cubanmiamiboy

Magaly Suarez-(Mamicha)-is trying her best, and the results are showing. The Artistic Director of the Cuban Classical Ballet of Miami showed up onstage last Sunday to receive a big ovation during the final bow of the second performance of her Nutcracker. Her work was nothing but a visual feast that had the power to take me-(and probably most of the audience)- back in time and place. This is a Cuban Nutcracker-(or Russian…?, well, maybe even American or English, considering how it got to be preserved). Anyways, in its survival some names names have to mentioned: Ivanov, Petipa, Sergueiev, Fedorova, Dolin, Markova, Wright, Alonso , and more recently Suarez.There was something naive and innocent about this production. One wouldn't mistake it for anything but Cuban. It fuses exotic colour with an attractive Spanish influence.Now, this wasn’t about lavish sets. I know there’s the concept that this is a fairy ballet, and it is traditionally expected to be all about sumptuousness. This is a struggling poor company, after all. They depend on the generosity and kindness of dance fans around to even get pointe shoes. So the sets are, well, borrowed props from Ballet Clasico de Santiago, Dominican Republic. Thanks to them. Now, the important thing: the production, which is shamelessly nostalgic. And that's right up my street. The Overture was played-(recorded…no enough money, so please, DONATIONS!)-with the curtains down. As they went up, we see the first attendants of the party scene come from the wings: Act I: The party scene with its happily integrated. There is a character that I had forgotten about: Herr Drosselmeyer’s assistant. This is a mischievous character that wears a blindfold and keeps playing around during the party. (Sort of like the bouffon from the Cuban Swan Lake. Another vehicle to toss put some male dancing steps) . the character was played by a vivacious and light Darlos Manuel Mijares. Right away all the party girls-(more like 12 to 14 teens/characters) went on pointe, and the dancing started right away. This is what I’m talking about. Nice choreography, very well integrated with the character shoes adults party attendants. The life size dolls were two sets. First there was Harlequin and Columbine, danced by Michelle Chaviano and Gleidson Vasconcelos and a a couple of soldier toys, male and female: Esperanza Montero and Jesus Farias. Herr DrosselmeyerbuffoonCarlos-(John Sheaffer)-was well characterized, amazing the party kids with his tricks but always respectable and usually very serious. The battle scene displayed some choreographed dancing done by the Nutcracker Prince-(an adult dancer, Tommy Bettin) and the Rat King-(Ignacio Rivera, who also danced the Snow King). Everything went more or less as expected leading us to: The Snow Scene: The Snow Flurries wore long romantic tutus with headpieces and handled branches ending in snow little balls. They were very well coordinated, and did some nice grand jetes. During the transformation music we were presented with the Snow Queen PDD, which was danced by elegant Grace Ann Powers and Ignacio Rivera. Rivera, a short but nicely shaped dancer, did a nice job partnering tall Powers, which has became one of the most attractive hallmarks of the company. She was precise and showed that impersonal halo that is part of her character. Act I ended with the image of Powers sitting on Rivera’s shoulder encircled by the kneeling Snow Flurries. Very nice. Second Part of the review coming after I'm back from Chrismas dinner. FELICIDADES!

Oh, BTW, If i may I would like to add the intersting fact that here in Miami we had the opportunity to see three different concepts ot Swan Lake-(A hight point)- ABT/Petipa via Martins, MCB/Balanchine via Villella and CCBM/Petipa/Alonso via Magaly Suarez. CCBM's as my pick.

Wow...a truly soviet girl. RIP

Ho,ho,ho!!! Merry Christmas to you Helene and everyone else!! ...or Feliz Navidad, acere!!! http://www.cafepress.com/cp/moredetails.as...ab=1&Zoom=1 (A cuban Santa Claus) Love and peace:

Here's my South Floridian humble contribution: The best: The possibility to see again three of my old time favorites “a la cubana”: 1-CCBM’s Swan Lake-(with incredible Hayna Gutierrez, my pick for “ballerina of the year”) 2-CCBM’s Nutcracker-(in their Fedorova version, and Jordan Elizabeth Long as the BEST SPF) 3-Ballet Etudes’ La Fille Mal Gardee-(Nijinska’s via Cuban National Ballet) and then: Getting to see some Balanchine for the very first time. In order of likeness: La Valse, Serenade, Bourree Fantasque, Pas de Dix, Square Dance, The Four Temperaments, Sonatine As per the dancers, this are my picks for the most remarkable performances: Hayna Gutierrez as Odile (CCBM’s Swan Lake) Deanna Seay as Odette (MCB’s Swan Lake) Ileana Lopez as Carmen (Ballet Gamonet) Mary Carmen Catoya as Dewdrop (MCB’s Nutcracker) Jordan Elizabeth Long as the Sugar Plum Fairy (CCBM’s Nutcracker) Jeremy Cox’s solo in Square Dance (MCB) Taras Domitro in Flames of Paris PDD (CCBM) Grace Anne Powers as Medora (CCBM: Corsaire PDD) Haiyan Wu in Sonatine (MCB) And I disliked: Mary Carmen Catoya’s characterization of Aurora (MCB’s Aurora’s Wedding) Balanchine’s Swan Lake concept-(which I still don’t get…sorry guys…) Balanchine’s Nutcracker concept-(well… this is known already) Ballet Etudes’ Corps And of course…the big winner of this part, the one and only THARP’S NIGHTSPOT!! (I promise…this is the last time I say it… ) …I’m sure I’m forgetting stuff. Oh well…

Was she acused of thinking of defecting..?

