Santiago Alfonso in his brilliant teaching career

Maestro Santiago Alfonso, National Dance Prize winner, turns 85 years old with the certainty of having fulfilled a debt of gratitude to his trainers, to his audience, and to the founding movement of which he was a part.

He is one of the main references of the great modern dance movement in Cuba, not only for the iconicity of his scenic projection or for his extraordinary aesthetic values, but also for that teaching that he has embodied over several decades of uninterrupted work.

Dancer, choreographer and teacher, Santiago is a master in all the meanings of that concept.

In addition to his example on the stage, his contributions to the teaching of his art in Cuba are significant.

Before 1959, he was already a dancer in musical shows. He responded to Ramiro Guerra's call to found a group at the National Theater and was one of the founders of the then Department of Modern Dance, today Contemporary Dance of Cuba.

If one had to choose an emblematic scene from those years of feverish creation, it could very well be his fight with Eduardo Rivero in Suite Yoruba, by Ramiro, masterfully recreated by José Massip in the documentary Historia de un ballet (1962).

Changó (Santiago) and Oggún (Eduardo) faced each other in a combat of powerful lyricism, which summarized many of the assumptions of the nascent Cuban modern dance: honoring the deepest tradition of a people by multiplying it with new aesthetic paths.

In the National Folklore Ensemble, where he contributed to the training of dancers and the diversification of the repertoire; at the Tropicana cabaret, of which he became an international reference as a choreographer and teacher; in major musical theater shows in several countries; in his own Havana company... Santiago Alfonso forged his credentials, which have transcended even dance: memorable have been his appearances in cinema, particularly the interpretation of the father of dancer Carlos Acosta in the biographical film Yuli.

Santiago Alfonso is a great artist and at the same time a generous and humble man. He firmly believes in the capacity of beauty to transform the world and has devoted himself to that endeavor.

Translated by Sergio A. Paneque Díaz / CubaSí Translation Staff