Today, Alicia Alonso and the National Ballet of Cuba received Princess Caroline of Monaco and director of the Monte Carlo Ballet, Jean-Christophe Maillot, here for the 16th Havana International Theatre Festival.
During a tour of the company’s headquarters, on Calzada 510 in the Havana neighborhood of Vedado, the visitors stopped in to watch rehearsals for the piece Tiempo de Danzón; inwhich Cuban choreographerEduardo Blanco offers a contemporary perspective on this traditional Cuban dance.
The guests were then received by prima ballerina assolutta and director of the National Ballet of Cuba, Alicia Alonso, with whom they also held a private meeting.
Princess Caroline of Monaco traveled to Havana together with theMonte Carlo Ballet, debuting here in the capital this Friday evening, with Cinderella, based on the original tale by German authors Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm.
Led by the French former ballet dancer for over six years, the group – founded in 1926 – is also the national company of the Principality of Monaco, City-State located in Western Europe between the foot of the Southern Alps and the Mediterranean.
The company is renowned for the simplicity, symbolism and modern quality of its work, and was revived in 1985 on the initiative of Princess Caroline of Monaco.
Composed of 50 dancers from over 20 countries, the Monte Carlo Ballet has performed in important cultural spaces across Europe and Asia, and has taken its art to Brazil, the Dominican Republic and Mexico.
The company will debut this Friday in the National Theatre’s Avellaneda Hall in the context of the 16th International theatre Festival of Havana; with repeat performances scheduled for Saturday and Sunday.
(Granma)