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Principal Carlos Quenedit, NBC's last defector...


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I want to thank dirac for this link...

Another one. Carlos Quenedit defects. Story by Jordan Levin in The Miami Herald.
Quenedit will be joined by three other Cuban principal dancers, Taras Domitro, Hayna Gutierrez and Miguel Angel Blanco, who defected from the National Ballet in December while on tour in Canada. The three have already performed several times with CCBM, a troupe that has become a launching pad and first stop for Cuban dancers.

''I'm going to have to rent a yacht -- a fast one,'' joked Pedro Pablo Peña, co-artistic director of the Cuban Classical Ballet.

And also from the Herald article...

Quenedit went to Mexico approximately a year ago and had been dancing there with Ballet de Monterrey, which is headed by fellow Cuban Luis Serrano, a former principal dancer with Miami City Ballet. On April 21 he headed north, seeking more artistic opportunity, Peña says. ``He's very young, so he comes with all this desire to dance and do everything. For our part, we're very happy, and he'll also get the chance to show himself.''Serrano says that the young newcomer has a lot to show. ''He's a prince,'' Serrano said Tuesday from his company's offices in Monterrey. ``He's got a great physique, tremendous talent, great charisma. He's got everything he needs to dance with any company in the world.''Serrano says he encouraged Quenedit to travel to the United States. ``He always said he wanted to try the U.S., and I always said I'd support him 100 percent. Dancers have to fly, and you have to let them test their wings.''

So i just wanted to give Carlitos a warm WELCOME! :) . It's really wonderful that even if we (Cubans) can't go and see them over there it's still happening the other way around!. Oh well, once again, i feel very happy to see them coming and showing all they have to show. Carlitos, i wish you the best of lucks and I'll be at the Artime to whistle as a madman as in the old Lorca times. :yahoo:

Note: BTW, as per Tuesday 29, his position was that of requesting political asylum.

http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/?sid=353731

And this is a pic of him as Espada in the Cuban production of Don Quijote.

http://www.ballet.co.uk/gallery/jr_cuba_do...nedit_capes_500

I wonder where will he be heading now that he's gone from the MCB roster...

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Quenedit has not performed for a while and I THINK his name was taken out of the program earlier this season -- another name to add to our list of men who came and departed rather quickly from the Miami City Ballet roster.. :excl: He started in the corps in 2009 and was promoted to soloist in 2009.. I've seen references to his dancing with Ballet de Monterrey (Mexico), but am not sure of the time frame or whether he was a there as a "guest" or as a company member. Monterrey's AD is Luis Serrano, former MCB principal. Katia Carranza, Serrano's wife, dances with Monterrey and (for at least 2 programs a season) as a principal for MCB. So there is a connection.

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Fast forward to 2015: Quenedit and Taras Domitro are both with SFB (Quenedit as a Soloist and Domitro as a Principal). I am curious now why they decided to leave MCB - what is because it was not 'exotic' enough? Too close to Cuba?

I was recently thinking about SFB's upcoming summer tour - they should be the first major US ballet company to tour Cuba after the improvement in political relations...

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Quenedit is also a principal. He was promoted in 2014.

As for why several Cuban dancers came and went from Miami City Ballet, maybe the heavy Balanchine focus of that company was too much at odds with the aesthetic from which they all emerged.

If San Francisco Ballet tours Cuba, could they bring any of their Cuban dancers who defected with them?

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Quenedit is also a principal. He was promoted in 2014.

As for why several Cuban dancers came and went from Miami City Ballet, maybe the heavy Balanchine focus of that company was too much at odds with the aesthetic from which they all emerged.

If San Francisco Ballet tours Cuba, could they bring any of their Cuban dancers who defected with them?

Thanks for the correction, Millosr - I actually thought that he was Principal, and then saw the (old) Google link to his "Soloist" page (and no link to the newer page).

That is the question, really: Will Cuba now wlecome back defectors as "visitors" who have resettled in a foreign country? Or do they feel the need to arrest them, or make a case of it?

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