The work owes its name to the homonymous Matanzas neighborhood and gave rise to the dance known as danzón (or habanera). The public danced it for the first time on January 1, 1879, in the old Liceo Artístico y Literario de la Atenas de Cuba (today Sala White).

The documentary ¿Qué es el Danzón?, directed by Armando Linares, highlights: “It was derived as a result of the transculturation of the European contradanza that arrived at the beginning of the 18th century via the Spanish courts, due to the taking of Havana by the English in 1762 and at the end of the 18th century due to the migration of French settlers and blacks and mulattoes from Haiti to Cuba”.

As a danceable manifestation, it comes from a piece of paintings that was performed in Matanzas at the end of the 19th century. The body and spatial movements of this new genre were slower, cadenced and with greater creative freedom than previous dances, which denotes the process of stylistic transformation that Cuban ballroom dance underwent from the contradanza.

“The danzón became more varied than the dance; Specific instruments would star in each particular part in the melodic conception, constituting a distinctive element of this genre, what would be known as: part of the violin, part of the flute, part of the clarinet, according to the function and intervention of each one”, affirmed Maritza Cuba Núñez , director of Patrimony of the city of Matanzas.

Dancers were allowed to wear wing collars, jackets, vests, skirts, long skirts, and tight corsets without worrying about suffocating rhythms. It gained great popularity and acceptance among the population in a short time.

Doctor Ercilio Vento Canosa, historian of the city of Matanzas, stated that its emergence provoked political controversy on the part of the repressive press organs that described the dance as immoral for being a music of black origin. On the other hand, its defenders recognized it as Cuban music and a step towards the Spanish and Creole cultural separation.

The danzón was danced in pairs, up to a number of twenty, who executed square pieces, figures and steps with movements adjusted to the beat of the music. In later times, ladies used conspicuous fans.

According to the website Memoria de Cuba, by the writer Jorge Molina, the danzón has as a unique and novel characteristic in its time, the quality of alternating danced parts with breaks.

With the emergence of other dances such as the danzonete, the cha-cha-cha and the mambo, the danzón fell into decline in popular preference. However, since 2013 the dance has held the distinction of being the intangible heritage of Cuba and cultural organizations carry out actions to rescue the elegant steps of a danzón couple from the years.

The Organizing Committee of the Festival, which is chaired by the prima ballerina Viengsay Valdés, general director of the National Ballet of Cuba, has announced that a series of performances of the great romantic ballet Giselle will be presented, with the performance of guest stars in the leading roles, as well as galas with premieres of works created especially for this occasion. The main venue will be the National Theater, in Havana, and presentations are planned at the Sauto, in Matanzas, the Terry, in Cienfuegos, and the Milanés, in Pinar del Río.

The Alicia Alonso International Ballet Festival of Havana, with more than 60 years of history, is one of the most traditional and prestigious events in the world of dance.

(With information from the organizing committee of the event)

According to information released by the National Ballet of Cuba (BNC), the 27th edition of the event will take place until November 13 and will be the starting point for the celebrations for the 75th anniversary of the company’s founding, which will last until the end of November. 2023.

Presided over by the first dancer and director of the BNC, Viengsay Valdés, the meeting proposes a series of performances of the classic Giselle, with the performance of guest stars in the leading roles, as well as galas with premieres of works created especially for the occasion.

As detailed in the document, the agenda will take the National Theater of the largest of the Antilles as its main venue, while cultural institutions from the provinces of Matanzas, Cienfuegos and Pinar del Río will host other activities conceived in the festival calendar.

With more than 60 years of history, the biannual event is one of the most traditional and prestigious spaces in the world of dance, while extolling the legacy of prima ballerina assoluta Alicia Alonso.

The last time the festival delighted the public on the island was in 2018 with representatives from twenty countries and returns to the scene four years later, as the event scheduled for 2020 suffered the impact of Covid-19 that put the industry on pause culture around the world.

(With information from Prensa Latina)

According to the BNC, this edition deserved the praise of the Codalario magazine , one of the most prestigious in the field of Spanish music criticism, initialed by the specialist Albert Ferrer, who valued the relevance of the work.

Apart from biographical and personal experiences, in the book Alicia Alonso is firm in the defense of the value of culture as a bulwark for the artist, the knowledge of tradition, the ethical and aesthetic commitment to ballet, Ferrer stressed.

In Dialogue with Dance, the founder of BNC presents ballet as a national expression of peoples in their idiosyncrasy, as a manifestation of universal character due to physical potential, and expression of art linked to the subject, the BNC press release refers.

With its publication, the author denounced discriminatory attitudes and racial and cultural prejudices that marked her time before which she did not bow, while pointing out the difference between school and ballet style.

The book of the most universal dancer in Cuba, which is on sale in the main bookstores in Spain, is an editorial event and has aroused the interest of professionals in the performing arts.

(With information from Prensa Latina)

“This is my personal and professional tribute to one of country’s our eminent figures. I am sure it will be the first among the many he deserves,” the prima ballerina commented to Granma.

