Ballets of Cuba and Mexico to honor Alicia Alonso

Mexico, Feb 27 (Prensa Latina) The National Ballet of Cuba directed by Viengsay Valdes and the National Dance Company (NCD) of Mexico will pay tribute to Cuban prima ballerina assoluta Alicia Alonso, with three performances of 'Giselle' at the Palace of Fine Arts.

The version of 'Giselle' to be performed is the one created by Anton Dolin in the '30s and '40s, the first that Alonso danced in 1943 when replacing Alicia Markova in the American Ballet Theater, said Cuauhtemoc Najera who heads the NCD along with Elisa Carrillo.

He said that on Viengsay Valdes' recent visit to Mexico she had explained how Cuba would celebrate the hundredth anniversary of the famous dancer's birth and anticipated that she sought to make a great international tribute and asked the National Institute of Fine Arts to join.

During the rehearsals, Najera, who is also the artistic director, noted that three first dancers of the National Ballet of Cuba will perform the new version of the 'Giselle' danced by Alicia in the American Ballet Theater.

In total there will be 57 dancers on stage, among them the first dancer of the Cuban National Ballet Rafael Quenedit, who will be the unfaithful Prince Albrecht, the Mexican Ana Elisa Mena will be Giselle, and Daniela Gomez, also a first Cuban dancer, will play Myrtha, the Queen of the Willis.

The performances will be on Thursday, February 27, Sunday, March 1 and Tuesday, March 3, all in the main theater of Fine Arts.