cubanmiamiboy

...and that every dream that we all have for the new year comes true... I'll be reporting back from NY and the NYCB's "Jewels" performance...I'M LEAVING TONIGHT!!!! My best and thank you all for this beautiful web site... Love :

Welcome, and Happy New Year!!

I'm working right now, and the salon is full!!..(manager is not around so let's proceed...briefly...) When: 1988. Which ballet: "Giselle" Who: Ms. Lourdes Novoa (ex principal at Ballet Nacional de Cuba and former Jose Manuel Carreno's wife) I was still living in my hometown, Cienfuegos, and i had seen some local ballet groups performances, but this was the FIRST time that i saw professional dancers live from Ballet Nacional de Cuba while on a national "Giselle" tour, in our beautiful local XVIII Century theater...I was totally strucked..Then in 1991, when i moved to Havana to study, i saw Mme. Alonso's dancing for the first time, in a contemporary ballet called "Flora". Still, i must admit that was Ms. Novoa's performance that really touched me very deeply.

Shh! The Trust!

Mmm...didn't Ded Moroz (Grandfather Frost) and his granddaughter Snegurochka (Russian: Снегурочка or Snow Maiden) existed already during the XIX Century along with Grandfather Nicholas, Santa Claus, Ded Treskun, Morozko and simply Moroz?

Oops!...i did it again... Yes, Leigh, you're just totally right. Hey, i love Mme. Alonso. and she loves Castro, so talk about a wide spectrum!...Still, i agree with you, so i want to offer my apologies to those who don't share my political views and my respect for theirs... Ballet for all!:

Sorry, Giannina for messing up on the "Welcome" forum...Just a little "faux pas"

Mmm...Zakharova, ah?...

FauxPas, i think that i can give you some answers, due to my own experience with the whole situation growing back in communist Cuba during the cold war. This is the thing. Mme. Alonso's choreographic experience is totally under the influence of her career with ABT and the "Ballet Russes" back on the early 40's. On the other side, she's a loyal friend of Fidel Castro, and hence, under the atheist oriented vision of the cuban revolution, copied after the soviet one. The complete "Nutcracker" didn't make to the cuban stages until 2000, way after communism had fallen off and christmas trees and the like were allowed back in the cuban festivities. That happened after the Pope went to Cuba, and Castro gave back Christmas's eve day off. (It had been banned after he took power in 1959). But between 1959 and 2000, all we had were the Sugar Plum Fairy PDD, the Snow PDD and the Trepak in a sort of stuffed "Aurora's Wedding", made after the "Ballet Russes" version. Also, we had been told that in the Soviet Union, the ballet had been morphed from Clara's Christmas Party to Masha's Birthday Party. Still, i remember when i was a kid, a local ballet group did the ballet, and its director, with the kid's family funds, did the First Act with the Christmas Tree and everything. I was a kid, and i was shocked, amazed and speechless...we all knew that "THAT" was a "symbol of the past that had been erased...and blah,blah,blah..." He ended up being banned from the ballet school and came to US in a boat afterwards. In 2000, the big "Nutcracker" comeback made its premiere in Havana. Everybody was talking about it, due to the extensive research that Mme. Alonso had done with Mme. Fedorova and the Fokine Family to restage their version. And that's what we have now. In the Act I there's the Christmas tree, but still, in the beggining of Act II she had the massive supersincronized entrance of the female corps in its original choreography...dressed like dolls. I never knew that they were supposed to be angels until i saw the Balanchine version when i came to US, so i guess that there's still a little hint of anti-religious feeling in the cuban staging...

I think so too. From the same article of Dance Magazine, this is what Mme. Alonso has to say about the subject and JMC. "I remember him lying on the floor, watching class, his eyes fascinated," Alonso says in Born to Be Wild. "He'd put his little hands under his chin and study everything. I think he was a dancer before he was born. He was a winner, I knew."

