cubanmiamiboy

Agree with bart about Zien. She has a distinctive way of moving...a subtle, restrained elegance and, as bart says, makes herself visible right away onstage. I would love to see her in major roles already, and it seems to me she's somehow overdue for a promotion.

But here's a very important point. Many of them have been there just for a while...they're not to be considered a typical product of the school, as with some dancers that get to spend the end of their training years at Vaganova. I don't think they're said to be a product of the Vaganova Academy, or SAB or the Cuban National Ballet School-(where many foreign formed dancers get to spend that amount of years sometimes).

Marta Garcia was considered by many Cuban balletomanes as the 5th jewel. (There's even a fan and great connoisseur of her dancing on youtube who has adopted that nickname in her honor, Quintajoya-(fifth jewel), and from which I will borrowing a couple of comments that will better describe this ballerina). Within the generation that followed that of the 5 jewels, Marta Garcia was that who kept the most solid technique and dominated the stage like only she knew. Besides that she was always extremely gifted in characterization, and was famous interpreting those roles which required great demand of facial expressions. She was a truly master of the face as a vehicle and used this skill with no shyness at all to enhance her always thrilling performances. Garcia was also a master in those ballets which required some Spanish flavour. She was particularly superb in the Cuban version of Lorca's Bodas de Sangre-(Blood Wedding), which became her trademark . Another ballet that she shined in was Alberto Mendez' "Tarde en la Siesta" (see link above), which is sort of like a XIX Century Cuban recreation of 4 female characters-(sisters) to the unique music of Ernesto Lecuona. This wonderful ballet at times pays homage to the great Antony Tudor, and it's has been a trademark of the Cuban Company for many years. Garcia created the role of Soledad-(Loneliness), which describes the tormented soul of the woman. Quintajoya made the comment that : "How fitting that Mr.Tudor-(I recall him standing after a performance of Marta's Soledad clapping feverishly)-loved it so much. What a "HAGAR" Marta Garcia would have been in his "Pillar of Fire" I can only dream.." I had the opportunity to see a lot of her dancing well into the ballet feast that was the 90's in Havana. Her Giselle was ravishing. Again, this is what her fan Quintajoya said about it during her entrance in Act II: "By going on pointe in the "Initiation" the Cuban ballerina gives this difficult variation an added dimension into the wili sisterhood." Today Garcia is a coach and Maitre of Scaena, the 1st. private Dance/Ballet Center and School in Madrid,Spain. She is currently excluded from the Cuban National Ballet official roster, where she used to figure as a faculty member. Ladies and Gentlemen, Miss Marta Garcia: Initiation of Giselle Act II In Grand Pas de Quatre. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QT2BVz_B6Ik As "Soledad"-(Loneliness)-in "Tarde en la siesta" In Spanish-flavored "Majisimo"-(doing the diagonal of fouetees/chainees) Scaena's official site, where Garcia teaches. http://www.scaena.net/sob_scaena.html

Thank you both Leonid and Natasha for your kind words. YOu two got to see this dancers at their prime, so I know you appreciated the clips. Here are some info I posted a while ago in an older thread dedicated to all those ballerinas. Maria Elena Llorente. Maria Elena Llorente was the only blonde ballerina within the Cuban troupe, and also the most subtle dancer of the golden age generation. She was not another Alonso's physical nemesis like Mendez, neither possessed the stage sumptuousness of Bosh or the technical va-va-voom of Suarez. She was rather the delicate, shy, but ALWAYS precise kind of modest dancer. The great thing about Llorente is that she was the assured type, the "constant per se" dancer, the secure show. In other words, when holding a ticket for one of her performances people KNEW exactly what was going to be shown and that they knew they would not be disappointed. It always pleasant performance...nothing more…nothing less. Llorente, like her peers, began studying ballet in Society Pro-Arte Musical in Havana and then continued learning at the Academy Alicia Alonso. The range of her teachers was wide, among the most prominent Alexandra Fedorova, Alicia Alonso, Marta Mahr, Fernando Alonso,, Jose Joaquin Banegas and Jose Parés. She became a member of the Cuban Corps in 1962, was promoted to soloist in 1967 and Principal in 1976. In 1968 she was awarded the bronze medal at the Varna Ballet Competition, and in 1977 she danced as a guest artist with the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater. In 1981 Llorente worked as assistant maitre of Mme. Alonso in the assembly of the Cuban version of Giselle at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples. Her repertoire included all the principal roles of the classical-romantic Ballets as well as contemporary creations of Cuban and foreign choreographers. After retiring from active dancing, Llorente devoted her life to develop an important educational work in the Company and the National Ballet School, currently being an Associate Professor at the National Institute of Arts, also being responsible for the first year of the Cuban School of Ballet in Valencia, Spain in 1999. Llorente was also the stager of the Cuban version of Don Quixote in collaboration with Marta Garcia guided by Alonso in 1988. She is a current maitre of the Cuban National Ballet School,as per its official roster Note: If there was a role that Llorente made her own in Havana like nobody else, it was that of Lissette in Alonso's after Nijinska's "La Fille Mal Gardee". She kept an innocent youthful air towards the end of her career onstage that really allowed her to master this role. And yes…she knew she looked "different" as the only Company Anglo-looking blond ballerina, always keeping this element working on her advantage. Llorente was also the last one of generation to retire...dancing with the same vitality and perseverance for three decades straight. I will, again, borrow a phrase that one ot this Ballet generation fans-(Quintajoya/5thJewel)- wrote about Llorente on Youtube: "...certainly Arnold-(Haskell)- forgot to keep Maria Elena Llorente in his jewelry box..." Ladies and Gentlemen, Miss Maria Elena Llorente: As Grahn, in Grand Pas de Quatre. As Cerrito, In Grand Pas de Quatre.

