Havana, November 8 (RHC) -- Prestigious dancer and teacher, Denis Matvienko, will offer a master class of Russian ballet technique on November 14 at the Fernando Alonso National Ballet School in Cuba.

The event is part of the St. Petersburg Days on the Caribbean island, a program of cultural and commercial events that will be held in the Cuban capital November 13/17 with the purpose of celebrating the 500th anniversary of Havana’s establishment. Class participants will be able to get familiar with the essence of the Russian ballet school and its choreographic elements.

Matvienko, who holds the title of Ukraine’s Emeritus Artist, is currently the artistic director of the ballet company of the Novosibirsk State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater in Russia's third most populated city, after Moscow and St. Petersburg. For years Matvienko was a star at the Mariinski Theater in St. Petersburg, a city where the Vaganova Academy is located, a training center of great influence on ballet teaching in Russia, neighboring countries and institutions in the world. He is the only artist in Russian ballet history to have been awarded the grand prix of four international competitions: Luxembourg, Hungary, Japan and Russia.

As part of the cultural program ‘St Petersburg Days in Cuba’, the photo exhibition ‘The frozen music of St. Petersburg’ by Daryan Volkova will be on display from November 12 through 17 at Havana’s Grand Theater Alicia Alonso. At the same site, on the 15th, a show that will bring together some leading dancers of famous Russian companies will be offered, including the Mariinski State Academic Theater, the Bolshoi, the Mikhailovsky and the Leonid Yakobson St. Petersburg Ballet.  Under the direction of Yuri Smekalov, the artists will dance classical pas de deux and duets of modern pieces. A photo exhibit dedicated to the history of relations between St. Petersburg and Havana is also set to open at the Grand Theater the same day.