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Yolanda Correa in Giselle.
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The Lake of Swans by Cuba’s National Ballet Company.
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Viengsay Valdés and Romel Frometa in Spartacus.
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The Lake of Swans, Sadaise Arencibia and Javier Torres.

Thanks to the summoning gift of prima ballerina assoluta Alicia Alonso and the well-deserved prestige of Cuba’s ballet school, the Havana International Ballet Festival has made one big dream come true: turning Cuba into the dance capital of the world every two years

Penciled in as one of the most sought-after events of its kind on the face of the earth, the Havana International Ballet Festival celebrated its fiftieth anniversary with the 21st edition from October 28 to November 6. The Garcia Lorca Hall of the Havana Grand Theater was once again the venue of choice, this time around with a new presentation of The Sleeping Beauty —with choreography by Alicia Alonso— and Giselle, the top romanticist ballet piece, coupled with concert programs and several premieres staged by major Cuban ballet dancers, like world-class hoofer Carlos Acosta and a number of guest stars from overseas.

Ballet companies from Spain, Mexico, Venezuela and South Korea attended the Festival’s galas and other activities held outside the Havana’s main venues. The event also came to the Cathedral Square in Old Havana —declared World Cultural Heritage by UNESCO— with a couple of special presentations: a full-fledged version of The Lake of Swans, including its three acts and the epilogue, and Shakespeare and His Masks or Romeo and Juliet, in both cases choreographed by Alicia Alonso. Inland theaters, like Sauto and Cardenas in the province of Matanzas, and farther halls like the one in Las Tunas in eastern Cuba, welcomed presentations from the festival in an effort to take the enjoyment of the festival, the poetic vibration of the movements and the creative communion of several arts to the grassroots. This is the grandeur the Havana International Ballet Festival has once again brought to us with superb enthusiasm and a commitment to sharing a new hope for the arts, the beauty and peace under the lovely slogan great Cuban author Alejo Carpentier once wrote: “The spirit of dance is an inseparable part of the human condition.”

History in brief The Havana International Ballet Festival came into being back in 1960, stripped of any competitive character and under the leadership of Alicia Alonso, the larger-than-life Cuban ballerina who’s now considered one of the greatest world ballet figures of all time. Her approach brought ballet to the masses and lured major dancers from around the globe interested in taking a firsthand look at the high level of Cuban ballet. In addition to Cuba’s National Ballet Company —the host of the event and the top bearer of the Cuban ballet school’s artistic phenomenon— other valuable dance groups from the turf have validated the event’s prestige over the years. In all, the festival has brought presentations from 58 foreign ballet companies and over a thousand guests among soloists, choreographers, maîtres, professors, musicians, critics and dancing buffs from 59 different nations. Such boldface names as Russia’s Galina Ulanova and Vladimir Vasiliev, Briton Anton Dolin, Italy’s Carla Fracci, American Judith Jamison, France’s Noëlla Pontois, Spain’s Antonio Gades and Julio Bocca from Argentina, among others, top a long list of guests and attendants to the Festival throughout these years, alongside major dancers from top-notch world companies like the Paris Opera, the Moscow Bolshoi Ballet, the New York City Ballet, the London Royal Ballet, the Milan Scale or the Denmark Royal Ballet. All in all, together with top dancers from Cuba, they have built on the glory and prestige of this event full of arts and friendship that has premiered 851 choreographies in a variety of styles, ranging from recreations of superb romantic-classical 19th century traditional pieces to more contemporary avant-garde works mounted by renowned Cuban and foreign choreographers. However, just another luring element about the Havana Festival is the many amenities it brings along, like photographic exhibits and fine arts expositions, lectures, cinema events devoted to dance, the issuing of postage stamps, billboards and specialized books that, as in previous editions, have helped meet the interests of all spectators.

From Mexico all the way down to the South Cone, Cuba’s National Ballet has taught over 20 courses and held a similar number of dance meetings with peer organizations from the region, including the insular territories of the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Martinique, Guadeloupe and the Bahamas, let alone hundreds of presentations in over 80 tours around the region.