Do I misunderstand something? I think MCB has an extensive feeder school, actually. They do, but I don't think it has gone to the desired level to be considered a company feeder.

And I hope Lourdes would get to read this thread...

Now...THAT is an argument that will keep me shout for a while while somehow confirming my suspicions of a certain "lack behind the lack". Only Helene... So I guess I should keep jumping on planes and stop my quest to bring Odile to the beach...

I did not intend to criticize MCB in my original post; Actually, bart...I should apologize, for which I just saw the opportunity to grab to your words to say what I really think is the issue here. You certainly did not intend to criticize MCB. I did. I will be completely honest now. What I honestly think is that MCB is being afraid of the classics, technically wise. It is not about money...they have staged horrible, expensive ballets before, and will keep doing it. It is not about lack of corps..they used the students as Willis and they did wonderful. It is not about people not wanting Swan Lake. Hell yes, they all want it...WE all want it...(we don't need a poll to prove that). What MCB is doing is just looking the other way. The company's name is Miami City Ballet...not Miami City Dance Group. Every other profession that requires certain technical skills need their professionals to master the basics in order to be respected. When I started my job as a nurse, there were a million things I did not know how to do, one of them starting an IV line. When I started on the floor, there was an IV line team, and so RN's were not oficially required to start lines. But...how could I go out there and say "I am an RN" if I can't start an IV line...? Old time nurses do laugh at those types...the new ones that look the other way just to justify it with "I'm a Pediatrics nurse", or "I'm a Psych. nurse...I have specialized...we don't need to start lines...". If MCB did not a good job with their DQ, the solution doesn't lay on dropping the ballet from repertoire-(just as they did with their Aurora's Wedding). To the history they will stay as ballets that they couldn't do. That is not good for any professional...to look the other way and forget about it. Going back to my original idea on technique, I again believe that is the real issue. Our dancers have showed they know how to be lyrical-(Robbins), that they roll fine on the floor-(Taylor) or that they can do gymnastics-(Tharp). Now they need to show that they can do pirouettes and fouettes and fish dives as the best of Russians or Cubans. I again think this is where the real problem lays. I saw it with their DQ, during the PDD. I saw it with their Diane&Acteon...I saw it with their Aurora's Wedding PDD. Let's see what happens this season with their DQ PDD and Tchai.PDD-(one that I know very well from Cuba also). The best they did among the classics was Giselle. Technically it not as demanding for the ballerina as Swan Lake or DQ. MCB would definitely bennefit from their conquering of the classics. It will be the company's growth, and they will be even more famous and loved and talked about, both as a company and as individidual dancers. MCB does not neet more Visceras or Nightspots or Calderas or Duatos or Morphoses or God knows what. What MCB needs RIGHT NOW is to show that their dancers are, or will be, also capable to dance Petipa. Take note, Lourdes. And Theme and Variations...

Natasha...I was a little hesitant to show the clip to my French friend...(how would Alonso's decision, understandably irrational to many, would speak to his non Cuban heart...?). Amazing enough, he liked it...he just said..."that's a fearless, shameless, protected woman up there. She's safe, and she knows it.."

I honestly never imagined a world wide, self respected ballet company that could be said of lacking the necessary performance skills to dance the XIX Century classics. If that is the case of MCB...if resources are just an extra point, but lack of skills is the real issue...then the whole thing is even sadder... I'm grateful I'm be able to afford jumping on a plane to watch Sylvia-(just as many of us do...moving around to catch the classics)-but not everybody can...

