth of choreographic art; and finally, the magnificent finale: the principal creators and choreographic trends that enriched 20th century dance.

The event has been suitably spaced to celebrate specific anniversaries. In 1978, 30 years of the BNC plus 35 years of Alonso´s debut in Giselle; in 1988, to mark the 150th anniversary of Havana´s Grand Theater, main venue for the festival and home to the Cuban company. 1992 was dedicated to 500 Years of the Meeting of European and American Cultures (much more precise than the discovery of America´s).

The upcoming festival is the first of the new century; it will be a time to reflect on the present and future of dance.

During the 18th festival, National Ballet historian Miguel Cabrera is to launch his book Festival Internacional de Ballet de La Habana (1960-2000), una cita de arte y amistad (Havana International Ballet Festival (1960-2000): a meeting of art and friendship). Data lovers can discover facts of general interest, ballets, dancers and choreographers. For example:

Suffice it to say that in the 40 years since the Festival began, 52 foreign companies and close to 1,000 invitees (dancers, choreographers, teachers, designers, soloists, composers, critics and observers) from 52 countries throughout the globe have participated. Out of 742 new ballets, 192 have been world premieres with 500 debuting in Cuba.

On the subject of new works, it was announced that premieres will be staged by Spain´s Ramón Oller and Suki Johns from the United States; Cubans debuting choreographies include Alonso herself, Pedro Conseguera and Iván Monreal. The winning work in the 3rd Ibero-American Choreography Competition (2002) will be awarded by the General Society of Authors and Writers of Spain (SGAE), the Author Foundation, and the National Ballet of Cuba.

Cuban Gonzalo Galguera´s ballet Peregrinos (Pilgrimages) won the award in the first competition. This year Galguera has returned to the festival as artistic director of the German company DessauBallet, one of the four foreign companies invited. The others, all from Spain, are Metros, the Joven Ballet de Camara de Madrid, and the Centro Coreográfico de la Communidad.

The 2000 Choreography competition was won by Mexican Jaime Camarena for Latitud 0...en el punto de la memoria (Latitude 0 on the edge of Memory). In the upcoming festival, Mexico will be represented by dancers Sandra Bárcenas, Irma Morales, Laura Morelos, Raúl Fernández and Jaime Vargas, all National Dance Company members.

Guest companies will perform in the Mella Theater, as will various groups from other parts of the island - Danza Teatro del Caribe (Santiago de Cuba), Codanza (Holguín), and the Ballet de Camaguey. Also programmed for the Mella are the National Folkloric Group and Danza Contemporanea de Cuba.

There will be 35 performances in a variety of theaters: in Havana: the García Lorca auditorium, the Mella, and the National; the Sauto Theater in Matanzas; Santa Clara´s La Caridad; and the Guira de Melena Apolo in Habana province.

Program information from the BNC press office reveals that the García Lorca is the venue for the eagerly-awaited opening and closing nights, work by choreographers Michel Fokine (including Les Sylphides and Petrouchka), Marius Petipa (the Pas de deux from Le Bayadare, Esmeralda, Sleeping Beauty), and George Balanchine (Ballo della regina, Apollo, Tchaikovsky Pas de deux and Themes and Variations.)

The eagerly awaited international choreographers´s gala spotlights In theNight (Jerome Robbins); Bakhti (Mayrice Bejart); Step Text (William Forsythe); Les intermittences du coeur (Roland Petit); Arms (Maurice Bigonzetti, interpreted by Maximiliano Guerra); and Prologue for aTragedy (Brian MacDonald).

Cuban choreographers are also featured: Iván Tenorio (with Luna Rota); Gustavo Herrera (Flora); Alberto Méndez (Suite Generis); and Alicia Alonzo´s most recent work (Un viaje a la luna, story by José Ramón Neyra based on Ilmondo della luna by Carlo Goldoni).

The traditional theater used for staging famous classical ballet is the National and for this 18th edition, Giselle and Don Quijote can be seen on the stage of the Avellaneda Hall. Star performers from other companies will guest in the BNC production of those two popular oeuvres.

Invitees include Cubans Carlos Acosta (Houston Ballet) and José Manuel Carreó (American Ballet Theater); Argentina´s Julio Bocca and Paloma Herrera (American Ballet Theater) and Maximiliano Guerra (La Scala, Milan); Brazilian Roberta Márquez (Rio de Janeiro Municipal Theater); from Spain José Martínez (Paris Opera House) and Lucía Lacarra (Munich Ballet); Amanda McKerrow and John Gardener (American Ballet Theater) and Damain Woetzel (New York City Ballet) from the United States; France´s Agnes Letestu (Paris Opera House) and Cyril Pierre (Munich Ballet); and Italy´s Alessandra Ferri (American Ballet Theater).

Ballet fans, Cubans and foreigners coming especially for the festival are already looking forward to watching Giselle with the duos Amanda McKerrow-José Manuel Carreó´s or Paloma Herrera-Damien Woetzel. Another interesting highlight is the unusual Other Dances, choreography by Jerome Robbins, set to Chopin, and featuring Alessandra Ferri and Julio Bocca.

We don´t need a Delphic fortune-teller or a Roman sybil to predict that this October, the best of world ballet will be in Havana.