“I saw in Leal a devoted man, as were my teachers Alicia and Fernando Alonso, in my life,” stated Valdés in a message to the organizers of the prize, adding, “Leal was able to see, even in the most difficult times for our people, that ballet was upholding the solitary star (of the Cuban flag) on world stages and making a victory of the applause.”

Given the current health emergency the world is facing, the talented artist could not personally accept the distinction, thus Cuba’s ambassador in Italy, José Carlos Rodríguez, received the prize from the mayor of Positano, Michele De Lucía.

During the gala, the diplomat stated that the 48th Léonide Massine Positano Dance Prize also honors perseverance, having reserved a spot for this art form during such a difficult year. He commented that Viengsay Valdés represents a school of ballet created in Cuba, where great artists were nurtured, adding that no one can think of the Cuban people without thinking of dance in all its expressions.

Another segment of the event featured the screening of a clip from the video

ParAlicia, with performances by Valdés and Alicia Alonso, choreography by Tania Vergara, directed by Alejandro Pérez, and music by Frank Fernández, since the prize is also a tribute to the prima ballerina assoluta, a legend of world ballet (1920-2019) in the year of her centenary.

Viengsay Valdés concluded by stating, “I hope to continue working to extend the legacy of my idols and devote myself to the ideas of my teachers, so that Cuban ballet may continue crowing our nation and opening doors throughout the world.”

In addition to Cuba’s celebrated ballerina, another Cuban was recognized by the jury, Alejandro Virelles, the Staatsballet Berlin first dancer, as one of the best male dancers on the planet in 2020.

(Source: Granma)

Born On December 21, 1920, in Redención, a working class neighborhood in the municipality of Marianao – into a modest family established by Army veterinarian Antonio Martínez Arredondo and Ernestina del Hoyo y Lugo, a fine seamstress – this illustrious Cuban, in her early years, found in dance the calling that would guide her throughout her life.

Her stellar trajectory, which began in the Pro-Arte Musical Society of Havana’s Ballet School in 1931, was forced to take a new direction when she was obliged to travel abroad due to the low level, prejudices and elitism faced by ballet at the time in Cuba. Tracing her professional career is a mammoth task; including musical comedies in Broadway, the Ballet Caravan, the Ballet Theatre of New York, the Washington Ballet, and the Russian Ballet of Montecarlo, triumphing as a guest star in the most important companies, festivals and galas of this artistic genre worldwide. Her exceptional status as prima ballerina assoluta did not come from a capricious, unjustified reputation, but from her mastery of a vast repertoire of 134 works that ranged from the great ballets of the romantic and classical tradition, to creations of contemporary choreographers.

On November 28, 1995, in the Masini Theater in the Italian city of Faenza, she ended her career as a performer, having already established a record that would be hard to match, not only for the length of time she danced, but also for the excellence of her performances.

The greatness of Alonso, for her people, lies not only in her representing us successfully in 65 countries, receiving standing ovations, too many to count, from Helsinki to Buenos Aires, from New York to Tokyo and Melbourne, but in placing all her honors at the service of her homeland, among them 266 international awards and prizes, 225 national awards, and the 69 chorographical creations – romantic, classical and contemporary – she created, seeing the fruits of her work as her modest contribution not only to Cuban culture, but to world dance.

Over 50 years ago, upon her return to Cuba bearing foreign honors, she said without hesitation, “All my hopes and dreams consist not of going abroad to represent any other country, but my own national flag and my own art. My desire is that there is no one left who does not shout: Bravo for Cuba! when I dance. If I can’t do that, sadness would be the reward to my efforts.”

This patriotic position led to the foundation, together with Fernando and Alberto Alonso, on October 28, 1948 of the now Ballet Nacional de Cuba (BNC), and in 1950, of the Ballet Academy, with her name, where she had the historical task of training the first generation of dancers under the technical, aesthetic, and ethical values of the now worldwide renowned Cuban School of Ballet. For 71 years, particularly after the triumph of the Revolution, with great determination she was able to place the BNC among the most prestigious companies in the world, set guidelines for a training system that has now spread throughout the country and is a guarantee for Cuban ballet, while promoting a movement of international cooperation that Cuba has taken to almost fifty countries in America, Europe, Asia and Africa. She is Alicia, the guide and mentor, whose unifying gift made possible in 26 International Ballet Festivals, to bring together the most celebrated personalities of the dance in a celebration of art and friendship. And it is also the Alicia we have seen give her best as a teacher, either on the most prestigious stages or the most rustic platforms, in public squares, factories, military units, knowing that reaching the people, wherever they are, was always a way upward and never downward.

Those who had the privilege to be by her side, know the extraordinary human being she was, whose courage and firm discipline was never defeated by physical ailments, ups and downs, or misunderstandings.

She was our Alicia, the one who despite her cosmopolitanism, always longed to hear the roosters crow, enjoy the salty air of Havana’s Malecón, contemplate the mariposa and coralillo as the most exquisite flowers, or be fascinated with scientific advances and the mysteries of the universe. “A tenacious, frantic, heroic impulse – shot against illness and time – made perfection relentless,” as Juan Marinello once described her.

