100 replies to this topic

[cubanmiamiboy]

Very interesting when she speaks-(briefly)-about Graham's greatness in her beginnings compared to her ending...she clearly says "Martha Graham se acabo..."-("Martha Graham is finished")...don't know if she was referring to the artist herself or her legacy-(Graham's reticence to walked out the stage resembles very much that of Alonso).  Also at the end when she becomes sort of emotional when talking about her upcoming Bolshoi tribute and her past MET gala and her remembering of her first time she danced in the Moscow theater-(1958).  She looked very proud when talking about the spreading out of the Cuban Ballet via teachers and dancers around the world and specifically in Latin America.  

[bart]

Yes, I was struck by her evident pride in the influence on Cuban ballet on ballet all over Latin America.

Question:  where is Actualidad.rt.com based?  How widespread is its reach?

[Quiggin]

I was wondering too about the companies in Central & South America – and which ones in particular have benefited from the Cuban ballet, its dancers and teachers.

[CM]

RT website says:

"RT Spanish official site is a multimedia service, providing 24/7  news coverage for the spanish speaking population of Europe, North and South America".  The programme host, Elena Rostova, conducts interviews in Russia as well as in South America.

If you flick through the "a solas" interview list:

http://actualidad.rt...mas/a_solas/919

there are a few interviews with russian ballet figures, e.g. Nikolai Tsiskaridze, Marina Leonova, Anastasia Volochkova and Andris Liepa

[CM]

RT Website lists the following countries for coverage in Latin America


Panama
Argentina
Bolivia
Brazil
Chile
Colombia
Ecuador
Falkland Islands
French Guiana
Guyana
Paraguay
Peru
Suriname
Uruguay
Venezuela

[rg]

scans of newsphotos of Alonso from the 1950s.
the FALL RIVER LEGEND still is duly captioned, the other, informal, dressing room? shot, perhaps shows her costumed for BLACK SWAN PAS DE DEUX.

Attached Files

•  AAlbWM.jpg   134.17K   46 downloads
•  AAlbbk.JPG   56.59K   54 downloads
•  AAapWM.jpg   157.04K   35 downloads

[cubanmiamiboy]

Loved her Lizzie Borden shot..!  (quite a soft, unusual faced one...not very common on her...on the other side, the other ultra-expressionist, heavily made up face on the black swan shot is definitely 150 % Alonso).

Thanks rg..! (and wondering how much more you have in store for me... )

[CM]

I had two tabs open - one with the video and one with google translate so I could type in the wording at the bottom of the screen and get it translated.  With enough practice, maybe iI might be able to understand a synopsis of a ballet in spanish

[CM]

RTVE Spain has some video available including a one hour documentary:  

http://www.rtve.es/t.../alicia-alonso/

According to El Nuevo Herald

http://www.elnuevohe...estudio-13.html

CNN Espanol will be transmitting a two hour interview over two days with Alicia Alonso next week.  It sounds as if it will be quite a revealing interview:

Google translation

"ALICIA ALONSO EN 'CALA'. Alicia Alonso, prima ballerina assoluta of the Ballet Nacional de Cuba, is the guest of Ismael Cala in a special edition of its program, which airs in two parts, on Monday 18 and Tuesday 19 at 9 pm on CNN in Spanish.
During the two-hour special, Alonso, founder and director of the Cuban ballet body, will discuss personal issues that has rarely spoken as her love life, marriage and subsequent divorce from the maestro Fernando Alonso and his political position. We also talk about his health and a long history of vision problems that have left blind. Legendary Cuban ballerina will also speak on how he lived and reacted to the persecution of Fidel Castro against homosexuals in the 1960's, and the fact that they qualify for deserters (something to do with defectors?) to the dancers who decide to leave the company and settle in other countries. Cala airs Monday through Friday at 9 pm on CNN in Spanish."

[cubanmiamiboy]

I wonder if Mme. will ever talk about either her sister's Cuca or her first son in law stories-(both persecuted for being radically against the Castro regime, the first one having to hide and run away from the island and the second one shot during the first firing squads waves).  I would also like to see if she will be asked about her former partenaire Jorge Esquivel, which I think has been her most painful defection ever in the history of the Cuban company...