"I think that science has advanced so much we do not have to put a limit at 200 years. Let's see what science comes up with. Are you tired of living? I'm not" . Mme. Alicia Alonso on willing to live as much as she can...

Merry Christmas, Papeetepatrick!...Please, report back on that "Nut"...What about the SPFPDD....? Oh, nooo...No "Stars and Stripes", no "Western Simphony"....? Can you imagine...?

Reading the article "Jose Manuel Carreno" from Dance Magazine, March, 2004 by Valerie Gladstone, i found some answers to your questions, SanderO. Look. "I [JMC]can't separate myself from music. First thing in the morning, I turn on the radio for music, and if it's salsa, I start dancing." "Bounding onto the stage as Acteon, he [JMC] slows to perform a series of pirouettes, only to follow them with aerial barrel turns that provoke audience cheers. After such a display of classical eloquence, it is amusing to see him later on a crowded dance floor in Havana, wearing T-shirt and slacks, rolling his hips and snapping his fingers to the salsa." That's my cubano!!!

Thank you richard53dog for sharing this piece of history. It was my mistake for not being completely clear about Eddie's role, but i was actually refering basically to the 1960 revival of the ballet, and its "american" status, gotten from Villela's interpretation. BTW, wow..can you imagine if Mr. B. would have never come to the US...? To you, Leigh !

Hi, everyone! It's been wonderful since i discovered Ballettalk. I wanted you all to know that i'm really happy to have met this great ballet lovers family and absorb all i can from its immense knowledge. Today is Christmas Day, and it's a beautiful thing to celebrate it with the freedom and happiness that lacks in other parts of this world. I just wanted to enjoy my feelings of joy with you all, and here is a link with my little Christmas postcard for everyone... Merry Christmas!!! http://images.cafepress.com/product/767627...0x240_Front.jpg

That goes right in my boat.... (Isn't Xiomara beautiful..?) Really, she has a charm which is very nice but her head is simple tooooooooo big.

That goes right in my boat.... (Isn't Xiomara beautiful..?)

Yes, Mel, i agree that the point was made with a well developed purposed, and yes, it proved to be succesful once we see all those packed houses of families enjoying his version every year. In a personal way the story is defferent, because i got to knew the score of the "Nutcracker" as a kid way before watching the ballet. My grandfather had an old LP from the 50's at home in which i heard that music over and over in the turntable until the record went bad Yes, maybe Balanchine didn't take a 'sacrosant" approach to the ballet score. I certainly did. Arguable. I grew up in a communist Cuba without Christmas official aknowledgment, in a kind of atheist state of mind, and the "Nutcracker" was certainly "something", (sorry, Miss Croce, for not fitting into her description of its supposed valid followers). It was, for me, the ultimate beautiful tale of fantasy and enchantment. I'll pick back on "Swan Lake" once Christmas is over, EAW

" Beautiful words.

