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Cuban and Canadian ballerinas perform together
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Canadian and Cuban ballerinas have tiptoed across the stage of Havana's Grand Theatre together, in a joint production of Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker". The production was choreographed by the partially blind matriarch of Cuban ballet, 89-year-old Alicia Alonso.
Dancers from the Canadian Ballet Youth Ensemble were honored to perform with Cuba's National Ballet, on the stage at Havana's Grand Theatre.
Naomi, Dancer of Canadian Ballet Youth Ensemble, said, "I'm really excited and I'm really happy that we are going to be the first group of Canadian dancers to be on the Gran Teatro stage, and it's the oldest theatre in the western hemisphere."
Choreographer Alicia Alonso became a legend with her interpretation of "Giselle". She danced with the American Ballet Theater in the 1940s and 1950s, then returned to Cuba after Castro's 1959 revolution. Alonso continued dancing into her 70s, despite failing vision.
Speaking to reporters after the performance, she said it was significant having Canadian youths dancing in Cuba.
"The Nutcracker" is the Christmas ballet to music by Tchaikovsky. The story was written by E.T.A. Hoffmann decades before the ballet's debut in 1892.
It's about a 12-year-old girl and her brother and sister, who receive gifts from their clock maker godfather on Christmas Eve. One of the presents is a Nutcracker doll. That night, the girl embarks on an adventure... including a war involving a seven-headed Mouse King and his army of mice.
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