[cubanmiamiboy]

CM, on 16 July 2011 - 02:32 PM, said:

CNN Espanol will be transmitting a two hour interview over two days with Alicia Alonso next week.  It sounds as if it will be quite a revealing interview:

Google translation

"ALICIA ALONSO EN 'CALA'. Alicia Alonso, prima ballerina assoluta of the Ballet Nacional de Cuba, is the guest of Ismael Cala in a special edition of its program, which airs in two parts, on Monday 18 and Tuesday 19 at 9 pm on CNN in Spanish.
During the two-hour special, Alonso, founder and director of the Cuban ballet body, will discuss personal issues that has rarely spoken as her love life, marriage and subsequent divorce from the maestro Fernando Alonso and his political position. We also talk about his health and a long history of vision problems that have left blind. Legendary Cuban ballerina will also speak on how he lived and reacted to the persecution of Fidel Castro against homosexuals in the 1960's, and the fact that they qualify for deserters (something to do with defectors?) to the dancers who decide to leave the company and settle in other countries. Cala airs Monday through Friday at 9 pm on CNN in Spanish."

"We won't go to waste time in Miami..."

Mme. Alonso

[rg]

as a companion to the scan of AA as Lizzie Borden, a similar era (tho' probably earlier, year-wise) photo, undated and unidentified from Ballet Theatre of Nora Kaye, for whom de Mille created the role of L.B. in her FALL RIVER LEGEND.

Attached Files

•  ABTnkLBwm.jpg   167.06K   6 downloads

[CM]

Thanks for loading the extract and the photo from Fall River Legend.  

I found two excerpts from this week's Alicia Alonso interview on the CNN Espanol website - both around 9 minutes long.  They look quite similar to the screen format used by RT, interview showing in small box during dance extracts etc.

The first extract includes some footage of the ABT tribute and some discussion of style.  The second extract focuses on Giselle and a discussion about Fernando Alonso.  There are a couple of dance extracts labelled as Giselle 1963 - the second one is the Vasiliev/Alonso performance in the 1980s, I'm not  sure who is the male dancer in the first extract and when this performance would have taken place.

http://edition.cnn.c...icia.alonso.cnn

http://edition.cnn.c...nso.giselle.cnn

Hopefully a spanish speaker would be able to highlight interesting points.  I'm curious about the discussion about Fernando Alonso.

[cubanmiamiboy]

CM, on 20 July 2011 - 09:42 AM, said:

Thanks for loading the extract and the photo from Fall River Legend.  

I found two excerpts from this week's Alicia Alonso interview on the CNN Espanol website - both around 9 minutes long.  They look quite similar to the screen format used by RT, interview showing in small box during dance extracts etc.

The first extract includes some footage of the ABT tribute and some discussion of style.  The second extract focuses on Giselle and a discussion about Fernando Alonso.  There are a couple of dance extracts labelled as Giselle 1963 - the second one is the Vasiliev/Alonso performance in the 1980s, I'm not  sure who is the male dancer in the first extract and when this performance would have taken place.

http://edition.cnn.c...icia.alonso.cnn

http://edition.cnn.c...nso.giselle.cnn

Hopefully a spanish speaker would be able to highlight interesting points.  I'm curious about the discussion about Fernando Alonso.

The first clip shows Alonso dancing with Jorge Esquivel-(currently a character dancer at SFB).  

Interviewer: "You became immortalized in the dance world as the best Giselle of all times"
AA-(Pausing)..."There have been very good Giselles...after, maybe now, later on...but I had my seat...I've had my seat"  

Interviewer- "I see you still bear Fernando Alonso's last name...that you kept it after the divorce"
AA-"I'm fine with that...I'm delighted with it...see..? It is AA, so they always have to place me in the first place, and I like that..."  

[CM]

Many thanks for your explanation and translation.  It gives me a flavour of the conversation.  It's very helpful.

Going slightly off topic, I searched for ballet-related programs on Spanish RT.  In addition to the A solar series, I found two further short programs - (1) on the Vaganova School and (2) on the Bolshoi.  

http://actualidad.rt...date=&sort=date

Spanish TV has several programs available - some one hour and  some 1/2 hour dance related documentaries.  The longer programs aren't always too accessible for non spanish speakers (but that's to be expected as they weren't intended for them)

The imprescindibles series on RTVE also includes a documentary on Antonio Gades

http://www.rtve.es/a...-danza/1000827/

The paso a paso series on RTVE has 13 half hour programs on different types of dance

http://www.rtve.es/a...theatre/896636/