I couldn't help but copy some fragments of Gary Smith's article for the Hamilton Spectator. Great job! "If you ever thought The Nutcracker wasn't for hardcore dance fans, get down to Hamilton Place. For years, serious balletomanes have eschewed this annual sugar-coated romp, preferring to think of it as a seasonal ballet token.Well it's not. Not when it's danced by The National Ballet of Cuba. A product of Alicia Alonso, this company is one of the treasures of the dance world.[]If any of you saw this woman dance Giselle or any of the roles she tackled, you'll know we're dealing with genius.[]That genius happily extends to the dance company this diva has brought to Hamilton Place.[] No wonder Toronto dance fans are driving Highway 403. No wonder people are coming from Rochester and Buffalo. This is honest to goodness ballet.[]Now don't expect lavish sets. This is a Cuban company, after all. They depend on the generosity of dancers and dance fans around the world to even get pointe shoes. So the sets are, well, charming. They have a fair share of wrinkles, but the wonderful thing is they are vintage in appeal, like something left over from the old Ballets Russes. []Like the rest of this production, they are shamelessly nostalgic. And that's right up my street.There's something naive and innocent about this whole production. You wouldn't mistake it for anything but Cuban. It fuses exotic colour with an attractive Spanish influence.[]Mostly though, this Nutcracker is about dance. But it's the Cuban dance stars, of course, who make you want to stand up and cheer. From Act I: Raul Mazorra makes an animated Nutcracker partnering Annia Hidalgo as this production's Dream Clara with solicitous concern. Sadaise Arencibia and Miguelangel Blanco are an attractive Prince and Snow Queen. From Act II All of the divertissements of Act 2 are unique and full of choreographic vision with Livan Pujada, Maikel Hernandez and Marcos Becerra raising the rafters in The Russian Dance. The Waltz of the Flowers, frequently a lyrical dance of surrender, becomes more linear in construction here. No matter. With Linnet Gonzalez and Jessie Dominguez tossing off triple fouettes, who cares? The biggest bravos, however, are reserved for young Taras Domitro and Hayna Gutierrez, two remarkable dancers who connect brilliantly with The Sugar Plum Fairy Variation and the airborne grandeur of her Cavalier. -(now in Miami, in the upcoming Cuban Classical Ballet of Miami's "Swan Lake" in February!) - []They find, in the thrilling undertow of the music, a point of rhapsodic release.He has the most elegant beats, lyric arms and airborne arabesque. She has rock-solid balance and feet that skim the floor like some latter-day Pavlova. Exquisite. There is a final moment of magic when Alonso herself steps onstage for a surprise curtain call. It reminded me of Martha Graham and Agnes de Mille receiving homage from mere mortals like myself who worshipped in the dark. Let's hope she does it every night. For goodness sake, see this world-class Nutcracker It will dance in your head long after Clara is safely home in her world of imagination. Gary Smith has written on theatre and dance for The Hamilton Spectator for more than 25 years.

I absolutely agree with your statement, Mel. Being familiar with basically two productions of the ballet, the Fokine/Alonso one for the NBC and later on Balanchine's for MCB, i was trying to address the fact of how totally different the feelings of this two productions are when one sees them live . Being more used to to the first one, IMO that even substituting the children for children look-alike very young professional dancers for the first Act, the toys choreography created as a reminiscence and homage to Fokine's "Petrushka" on the same Act, the old fashioned/ethereal designed Snow Queen and King PDD on the Snow Scene, the massive, impressive and synchronized entrance of the adult female Corps as the angels on the Act II, the Cossack's inspired Trepak as the Russian Dance and finally, the preservation of the entire Sugar Plum Fairy PDD as a whole in choreography, style, meaning and spirit and its respectful take as a center of design and conception of the ballet as one of the most important exponents of the Petipa/Ivanov surviving masterpieces, are facts that really make an impact once we see other takes on the work...As usual, this is just my amateurish point of view, and again, Thank you, Mel, for your always expert considerations. Keep'em coming!

The latest defectors of National Ballet of Cuba , principal dancers Hayna gutierrez, Taras Domitro and Miguel Angel Blanco will be performing in "Swan Lake" at the Jackie Gleason Theater Feb. 23 and Feb. 24 /08 for the Cuban Classical Ballet of Miami. Yay!! http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22334059/

"She moves in life. Her feet, her torso, her arms, neck, and eyes, are one continuing action, taking their dynamic from her meaning. She talks. Her heart is open. Here is the essence of a dancer. It is her core she gives us; it is our core," Agnes de Mille on Mme. Alicia Alonso

indeed it is. Cristian, I may be thinking of another Cuban dancer but isn't Miguel Angel Blanco related to Alicia Alonzo(grandson?) If mem. serve, the only Mme. Alonso's grandson i know was dancing in the company right at the end of her career-(even partnering her when she was around 70)-is named Ivan. I haven't heard about him ever after...