Havana, September 25 (RHC) – Cuban National Ballet premier dancers Viengsay Valdés, Anette Delgado and Dani Hernández arrived in Mexico on Tuesday for a season of ‘Giselle’, choreographed by company director, Alicia Alonso. At a news conference held in Mexico City’s National Auditorium, the Cuban ballet ensemble’s three most important performers recognized the value and significance of Alonso's work, who in 2020 will be celebrating her 100th birthday.
Valdés was appointed the company’s deputy artistic director in January with the mission of supporting, continuing and enriching the legacy of the ballet legend who, in 1948, founded the company along with Alberto and Fernando Alonso, after whom the Cuban National Ballet School is named.
After 12 years without performing in Mexico, the troupe will dance on the stage of the National Auditorium on Saturday, while it will perform in Guadalajara at the Santander Center for the Performing Arts on Monday, and will finally dance at the Aguascalientes Theater on October 3. ‘Giselle’, a masterpiece of Romanticism, tells a story of love, deceit, madness and life beyond death. Alonso was the first Latin American ballerina to assume the character of Giselle and, according to world critics, her role’s construction remains one of the most successful. The choreographic version and the ballet’s personal performance by Alonso received the Grand Prix de la Ville de Paris in France in 1966. Last year the Cuban company danced the classic on a US tour, where critic Andrew Meacham, from the Tampa Bay Times, titled his work: Ballet Nacional de Cuba stuns with a spectacular ‘Giselle’.