Wouldn't it be nice, then, if Acosta were to use his contract to get the Cuban National Ballet on film? Hey, it would be nice if he just would go and dance more often in Havana...or here in Miami. He doesn't...(alas for Toto Carreno...you know...too much trouble, too risky... )

Love that! ( M.J, may I borrow the phrase ...?) BTW, at first I nominated a ballet for the Worst categorie, while it was still fresh in my memory for a few days. By now...well, it is basically GONE. (And then, considering how VERY colorful was the costume design...far from beige, well, is even more sad.) and the winner is... Miss Twyla Tharp's one and only NIGHTSPOT!!! (What was all that about...? "Dunno" remember )

Oh, definitely! Look at the current thread of Somova. I doubt that by now there's any BT'r left without recognizing that the girl is getting a lot of publicity, and yes, she's famous, even if not for how good she is. At this very moment there are many others way better than her who will never be as well known outside their home companies or home countries...

Well, there are whole threads dedicated to the length of a dancer's hair, ,some body art displays-(tattoos), and so on...Hair color is not that far from the topic, considering how restricted the female members get to be about their choices-(usually long, dark...you know, in case maybe a Giselle part suddenly pops ...)

Well, for good or for bad, this is the deal. You are in the right track, volcanohunter. This is good for Acosta, not necessarily for RB, since-(and here Giannina is right)-he is still a formal member of Cuban National Ballet. I've personally seen and heard his messages to his fans in his MySpace site where he always praises my country, Cuba, and "my home Company, CNB". On the other side, when i read your original post I thought for a moment that his case could be following that of Nureyev, in which the independent star/dancer goes all over the place in constant self promotion, but one have to remember that Nureyev didn't have any more ties with the Kirov after his defection, and although he was always praised as the "former Kirov dancer"-(getting the soviet Company some recognition for the mere mentioning)-he was always seen as a separated entity, which is not the case of Acosta. Now, if you ask me, I'm happy for the whole situation, in which one of MY dancers gets promotion...of any kind.

...a point was established already that it is yellow.

I know. Will be there to see both performances. Wait a minute...Dew Drop or Snow Queen...? Edited to add: It was indeed Dew Drop

Ok, hands down everyone. The time has come to write about probably the most controversial and beloved ballerina in the history of the Cuban Ballet: Miss Rosario Suarez, Charin. Charin belonged to a fine triangle of ballerinas who were known by the Cuban public as “The Three Graces”-(Charin, Amparo Brito and Ofelia Gonzalez). Miss Suarez gave to the Cuban company 26 years of talent and work and in 1970 won the Gold Medal in Varna. Charin is in my opinion, the greatest of all the dancers that came from the Cuban ballet. She was exquisite, dedicated, charismatic, with a very strong technique and always with a complete control of her body, while still being beautiful and feminine at the same time. Her performances were followed by the loyal crowd of her adoring fans, who usually would create riots in defense of her idol when others would dare to criticize her. She became famous for being extravagant and pyrotechnic, but her pyrotechnic tricks became her best and most exciting form of expression, especially because they were done with pure ART. Rosario Suarez always adhered to that premise. Her Black Swan was electrifying, and her Giselle a rare combination of masterful technique and superb interpretation. Miss Suarez used to attack the most demanding roles with such energy and force that the technical demands seemed like second nature to her. It is horrible that she didn’t get the appropriate treatment that she deserved at CNB, and her talent was unfairly unrecognized, which made her defect in 1994 to US, where she danced for a while in her own Company/Ballet School, which she still directs. In the Grand Pas from Paquita As Odile, in SL, Miami As Lissette, in La Fille Mal Gardee, Havana (1980)

I know. Will be there to see both performances.

