Cuban National Ballet to celebrate 20 years of British collaboration

The National Ballet of Cuba (BNC), directed by Viengsay Valdes, will celebrate from tomorrow 20 years of collaboration with British Friends of the British Friends of Ballet Nacional de Cuba.

To celebrate the event, six performances will be held, each day with two works produced with the support of the British Friends.

The choreographic collaborations will be Celeste, a ballet by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa with music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, presented on March 7, 2014, and Lucile, conceived especially for the BNC by Danish dancer and choreographer Johan Kobborg, responding to a request from its general director, prima ballerina Viengsay Valdes.

Reaching 20 years of friendship or collaboration is a long time, especially when it is a beautiful time, a time in which we have enjoyed such a close and beautiful relationship with our British friends, who have carried out wonderful projects and are planning to incorporate new choreographers who have come to work here, Viengsay Valdes told the press.

This cooperation, she added, began when prima ballerina assoluta Alicia Alonso proposed to the British friends, in 2004, to restore the hall named after the English dancer and choreographer "Anton Dolin".

The teacher also pointed out that Johan Kobborg is well known to the Cuban public for his performances at the Havana International Ballet Festivals in 1998 and 2004, as well as in international performances, which are part of his brilliant career as a dancer.

To enhance our repertoire in such an altruistic way as they have done is to be admired, and it means a lot to the National Ballet of Cuba, which is constantly enriching and expanding its art, Valdes concluded.