(Granma)

The agenda, addressed by writer and artist members of the UNEAC leadership and the Ministry of Culture’s board of directors to follow up on accords adopted at the UNEAC Congress, took up several problems identified during the event regarding the implementation of cultural policy.

Among the issues were some inadequacies in the institutional system’s work to direct, guide, control, and execute the application of cultural policy in the sector’s entities, as well as tasks related to its role in the fields of education, tourism and the media, as well as local bodies subordinate to the Ministry.

More than a dozen individuals made remarks during the discussion, highlighting the need to update policy concepts to current circumstances, including the implementation of improvements in the Ministry of Culture’s structure as well as its functions, with an emphasis on institutional efficiency.

It was acknowledged that the inadequate selection, suitability, training, and preparation of part of the sector’s cadres flows from the functioning of the institutional system, due to ignorance of the particularities of cultural promotion and management, and insensitivity and lack of understanding of the social role of culture, which is accentuated at the territorial and local levels.

In addition, the need to strengthen and systematize the dialogue between cultural cadres, workers, and promoters with creators was reaffirmed, as well as the importance of the artistic and literary vanguard being part of advisory councils and consulted when decisions are made regarding program design and social projection of institutions.

The Ministry of Culture provided details on the improvement and updating of cultural development programs in institutions and territories at all levels, and unveiled a set of necessary actions to solve the deficiencies that were discussed with the writers and artists.

Among the Ministry’s specific priorities are raising the quality of programming in accordance with artistic standards and guaranteeing creators’ participation in its design and execution.

In their comments, writers and artists agreed on the inadequate role of criticism in the establishment of cultural standards and the orientation of different segments of the population. Moreover, they advocated input in the training of those practicing these professions, which requires a qualitatively different partnership with higher education institutions.

Díaz-Canel said that through the state’s political will, the commitment of the intellectual and artistic vanguard in UNEAC, and the consolidation of the institutional system in a consistent and integrated manner, it is possible to resolve problems and move toward having a greater impact on the nation’s cultural life.

Others participants in the discussion were Víctor Gaute, member of the Secretariat of the Communist Party of Cuba’s Central Committee and head of its Ideological Department; Alpidio Alonso, Minister of Culture; and Luis Morlote, UNEAC President.

(Granma)

“It’s a big challenge, but I like challenges,” Mr. Acosta, 45, said in a telephone interview. “I think I can bring innovation to the company, bring it in tune with our time. I want to send a message that Birmingham has a world-class classical ballet company.”

His hiring is a coup for the company — and for Birmingham, which already boasts a bold-face name in the conductor Mirga Grazinyte-Tyla of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, and several important visual arts centers, including the Ikon Gallery and the Barber Institute of Fine Arts.

The appointment isn’t a huge surprise. Mr. Acosta has always been a charismatic, dynamic figure, staging his own seasons in Britain and abroad, choreographing and writing a memoir and a well-reviewed novel, even while he was a principal guest artist from 2003 to 2016 at the Royal Ballet in London, the sister company of the Birmingham troupe. Shortly before his retirement from the Royal Ballet, he founded the company Acosta Danza in Cuba and he has more recently opened a dance academy in Havana.

Alistair Spalding, the director of Sadler’s Wells, where Acosta Danza is an associate company, said in a telephone interview that everyone knows what a wonderful dancer Mr. Acosta is. “But I also know,” Mr. Spalding said, “how good he is at the other side of things: thinking of exciting ways of working with and presenting dance, creative in his thinking and a great teacher.” Mr. Spalding added that he believed Mr. Acosta’s personal background made him sensitive to the need to draw dancers and audiences from all walks of life.

Mr. Acosta started dancing because his father wanted him off the streets and out of trouble. The youngest of 11 children living in a poor part of Havana, he was accepted at the National Ballet School of Cuba, and won the prestigious Prix de Lausanne at 16, going on to dance with the Houston Ballet and then the Royal Ballet, where he became one of the company’s biggest draws and a major star.

(Source: The New York Time)

The artist settled in Cuba in the 1950s and won the 2008 National Dance Award and the National Artistic Teaching Award.

Burdsall took classes with three important U.S. dancers: Martha Graham, Anthony Tudor and Merce Cunningham, and studied at the George Washington University and the prestigious Julliard School in New York.

The dancer, teacher and choreographer did a remarkable work in promoting and creating works for the development of dance in Latin America and the Caribbean.

In recognition of her contributions to Cuban dance, the participants in the 24th International Meeting of Dance Academies will hold a gala to pay tribute to the teacher.

Today’s show is the fifth and last of a cycle. A children and choreographic contest is scheduled from April 3 to 6.

(Prensa Latina)

The exhibit, on display at the museum in front of Cespedes Park in the heart of the city, pays homage to the group, which in recent days reached its 156th anniversary.

Items shown includes members’ cards, costumes and necklaces of dancers, conga players and singers, musical instruments, certificates, furniture and written notes of the yubá singing.

According to sources from the Provincial Center of Heritage, during 2018 a program will be carried out to celebrate the 15 years as World Heritage and the 156th anniversary of the group, marked by tradition and patriotism since Cuban war for independence.

(Prensa Latina)