Yes...the tutu she wore-(something sort of like those worn by the swans in SL)-revealed her well toned legs. Her suporting leg always weemed to be nailed in a perfect vertical line, every muscle showing off... Yes,yes! (Let's not forget that around the time of Nightspot he was suffering from an injury, which he had surgery for). He looks way stronger now. bart, the boy likes to show off...that one can tell right away, but for some reason, it looks cute on him. Maybe because of his childish appearance, which makes him look rather like a mischievous child... Which,BTW, was EXCELLENT as Dosselmayer. He is SO charismatic... I'm sorry, but at first glance i had to think carefully about this. My mind still goes by Spanish Dance, Arabian Dance, Chinese Dance and Trepak. The Odalisque was Jeannette Delgado. This is one of the dances that i really don't care too much about, but she did the job the way it was supposed to. (Can't praise her more, which is a shame, due to the limitations of the choreography). The Chinese Dance-(tea?) was Wong, which i mentioned already-(can't remember the two girls, and ditto with the Spanish Dance leading couple, which didn't do that much for me either. I'm doing this by memory, cause i lost the program, as usual) . The Marzipan Mirlitons were lead by Tricia Albertson, which is looking too cold lately

(BTW, i was wondering if anybody has seen them in Balanchine's production. I find very interesting the fact that they're dancing two different choreographies during the same season)

As per courtesy of Karen Couty and Ana Margarita from http://www.cubanclassicalballet.org/ -( ) here is the casting for Sunday Performances. 2 p.m. performance: Sugar Plum Fairy & Cavalier Kate Kadow & Miguel Angel Blanco 6 p.m. performance: Sugar Plum & Cavalier Jordan Elizabeth Long & Miguel Angel Blanco Both Performances: Snow Queen & King Grace Ann Powers & Ignacio Rivera

I just came back from the MCB's Nutcracker performance, which i went to see despite my disliking of this choreography. Even if my mind hasn't changed about it, nice surprises were waiting for me tonight: 1-On top of all-(and this is straight directed to Jack Reed)-a marvelous Mary Carmen Catoya's Dewdrop. Jack, you would have been so proud of her...She showed such command of technique that she just totally got me. Her legs were like steel, her pirouettes, perfect, her epaulement beautiful, her balances to die for..her face, RADIANT. She was ABSOLUTELY ASTONISHING. 2-Jennifer Kronemberg and Carlos Guerra as SPF/Cavalier. This was a big display of sweetness and joy. Their adagio had the quality of showing a real empathy, in which they were not only dancing for the audience, but more than that, for each other. Jennifer's beauty took over, and Guerra's partnering was as detailed as we could ask for. Guerra's pirouettes a la second at the Coda were impressive, as well as his shoulder lifts with one hand. 3-Daniel Baker's Candy Cane. This athletic guy is so darn good at all kinds of jumps and tricks...AND HE KNOWS IT! His multiple jumps thru the hoop were out this world. Bravo, Baker! 4-Alex Wong's Chinese dancer. Wow, if there's somebody who knows how to do a grand écart, this is Wong. He brought the house down. 5-The Waltz of the Flowers. So beautiful, so sincronized...(and with Catoya around even better) Tomorrow I'll go see the Cubans at CCBM. This will be my 3 th production this season.

. Just like Swan Lake. Eternal love, suicide, death of the sourcerer... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0enY91P4Bbs&NR=1

This is another soviet old clip from a very simple but captivating, colored-in line drawing cartoon by Lev Atamanov about the impact a ballerina has on the crew of a passenger ship during a voyage. I digged a little and found that the director referenced to the art of the French impressionist Raoul Dufy paired with the score written by Alfred Schnittke-(which I think is beautiful). More digging got me to find that the film was choreographed by two dancers from the Bolshoi Ballet-(couldn't get their names... ). This film is 17 min. long and can be watched in its entirety on the Masters Of Russian Animation DVD set - an extraordinary collection of Russia's most important animated short films by Russia's world renowned directors. I hope you'll enjoy it as much as i did...

Dagmar and Hayna because I was a witness of their careers since they were out of the ballet school in Cuba, and i can assure you that both are amazing dancers. Dagmar was sort of like a prodigy girl in the early 90's, and rose thru the ranks right away all the way up, even dancing along with the older venerable members-(there's a Pas de Quatre on Youtube in which she can be seen on the late 80's along with some of these members). Gutierrez because she's just one of the strongest technicians i've ever seen, and NEEDS to be placed right away. Lopez because I could tell by her Carmen that she's Principal material-(she has the Diva thing)-and didn't fail before my hyper critical eye.

Hayna Gutierrez, currently dancing with struggling CCBM Iliana Lopez, from Ballet Gamonet Dagmar Moradillos, dancing with Ballet Etudes of Hialeah

I must confess it: one of my favorite things to search at in Youtube is old soviet cartoons that used to be played in Cuba during all my childhood. They were from the 50's, usually very poetic, romantic, dramatic, and they used a lot of symphonic music, the most of the times. The majority of them were very sad. Anyway, I just came across this one that I had already forgotten-(I was very, very little)-which tells the story of the Steadfast Tin Soldier. There is the moment where his loved ballerina/doll makes her Grand entrance...dancing a ballet variation! Maybe this is a silly question-(maybe not)-but i would like to know if anybody can recognize this variation, if it even exists, or if anybody is familiar with this old soviet cartoons. Thank you in advance! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JUW21gevPQ