Mcurry

Carmen Suite, perhaps Alberto Alonso's most famous work will be performed at the Olympia Theater at the Gusman Center in Miami on March 28th and 29th, 2009. It's hard to believe but this will be the first time Alberto's Carmen has been performed in Miami and it will be part of a multi- media evening as the film Dance of My Heart will be shown as a prelude to the ballet. The ballet is being staged by the Cuban Classical Ballet Company under the direction of Founder and Artistic Director Pedro Pablo Pena with the dancers under the direction of Sonia Calero Alonso, Alberto's wife and his muse for over 40 years. This is the first time Carmen will be staged by a woman and will also be Sonia's directorial debut. This will also be the first time the film and ballet have been presented together.

It has come to my attention that the link provided by carbro may not work in some cases. If you are interested in visiting the Dance of My Heart web site please try the following link: http://www.sfcc.edu/danceofmyheart/default.htm sorry for the inconvenience.

As a follow up to the Edmonton Film Festival, several days after the festival we received the following e-mail from a woman who had seen the film with her two sons. It is a reminder, I think, of the power of art, of dance in particular and for those of us connected with the project a great gift of appreciation. I don't think Alberto was ever prouder of his work. Jennifer H. wrote: greetings from north of smoky lake, about 2 hrs ne of edmonton my 2 boys and i attended your film the other night. it was marvellous. i was very moved and must tell you how good it was to see it. one feels that one can do better. the awe we feel when we hear the story of heroes grows our hearts, grows our desire to be better, try harder. i happened to hear you on the radio yesterday on my drive to john deere in fort saskatchewan for repairs. it was a most unusual idea for me to suddenly find my way to the city and find that theatre and take the boys to see it. i am not known to do such things. we live on a farm and they dont go out so much to public events. they are very young and i knew it might not be possible to stay if they were noisy, but this was different, i risked this not working because this was something they would never see again. a film, with filmmakers plus the subject of the film all in one. the older boy is handicapped. the other struggles with behaviour, but they were actually very attentive i thot (i hope). life is uphill and challenging here and i have the boys in dance a second yr now. it is a very small group but it is an opportunity and it is interesting to me. my husband and the boys arent keen on the dance but you know i see this measure of adversity as part of the journey and i persist in sending them. class last week had the younger one kicked out of class no less than 3 times for poor attitude. here is the magic of your film... in less than 24 hrs this boy was a beautiful dancer yesterday you have no idea the temperment of this boy he is very bright, spirited stubborn and yesterday he was on spot, on cue delightful and i was so proud. i thank you for making such a film and pls continue what you are doing. it means something different for everyone i suppose. depiction of alberto's story made a deep connection for me. life is uphill and challenging here. the experience of the film and having the people in person was so valuable and special. we cant all be heroes, we arent without imperfection, cant all have kind passionate people such as your alberto, but we can certainly be called upon to learn be inspired by the messages of the story and it is such a good one, forever good. xojh

It is very gratifying to see such response to Dance of My Heart. This is a project that has had (as many films do) a majical journey of its own. We were fortunate to find Ricardo Acosta, who provided Alberto and Sonia the means by which to leave his legacy to the dance world. Until Ricardo joined the creative team we had been struggling to find Alberto's voice in the film. When Ricardo arrived, Alberto opened up in ways that we had not seen prior to their collaboration. I think it is unfair to call this film a documentary(understanding that we gave it that title). Those who are looking for the usual "talking head" account of Alberto's life will surely be dissapointed. But those, who come to the film without any pre conceived notion or agenda, will discover the passion and emotion with which Alberto lived his entire life. Alberto was thrilled to have worked with Ricardo. In the end, we made a film Alberto was proud of. His message, his legacy, and we make no apologies for that. Fortunatley, the film is starting to receive some recognition. It was recently shown in Miami. It will be shown in the Jacksonville, FL Latino Film Festival in November, it will be shown it its "home town" of Gainesville, FL in October and it will be shown in Toronto Canada as a special screening at the National Ballet School of Canada in Toronto in February of next year, an event at which Sonia will teach a master class as part of the scheduled events. Also, we have recently obtained a distributor for the film so our hope is it will be shown on outlets such as PBS, Bravo, Etc. Our desire is to have it seen by as many people as possible. I have failed to mention that it was also seen at the Edmonton Film Festival in Canada. This was very special for us because we were able to get Alberto and Fernando together for the first time in many years. As it turned out, it was their last time together.

I am so pleased to have found this site. I routinely look for posts concerning the film I helped produce called Dance of My Heart. This film was recently shown in Miami, as part of the Miami International Ballet Festival ( they have a film component) and was reviewed by one of Ballet Talk's posters. We had such a great time and the audience was so appreciative of the film. Sonia Calero Alonso was there and she was treated with such respect and admiration. Alberto would have been proud to see the love for him and his work. Thanks to Miami, the Miami Cuban community and the Maimi Hispanic Ballet who embraced us with such open arms. I will be adding some comments to the review posted on this site (which was very nice by the way). Check it out!