The Cuban National Ballet is reviving the ballet Tula, with which the famed company is celebrating the 200th anniversary of one of the most important Iberian American poetesses, Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda.

Choreographed by company director and ballet legend, Alicia Alonso, the ballet is inspired in the life and work of the 19th century advanced woman writer. Avellaneda was proclaimed national poetess during a celebration at the Literary and Artistic Lyceum of Havana, in the second half of the 19th century, and the Cuban people baptized her as Tula.

Though most of her work was written in Spain, including her plays and her most famous novel Sab from 1841, residents in the eastern city of Camagüey have honored her with the title of honorable daughter and preserve some of their family belongings and the home where she lived. Cuban National Ballet principal dancer, Amaya Rodríguez, is dancing the role of Tula at the National Theater.