Uncle. He was among the group that visited the MET back in 1979 when Alonso, as Giselle and Carmen, made her first trip to US post Castro.

Ah...how our minds work...It was just as if I would had gotten home and suddenly my Tschen-Fu-(cat)-was missing...only to find later that he was hiding in the closet for a while. Unnerving... Glad to have the familiar blue screen back, Helene...!

I was thinking yesterday that I'm having the same disappointing feeling with the contemporary plastic arts. Miami is the center of one of the biggest world wide events of the new products on this field: the Art Basel. Last time I went I swore myself I would not attend to another Art Basel ever again, after having to walk hours and hours thru basically senseless garbage and ridiculous "installations" in order to see maybe something somehow satisfying here and there among all that monumental exposure of mediocrity. Then, last August, I went to the Louvre and saw the hanging Giselles and Sylphides of the great painters. I'm not wasting my time and money this year with Art Basel, and I will try to avoid it too with its dancing translation. I'm not that tolerant at this point of my life.

It is all about education, and exposure to the basics...and then, only then, go out and explore... I've seen beautiful ballet-(as most of you all, BT'rs). Others would bennefit from its viewing too...particularly our kids and youth. But then, there are access issues...another monster topic. I'm starting to feel depressed about this discussion...

Exactly. And I'm sure the dancers in those new works feel the same way. I then say lucky you all you have been exposed substantially to such great new choreographers. As per me, I can't say I'm particulary thrilled with the contemporary stuff I've seen not only in the last decades, but during my whole lifetime of ballet viewing. My greatest memories are all about the great Giselles, Sylphides, Chopinianas, Swan Lakes, Filles, Coppelias, Nutcrackers, Bayaderes, Paquitas, Grand Pas de Quatres and a handful of XX Century ballets by Balanchine, Tudor, Ashton, and Robbins. My loss probably....

And here is the closing gala, with a very emotional onstage display of old glories of the company ...Mme. Garcia and Orlando Salgado...Mme Maria Elena Llorente and Lazaro Carreno. There is also Osmay Molina, whom after years out the Cuban public eye post defection was invited to come back and finally...a very special appearance that could be completely and understandably irrational for the foreign eye, but one that carries a very warm touch for those of us who still pay tribute to a glorious ballet viewing past. That goes on at 3:04

But...why do we need to relate to and identify everything...? Can't we just enjoy it...? When I started watching ballet, or listening to classical music or watching masterworks on museums I was too little to know anything about identification or being related to anything. My senses were exposed, just as it is supposed to happen, and the rest is history. Is that a foreign concept already...? Sure. I'm not sure we're disagreeing here. Art obviously requires more of its audience than entertainment does, and if a work of art has lasted for generations, it's probably work making the effort required to ( sooner or later) enjoy it. Some level of identification with the art or the artist is part of that enjoyment, I think, but it shouldn't have to be there at the start to spur people to approach acclaimed work. Amen

Opening defile and "In the Night"...Grand entrance @ 8:30. #!

My daily mantra for the last 11 years...

But...why do we need to relate to everything...? Can't we just enjoy it...? When I started watching ballet, or listening to classical music or watching masterworks on museums I was too little to know anything about relationship or identification. My senses were exposed, just as it is supposed to happen, and the rest is history. Is that a foreign concept already...?

I know...there seems to be such a revolving little sensless whispering about the XIX century ballet not being fitted for modern audiences and this and that and lah lah lah...when in reality we all know we all go to all the Swan Lakes and Bayaderes and Giselles, and the theaters keep getting filled with its audiences as ever. I say let's stop the damn myth...one that has no solid bases whatsoever. If dancers and/or AD's-(or donors)- are being afraid of them, so say it, but stop saying the audiences don't want them.

I guess I'm hopeless...probably more floor rolling for MCB and less tutus and tiaras...

Brokenwing- Balanchine, circa 1979. "I took out all the garbage...That`s why."

BTW...The e-mail exchange kept next day as follows... Me: "Seguramente viste a Carlos Guerra, ex del Ballet de Camaguey.." (Translation: You probably saw CG, ex member of the BdC" Her: "No...it was the Brazilian..." So then...it was Cerdeiro whom she didn't like in the role...

I im inclined to think that it is all that Trust stuff the reason for which the cut version was used. "For reasons I won't go into we have been obliged to use it, too. Don't blame me." is a very self explanatory phrase.